Issue No.587
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23 -29 May 2002 Issue No.587 Region |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
To Israel with love
US Congress has once again shown where its sympathies lie in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thomas Gorguissian writes from Washington
A group of American lawmakers have called for holding Palestinian President Yasser Arafat accountable for "terrorism acts against Israel" and asked for sanctions against the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Coming on the heels of resolutions passed by the House and the Senate expressing solidarity for Israel, this action is the second recent instance in which US lawmakers have shown where there sympathies lie in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Click to view captionThe Arafat Accountability Act -- as the bill was named -- would urge Arafat and the PLO to condemn all acts of terrorism and would deny visas to any member of the PLO. It would also downgrade PLO representation in the United States, which would mean returning their office to pre-Oslo status.
Moreover, the bill sought to impose travel restrictions on the senior PLO representative at the United Nations and to freeze the assets of the PLO and any personal assets of Yasser Arafat in the US.
This bill was introduced by Representative Gary Ackerman, ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East, and Representative Roy Blunt, chief deputy majority whip of the House. "Today, with Congressman Blunt and my other colleagues," Ackerman said, "we are sending two messages to the Palestinian leadership: first, that our policy of 'all-carrot-no-stick' is finished, and second, that America's never-ending supply of 'one- last-chances' has run out of last chances."
A similar version of the legislation was introduced last month at the Senate by Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.
The actions by members of the Senate and the House in the last few weeks put paid to any doubts that Israel's friends on the Hill are many -- the majority, in fact.
On another front, the House Appropriations Committee voted last week to give Israel an extra $200 million in military aid. This extra cash was sought and supported as part of an emergency counter-terrorism bill. Israel was repeatedly described by Congress members as "the front line" in confronting terrorism, and thus deserving of extra support. And because the administration urged Congress to take the Palestinians into consideration, the House bill also includes $50 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
The Arafat Accountability Act would require the US president to report to Congress every 90 days on possible PLO terrorist activities and, accordingly, determine whether the PLO should be designated a terrorist organisation based on those findings.
"This legislation is a statement", Ackerman, a New York Democrat, asserted. "And that statement is 'enough is enough'." He then went on to enumerate "Palestinian terrorist acts". "By imposing sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, the United States will show that we have had enough of excuses for terrorism, for revolving jail doors, for smuggled Iranian weapons, for corruption and misspent aid money, for children being taught to worship suicide bombers, for vile anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred being broadcast over government networks and taught in schools, for collusion between a so-called partner for peace and the Tanzim and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad."
Coincidentally, the US government last week released to Congress a report which found "no conclusive evidence" to back the Israeli claims that Arafat was directly involved in the funding and planning of attacks against Israeli civilians. The State Department report says, "While there is no conclusive evidence that the senior PA [Palestinian Authority] or PLO leadership approved or had advanced knowledge of planned attacks, the weight of evidence would indicate that they knew of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Tanzim and elements of Force 17 involvement in the violence and did little to rein them in." The report goes on to say that there is no evidence that these elements were disciplined either. This report, required under the 1989 PLO Commitments and Compliance Act, is released twice a year to Congress. The latest findings cover the period from 16 June 2001 to 15 December 2001.
The report, not surprisingly, angered friends and supporters of Israel. "The events during the period, and since the reporting period, totally undermine the credibility of this report," Representative Tom Lantos said in an interview with The New York Times. Lantos also mentioned that he intended to ask Secretary of State Colin Powell to issue a supplemental report before the next regular report this fall "just to highlight the obvious facts that are a matter of common knowledge and not in dispute." Arafat -- the California Democrat insisted -- "was directly involved with the planning of the Karine A terrorist operation and other terrorist activities that are now common knowledge." The Karine A is a ship that was intercepted in the Gulf of Aqaba in January carrying a cargo of arms allegedly destined for the occupied territories.
The Arafat Accountability Act is expected to face resistance from the Bush Administration simply because it ties their hands and has the potential to undermine the US's role as an intermediary in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was also reported that Senator Mitch McConnell, sponsor of the Senate bill, said he does not expect to bring the bill to the Senate floor anytime soon, but prefers to have the bill "sitting there, ready to go" should violence escalate.
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