Countdown

Members Differ Over Next Moves to Help Israel, Punish PLO

Volume III, No. 16
Posted on Friday April 19, 2002

Israeli Provocations Continue as Withdrawal Drags Out

Ignoring calls from President Bush, the Israeli government has not withdrawn fully from the Palestinian territories invaded on March 29. International observers now have limited access to what remains of the refugee camp and town of Jenin and other locations where the IDF has completed its operations. The costs of the destruction and wreckage to public infrastructure and private businesses and property already are estimated at more than $1 billion. World Bank officials on the ground believe that most of the $5 billion of investments made possible by international donor aid since 1993 has been destroyed. The economic loss in gross domestic product, i.e., the production of the Palestinian economy, is about $5 billion. Relief appeals have been made internationally for everything from blankets to construction materials, but there are no assurances that Israeli authorities will lift their blockades and allow humanitarian assistance. In Israel, Defense Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer authorized the building of an additional 16 structures in the disputed city of Hebron where illegal settler activity has been especially troublesome over the past three years. He has previously rejected the project.

Congress Gears Up to Support President, Buttress Peace Moves

Congress is once again adding its voices to the Middle East policy debate. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) called on the President to take a serious leadership role to solve the crisis in the region. He noted, “Terrorists win if we don’t engage…It is not in the interest of Israel, the Palestinians, and the world, to allow this to go on…We cannot allow a vacuum of leadership to develop in the Middle East.” On the House side, several members are encouraging the President to send former presidents Bush, Clinton, and Carter to the region to accelerate the return to negotiations. Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and James Leach ((R-IA) are asking colleagues to support this proposal “…because throughout recent history it is only under the auspices of the President of the United States that Israelis and Arabs have moved toward peace.” Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) has sent a letter to the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights requesting a hearing on restrictions by the Israeli government on the work of international relief agencies operating in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Attacks against relief personnel, restrictions on access to water, food, medicine, emergency assistance, and medical attention, and confiscation of relief equipment and supplies are her major concerns.

Members Differ Over Next Moves to Help Israel, Punish PLO

Senate Democrats and House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt spoke out against Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK)’s proposal to prohibit Iraqi oil from being imported into the U.S. until three conditions are met or the President calls for a waiver. About 9 percent of US crude oil imports are from Iraq, and the Democrats caution against this congressional attempt to shape US Middle East policy. Murkowski earlier tried to insert special oil considerations for Israel to gain support for drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, a move defeated in the Senate. Separately, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced legislation to deny US visas for Arafat and PLO leadership, downgrade the PLO office in Washington, seize PLO assets in the U.S., and restrict travel of the senior PLO official at the UN. In the House, Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) and Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY), are drafting a bill for imposing new sanctions on Syria, while Reps. Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Tom Lantos (D-CA), introduced a pro-Israeli resolution expressing solidarity with Israel while condemning Chairman Arafat.

Heard Around Town…

Challenges are being raised to the document circulated by the Israelis allegedly linking Chairman Arafat to suicide bombers. Dated September 16, 2001, four of the seven people listed were assassinated by Israel, the explosives may also have been used against the IDF forces, and at that time, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade was not involved in campaigns against civilians, according to the Electronic Intifada Team report. On Arafat, Yaakov Perry, former head of Shin Bet: “[Arafat’s] at his best under siege. His isolation is ineffective: Arafat will not raise the white flag. He functions exceptionally in underground conditions. Cutting him to size will not break him. …Sharon, in his opinion, wants to bring him to his knees and force him, as a symbol of the Palestinian people, to crawl to surrender. He will not crawl.”