WASHINGTON, 8 August — First, you have a new president who parades scores of Israelis through the White House, but refuses to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Then you have senators and congressmen who — knowing that their campaign cash comes from Jewish supporters in their home districts — fall all over themselves in their rush to propose bills to punish the Palestinians for the Mideast crisis. Now you have misguided US evangelicals who are more Zionist than many Israelis.
Not only are these evangelicals urging the president to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (because according to their interpretation of the Bible, the “Holy Land” belongs to the Jews), but they are also urging the State Department not to negotiate with the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Representatives of these evangelicals pushed these issues last week when they met with White House officials. The event was hosted by a group of conservative evangelicals and their Jewish allies.
Their meeting is said to have focused primarily on President Bush’s campaign pledge to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
In 1995, urged on by their Jewish constituents, Congress passed a law to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. President Clinton opted to use an escape clause allowing him to postpone the move on national security grounds.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, President Bush promised to implement the law, but he signed a waiver this June postponing any relocation for six months.
Christian leaders attending the White House meeting included Michael Little, president of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), and representatives of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and the Christians’ Israel Public Action Committee.
Leaders of Americans for a Safe Israel (ASI) and Zionist Organizations of America joined them.
The group also voiced their objection to the “land for peace” terminology used as a major negotiating point in the peace process.
“Our problem today is, how do we turn the White House around so they don’t side with the peacemakers and give up what is rightly ours?” Herbert Zweibon, chairman of the ASI, told journalists before the meeting. The Israeli Embassy also hosted the group.
Little, of CBN, said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was not a “legitimate negotiating partner,” and that US policy was driven by concern over Arab oil, not the Palestinian uprising or terrorism in Israel. He said he represented more conservative believers who support CBN, and that they will not abandon Israel just to lower the price of oil.
