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Amid violence, members of Congress
focus on Israel.
Ron Kampeas
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
April 26, 2011
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Semi Annual
t happens almost like clockwork:
Something happens in the Middle
East, and it reverberates across the
Atlantic with new letters from the U.S.
Congress.
With so many relatively new
members looking to establish their
pro-Israel credentials, the reaction
in Congress to the recent violence in
Israel was particularly swift.
"American pressure needs to be
exerted on the Palestinians, not the
Israelis, to make steps toward achiev-
ing peace," said a March 18 letter to
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton from the Republican Study
Committee, the conservative cau-
cus of Republicans in the House of
Representatives.
A close reading of the letters reveals
the differences over what the authors
believe constitutes being pro-Israel.
Some place the burden exclusively on
Palestinians to restart peace talks, and
others call on the United States and
Israel also to take steps to tamp down
tensions.
After the March 11 slaughter of a
couple and three of their children in
the West Bank settlement of Itamar,
bipartisan letters to the Obama
administration from each congres-
sional chamber urged pressure on
the Palestinians to return to peace
talks. Each letter outlined what it said
were examples of incitement sanc-
tioned directly or indirectly by the
Palestinian Authority. It is not yet clear
who carried out the killings, though
Palestinian terrorists are believed the
culprits.
The U.S. House of Representatives'
letter to President Obama, circulated
by Reps. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and
Steve Austria (R-Ohio), calls on the
president to "insist" that Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
re-enters peace talks, without precon-
ditions, and demand that President
Abbas eliminate all vestiges of incite-
ment coming from his government,
Palestinian entities, or officials."
Abbas withdrew last September
from renewed direct peace talks with
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Israel after Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu refused to
extend a partial settlement morato-
rium in the West Bank.
The letter to Clinton circulating in
the Senate, initiated by Sens. Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Mark Kirk
(MTh), made similar calls.
"The Itamar massacre was a sober-
ing reminder that words matter, and
that Palestinian incitement against
Jews and Israel can lead to violence
and terror',' the letter said. "We urge
you to redouble your efforts to impress
upon the Palestinian leadership that
continuing to condone incitement is
not tolerable?'
Political Divide
The self-described "pro-Israel, pro-
peace" lobbying group J Street blasted
the Rothman-Austria letter, saying
such statements should tackle all sides
responsible for the peace impasse. The
organization already had made clear
the kind of letter it preferred. A March
15 letter to Obama signed by 116
House members backed the president's
proposal for keeping funding for Israel
and the Palestinians at current levels
— $3 billion for Israel and about $500
million for the Palestinians.
"We are thrilled to see so many
members of Congress stand for the
continued assistance to Israel and the
P.A. that advances America's inter-
ests and the prospects for peace and
security in Israel:' J Street said in that
statement.
All but one of the signatories on
that letter, initiated by Reps. Jan
Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Anna Eshoo
(D-Calif.), were Democrats, under-
scoring a fact of Washington's political
landscape that is frustrating efforts by
dovish pro-Israel groups to win bipar-
tisan support: Republicans are loath to
sign on to anything that signals sup-
port for the Palestinians.
Indeed, the Schakowsky-Eshoo
letter was prompted by Republican
threats to slash funding for the
Palestinians.
Democrats, even those who signed
Schakowsky-Eshoo, are likely also
to sign onto efforts singling out the
Palestinians and other Arab nations
as bearing the burden of peacemak-
ing. That's partly a reflection of the
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