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Bill's Language on Jerusalem Is a Break From U.S. Policy

By Glenn Kessler
The Washington Post
Posted on Saturday September 28, 2002

In a bill that cleared Congress this week authorizing spending for State Department programs, lawmakers approved language that symbolically recognizes Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and urges the president to impose sanctions against the Palestinians if they do not comply with signed agreements.

The bill withholds $10 million of $35 million in economic aid to Lebanon for failing to assert its authority against Hezbollah guerrillas fighting Israel. It also provides for an additional $300 million in aid to Israel, including $100 million in munitions as it prosecutes its campaign in the West Bank and Gaza, while rejecting additional equivalent aid for Egypt.

The language, some of which only emerged in the final days of negotiations, reflects the pro-Israel stance of Congress but comes at a delicate moment in the Middle East. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Israel withdraw from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s compound in Ramallah, while the Bush administration is trying to win Arab support for an attack against Iraq.

“We are trying to build a coalition in the Arab world,” said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. But with passage of the bill, “we will be inflaming people and making it difficult for people to work with us.”

While Bush is expected to sign the bill, the provisions concerning Jerusalem are problematic for the administration. The United States officially says that the status of Jerusalem is subject to negotiations by the Israelis and Palestinians, and it has long kept its embassy in Tel Aviv. The U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, which handles Palestinian issues, reports directly to Washington.

But the bill says no money may be spent for the consulate unless it reports to the U.S. ambassador in Israel, meaning that diplomacy regarding the Palestinians would be filtered through the embassy in Israel. The bill orders all government documents to list Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and will require that passports for U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem record the place of birth as Israel.

While the passport requirement appears highly technical, a congressional staff member said it would unambiguously recognize all of Jerusalem as part of Israel. “This will be symbolically a major change in U.S. policy,’’ he said.

An administration official agreed that “there are many in the region who would view this with grave concern, because it suggests we have abandoned our traditional impartial role.”

Congressional aides said that in the past when such language has been proposed, either the secretary of state or his deputy would call to urge its removal. Aides said they expected such a call this time, but none was received, so the language was maintained. A senior State Department spokesman said officials were aware of the language but decided to use senior officials on other issues. “We told them this was trouble and they knew our concerns,” he said, adding that the White House believes the language impinges on the president’s constitutional prerogative to conduct foreign policy.

Congressional aides acknowledged Bush could simply declare the Jerusalem language a sense of Congress and choose to ignore it, but they expected lawsuits to be filed if the State Department refused to fulfill the passport requirement.