Congress Eagerly Responds to Pro-Israel Efforts to Counteract Sharon’s Campaign of Terror

By Shirl McArthur

In an effort to obscure the campaign of terror and intimidation launched by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon against the Palestinian people, American pro-Israel groups have launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to paint the Palestinians as the violent terrorists and the Israelis as a peace-loving people exercising “restraint” and acting only in self-defense. While this campaign has been moderately successful in the U.S. media, it has met with overwhelming success in the U.S. Congress, which appears to have abandoned all pretext of balance on Middle East issues. Congress apparently is either mindless of or indifferent to the damage being done to U.S. interests in the Middle East and to its reputation in the rest of the world. This is evidenced by the steady stream of bills and resolutions in both houses of Congress designed to condemn or punish the Palestinians (not to mention the Iranians and the Iraqis and the Syrians and the Lebanese and the Libyans).

This makes trying to follow the Middle East-related actions of the 107th Congress a depressing exercise for anyone concerned about America’s interests abroad and its standing in the world community. To offset this, this column will begin with the few positive recent congressional developments.

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) on July 19 introduced the only balanced new bill. After citing a number of obvious truths—such as the fact that it is in the best interests of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and all other countries that the violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza cease immediately—H.RES. 205 expresses the sense of the House that Israel and the PA should “fully commit themselves to end hostilities and work toward a permanent peace agreement.” Should this fail, the bill calls for the U.N. to meet to address the situation and to authorize the secretary-general to take appropriate steps, “including, if necessary, the use of United Nations peacekeeping forces.” Unsurprisingly, Dingell’s resolution has gained no co-sponsors.

Jordan Free Trade Agreement

The House approved by voice vote on July 31 legislation implementing the U.S.-Jordan free trade agreement. Senate passage is uncertain, however, because of the treaty’s provisions regarding labor and environmental standards, which have not been included in the text of any previous trade agreement. The Senate Finance Committee cleared the bill for the full Senate on July 26. While no member of Congress has complained about the provisions as they apply specifically between the U.S. and Jordan, some are concerned that they might serve as a precedent for agreements with more major trading partners. Several House Republicans were equally concerned, but their concerns apparently were satisfied by an exchange of identical letters between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Jordanian Ambassador Marwan Muasher that said that the two countries intended to resolve any differences with “bilateral consultations and other procedures,” rather than applying the agreement’s enforcement procedures.

This led to some partisan bickering on the floor of the House, with Democrats accusing the Bush administration of gutting the ground-breaking labor and environmental provisions, and Republicans accusing the Democrats—specifically former President William Clinton—of using an international agreement to push a domestic agenda .

Secret Evidence Repeal Bill

While the Secret Evidence Repeal bill, H.R. 1266, introduced by Rep. David Bonior (D-MI) on March 28, has not progressed in the legislative process, it has gained 20 new co-sponsors since the previous issue of the Washington Report, for a total of 101, in addition to Bonior. Those co-sponsors of H.R. 1266 not named in previous issues are Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Robert Brady (D-PA), Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Ray LaHood (R-IL), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Jim Moran (D-VA), Richard Neal (D-MA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Tom Sawyer (D-OH), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Robert Scott (D-VA), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Nick Smith (R-MI), Pete Stark (D-CA), John Tierney (D-MA), and Peter Visclosky (D-IN).

Meanwhile, the competing, watered-down secret evidence repeal bill introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) now has two co-sponsors, Reps. Lane Evans (D-IL) and Dave Weldon (R-FL). Rohrabacher’s bill applies only to permanent resident aliens or those with unexpired visas.

H.E.L.P. Bill

Another bill that has gained new co-sponsors is the Humanitarian Exports Leading to Peace (H.E.L.P.) bill (H.R. 742), introduced in February by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and described in the May/June Washington Report. The bill declares that sanctions on Iraq shall not apply to the export of food, agricultural products, medicines and medical supplies, and that humanitarian assistance to Iraq shall not require an export license. Now that negotiations in the U.N. for a new sanctions regime on Iraq have broken down, it was hoped that the H.E.L.P. bill would gain new impetus, but so far it has made no further progress in the legislative process. The six new co-sponsors of H.R. 742 since the previous issue of the Washington Report are Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Earl Hilliard (D-AL), Jim Leach (R-IA), Serrano, and Hilda Solis (D-CA).

So much for the good news.

Appropriations Bills Carry Anti-Arab Baggage

The House has passed the $15.2 billion foreign aid bill, H.R. 2506, incorporating within it most of the provisions of H.R. 1795, introduced by Ackerman in May, which seeks to impose sanctions on the PLO and the PA unless they comply with all of a series of commitments reportedly made by the PLO or the PA in previous years. The only sanction in the Ackerman bill not included in the House’s foreign aid bill is the denial of visas to PLO and PA officials. The sanctions listed in the bill are cutting off aid, except humanitarian assistance, to the West Bank and Gaza, downgrading the PLO office in Washington, and designating the PLO “or one or more of its constituent groups” as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

The aid sections of the bill contain no surprises, and include $2.04 billion in military grants and $720 million in economic grants to Israel and $1.3 billion in military grants and $655 million in economic grants to Egypt. Interestingly, the bill also includes $35 million for Lebanon, even though the Foreign Affairs authorization bill, which the House passed last May, prohibits aid to Lebanon unless it curbs the activities of Hezbollah on the Israeli border. The Senate has not acted on the Foreign Affairs authorization bill.

The House foreign aid bill has been sent to the Senate, which is expected to act on it in September. It is not likely that the Senate will keep the Palestinian sanctions provision. That, however, would leave it up to the conference committee to reconcile the two versions, and history has shown that anything can happen in conference committee. The Bush administration has publicly opposed the provision, but that may not make a difference in the current anti-Palestinian atmosphere in Congress.

Meanwhile, Ackerman’s bill has gained 25 new co-sponsors since the previous issue of the Washington Report, and now has 63, in addition to Ackerman. The new co-sponsors are Reps. Dan Burton (R-IN), Peter Deutsch (D-FL), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Barney Frank (D-MA), Martin Frost (D-TX), Sam Graves (R-MO), Felix Grucci (R-NY), Jane Harman (D-CA), J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Karen McCarthy (D-MO), Carrie Meek (D-FL), C.L. Otter (R-ID), Thomas Reynolds (R-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Max Sandlin (D-TX), Schakowsky, John Shadegg (R-AZ), Chris Shays (R-CT), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Mark Souder (R-IN), Bob Stump (R-AZ), Robert Wexler (D-FL), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

The House also has passed the State Department appropriations bill (H.R. 2500). A Senate version (S. 1215) has been cleared by the Senate Appropriations Committee but not yet acted on by the full Senate. The House version contains no unpleasant surprises, but S. 1215 includes the same provisions that effectively recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as were included in the House Foreign Relations authorization bill. These provisions require that (a) the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem be under the supervision of the U.S. ambassador to Israel; (b) any official U.S. government document that lists countries and their capital cities identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; and (c) a passport, registration of birth, or certificate of nationality of a U.S. citizen born in Jerusalem shall, upon the request of the citizen, record the place of birth as Israel.

This is the third year that the Senate version of the State Department appropriations bill has included these three provisions on Jerusalem. Last year and in 1999 the provisions were dropped by the conference committee—but, again, that does not mean the conference committee will do so this year.

Gilman Subcommittee Hearing

In the unlikely event there remained any doubts about his sympathies for Israel, House International Relations Middle East subcommittee chairman Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) held a hearing July 26 on “U.S. policy toward the Palestinians.” Newly appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns was the only witness. Gilman and Ackerman, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, made it clear in their opening statements that their intent was to lay the blame for the current violence solely on the Palestinians and to attack the Bush administration and, specifically, the State Department for not taking a harder line with the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat. Gilman said the committee wants “to learn how the administration now sees its relationship with the Palestinians in the wake of Arafat’s abrogation of his commitments.”

Other members of the subcommittee, which is heavily loaded with Israeli sympathizers, chimed in to condemn the Palestinians. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) said it was time to regard Arafat and the Palestinians as “terrorists.”

In the face of this onslaught, Burns held his ground, staunchly defending the more balanced approach and full support for the Mitchell Report outlined in his opening statement. Specifically, he said, while the Palestinians must rein in extremist factions, order a stop to attacks on Israelis, arrest those responsible for acts of violence and call a halt to incitements, “the Israelis also have an obligation to calm the situation on the ground, including stopping incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas, ending targeted killings, easing the closure, and ending demolitions and other provocative actions.” Burns also said that it is important to see the Arab-Israeli conflict in the context of broader regional interests.

ILSA Extension Becomes Law

During July the House and the Senate each passed their companion bills to renew the Iran Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) for another five years. ILSA penalizes foreign firms that invest in Iran’s and Libya’s energy industries. The Senate bill passed with only Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Dick Lugar (R-IN) voting against it. The House bill, H.R. 1954, passed with only six “no” and one “present” votes. Those voting against it were Reps. Conyers, Hilliard, John LaFalce (D-NY), Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Nick Rahall (D-WV). Bonior voted “present.” After the House passed H.R. 1954 and forwarded it to the Senate, the Senate took the unusual step of ignoring the fact that it had already passed its own version, and passed H.R. 1954 by voice vote, eliminating the need to send the two versions to a conference committee. President George W. Bush signed the bill on Aug. 3, even though he preferred an extension for only two years.

More Anti-Palestinian Bills

Most of the recently-introduced anti-Palestinian bills have little chance of being enacted and seem designed more to please their authors’ Zionist backers than actually to accomplish anything. However, a pair of identical bills, H.R. 2098 and S. 1377, introduced in the House and Senate by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), may have a better chance of being passed. These bills, entitled “The Koby Mandell Act” after the 13-year-old Maryland boy who was beaten to death in the occupied territories early this year, seek to establish in the Department of Justice an office to, among other things, monitor acts of “international terrorism” allegedly committed by Palestinians and establish and implement “alternative methods” to apprehend and prosecute those persons. This effectively would transfer responsibility for trying to capture Palestinians, and only Palestinians, who harm U.S. nationals overseas out of the hands of the State Department and into the Justice Department.

S. 1377 was introduced by Smith on Aug. 3, the day Congress adjourned, and it has no co-sponsors yet. H.R. 2098 was introduced on June 7 and has 10 co-sponsors, in addition to Andrews. They are Reps. Ken Bentsen (D-TX), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA), Steve LaTourette (R-OH), Constance Morella (R-MD), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Jim Saxton (R-NJ), and Anthony Weiner (D-NY).

Another bill, H.R. 2566, introduced by Cantor on July 19, seeks to cut off all direct or indirect aid to the PA unless the president certifies “that no excavation of the Temple Mount in Israel is being conducted, other than that authorized by the Israeli Antiquities Authority.” In a press release accompanying his introduction of the bill, Cantor said his goal was to fight “all efforts to create a Palestinian State” and “strong-arm Israel into sacrificing its land.”

The bill’s 25 co-sponsors, in addition to Cantor, are Reps. Ackerman, Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Berkley, Joe Crowley (D-NY), Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), Engel, Grucci, Melissa Hart (R-PA), Steve Israel (D-NY), Brian Kerns (R-IN), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Ron Lewis (R-KY), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Nadler, Mike Pence (R-IN), Joseph Pitts (R-PA), Lynn Rivers (D-MI), Jim Ryun (R-KS), Bob Schaffer (R-CO), Edward Schrock (R-VA), Chris Smith, Souder, Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), and Weiner.

Engel leapt into the fray on July 27, introducing H.CON.RES. 202, “Condemning the Palestinian Authority and various Palestinian organizations for using children as soldiers and inciting children to acts of violence and war.” It urges the president to withhold any future assistance to the PA until it stops the use of children in armed conflict. The bill’s seven co-sponsors, in addition to Engel, are Reps. Cantor, Martin Frost (D-TX), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Todd Platts (R-PA), Ros-Lehtinen, Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Weiner.

Finally, on Aug. 3, Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced S.RES. 157, “expressing the sense of the Senate that the secretary of state should redesignate the Palestine Liberation Organization as a terrorist organization.”

Shirl McArthur, a retired foreign service officer, is a consultant in the Washington, DC area.