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Invitation to Sharon is U.S. peace o ering.
r •
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, said Sharon and admin-
istration officials will also discuss the
idea of an international peace con-
ference.
"The prime minister has raised the
issue, and the administration is very
interested in seeing whether a peace
conference is, indeed, possible, and
if so, on what terms. It's still very
unclear if there is a common basis
for such a conference."
Washington, D.C.
rime Minister Ariel Sharon
is due in Washington next
week for a hastily arranged
visit that is being widely
interpreted as a sweetener that
helped tip the balance during a con-
tentious cabinet meeting in
Jerusalem last weekend.
The invitation from U.S. National
Aid Lost
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice
Despite upbeat official statements,
came while Israeli Prime Minister
pro-Israel lawmakers and
Ariel Sharon and his frac-
asp
activists are just about
tious cabinet were dead-
writing off a $200 million
locked over a U.S. proposal
boost in military aid to
for ending the virtual
Israel that seemed to be on
imprisonment of
track last week as part of a
Palestinian leader Yasser
big supplemental appropri-
Arafat in his shattered
ation for the war on ter-
Ramallah headquarters.
rorism.
Eventually, the cabinet
The White House put
accepted the plan — and
the kibosh on the extra aid
Sharon was packing his
request by strong-arming
bags for a trip to
Ariel Sh aron
pro-Israel Republicans into
Washington, with a stop in
postponing efforts to
New York a strong possibili-
restore an aid allocation
ty.
the administration had deleted from
U.S. and Israeli sources say Sharon
its own appropriation, proposal.
and top U.S. officials will discuss a
The administration action was the
range of issues, including Israel's
result of a confluence of factors,
deteriorating international standing
including complex diplomatic and
and the controversy over the pro-
political calculations, not to men-
posed United Nations "fact-finding"
tion the shambles of the federal
mission to the Jenin refugee camp.
budget.
The message Sharon hears "will
The State Department, according
depend on who he's talking to," said
to Washington sources, had asked
Robert 0. Freedman, a top Mideast
for an extra $200 million for Israel
scholar. "The differences in the
several weeks ago, but the request
administration have never been
was cut in the administration's budg-
greater." Secretary of State Colin
et proposal, despite some positive
Powell, he said, will "try very hard
statements by several high-ranking
to persuade Sharon not to go back
State Department officials.
into the territories, and not to go
One reason: concern that extra
after Arafat if there are more terror
aid, on top of Israel's $2.8 billion
attacks. Sharon will probably hear a
annual allotment, would just fuel
softer message from the president."
anger in the Arab world about the
Sharon, he said, will try to rein-
U.S. tilt toward Israel.
force his argument "that the United
Another factor was a budget that
States and Israel are fighting terror-
looks increasingly like a federal dis-
ism together, each in its own way."
aster area, with soaring deficits and
And the administration, he said, will
skyrocketing spending.
"see if they can press Sharon on the
Efforts to win the extra aid were
issue of a freeze in settlement build-
ing.
also complicated by the fact that an
David Makovsky, a senior fellow at Israeli request for $800 million in
5/3
2002
20
aid has been on the table for more
than two years, and that the ration-
ale for that request has changed over
time.
First, the aid was requested to help
pay the costs of Israel's withdrawal
from Lebanon; later, it was described
as necessary to help Israel with the
security costs of fighting the new
intifada (Palestinian uprising).
Pro-Israel forces may have made a
faulty calculation that the adminis-
tration would offer just token resist-
ance to the aid request, congression-
al sources say. Instead, the president
himself shut the door on new aid
this year, and White House opera-
tives put the squeeze on congression-
al Republicans, including House
Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-
Texas, who said they would go to
the mat for the $200 million.
Officially, pro-Israel members of
Congress will continue trying to
override the administration's deci-
sion; in private, they say it is almost
certain efforts to win the extra aid
will have to wait until next year.
Resolution Game
The administration has also weighed
in with a heavy hand on a flurry of
congressional resolutions on the
troubled Middle East.
That includes resolutions that do
nothing more than show solidarity
with Israel, and ones with more bite
that would ratchet up the pressure
on Arafat and impose sanctions on
the government of Syria.
Last week, Secretary of State Colin
Powell met with congressional lead-
ers'and told them that a resolution
expressing support for Israel would
be "unhelpful" at this juncture
because of ongoing U.S. ceasefire
efforts.
White House officials have used
the same argument to convince con-
gressional leaders to hold off on a
beefed-up bill imposing sanctions on
Arafat.
This week, Sen. Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., put a hold on
the Arafat Accountability Act, a
tougher version of a measure already
under way in the House — the
Middle East Peace Commitments
Act, sponsored by Rep. Gai'y
Ackerman, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ben
Gilman, R-N.Y.
Ackerman is continuing to collect
signatures on his bill, but faces
major hurdles getting it through the
International Relations Committee,
where Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., an
administration loyalist, calls the
shots.
"Members are inclined to honor
the president's request when he
invokes national security," said a
Democratic congressional staffer.
"People are willing to give him more
time to make some progress in the
region. But at some point, the
administration has to either come
through with results or it has to take
the brakes off Congress."
The word on Capitol Hill is that
the administration is particularly
worried about a measure by Rep.
Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Rep. Dick
Armey, R-Texas, that would impose
sanctions on Syria until the presi-
dent certifies that Damascus has
stopped supporting terror groups
and building weapons of mass
destruction, and until it has with-
drawn its forces from Lebanon.
In a letter to Sen. Joe Biden, D-
Del., chair of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, a State
Department official expressed sup-
port for the goals of the legislation
but concern that it could limit the
administration's "flexibility" in
Mideast peacemaking.
"For that reason, we do not believe
this is the right time for legislative
initiatives that could complicate our
efforts," said Paul Kelly, assistant
secretary for legislative affairs at the
State Department.
A spokesman for Engel said the
lawmaker is continuing to collect
co-sponsors for his Syria
Accountability Act.
Anti-Semitism Spread
Official Washington is starting to
pay more attention to the spread of
anti-Semitism in Europe, as well as
throughout the Islamic world.
Last week, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-
Ore., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, intro-
duced a resolution calling on
European governments to publicly
acknowledge recent anti-Jewish
attacks as violations of human rights
and "to fully investigate such crimes
and punish those responsible."
Similar measures have been intro-
duced by Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-
N.J., and Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-
N.Y.
Also, all but one senator — Sen.
Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who was
undergoing heart surgery — signed
a letter to President Bush urging
him to raise the anti-Semitism issue
"at the highest level" in his dealings