WASHINGTON, 3 May — Senate Democrats have pushed forward a pro-Israeli resolution despite opposition from the White House, the move has initiated a copycat resolution from Republican congressmen.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told President Bush that it was "important for the Senate to go on record" and that he planned to bring up the resolution that was scheduled for a vote yesterday.

In response, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush is concerned that "no foreign policy can survive 535 different secretaries of state."

Republicans and Democrats, many of whom face elections in November, both complain that as the Middle East crisis has intensified, the president’s policy has become increasingly "incoherent, indecisive and too tough on Israel."

So much for an "honest broker policy" in the Middle East, said one Middle East observer here, who said "he wanted to keep his job" and asked to remain anonymous.

Conservatives seem unanimous in attacking their president over Israel. At a conservative foreign policy debate this week in Washington, there was agreement that the president had been humiliated when Ariel Sharon defied his demands to withdraw from the West Bank. But Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan defense official, blamed the president.

"The president should take responsibility for having put himself in a position to be embarrassed. I think if the president is going to tell somebody… ‘You better do this.’ He better be counting on the guy folding. He’s not dealing with a guy who thinks that the right thing to do is fold."

Democrats have also joined in the criticism of the president’s foreign policy, after having declared that subject "off limits" after Sept. 11.

"The president understands that it’s delicate right now in the Middle East," Fleischer told journalists. Few on the Hill seem to be listening.

Last week the White House was able to persuade House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, to postpone his pro-Israel resolution, arguing that it could inflame the situation in the Middle East.

DeLay’s measure declared support for Israel and condemned "the ongoing coordination of terror" by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The White House asked DeLay to rewrite his resolution and state that there are Palestinians interested in peace and to change the reference that Arafat is "coordinating" terror to "tolerating" terror.

The current Senate resolution – sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman, D-Connecticut, and Gordon Smith, R-Oregon – expresses "solidarity" with Israel. It also "demands that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas."

Lieberman spokesman Dan Gerstein said the White House "weighed in with suggestions for changing the Senate resolution," but said Lieberman and other sponsors decided to keep the original language.

Not to be outdone by the Senate, Delay and other Republican leaders scrambled to schedule a House vote on his proposal yesterday. In response, Arab- and Muslim-American organizations have launched an email blitz — calling on their members to immediately contact their representatives on the Hill to voice their opposition to the resolution.

Pro-Israeli congressmen also intend to put their money where their mouths are. The House resolution also is expected to include support for "additional US assistance to help Israel defend itself." No mention of any help for Palestinian survival.

In an excellent example of a politician speaking out of both sides of his mouth, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Missouri said: "Israel is in a moment of great danger, so we’ve got to speak with one voice. We have to support Israel, the only democracy in the region. We have to be a leader for peace and the resumption of peace negotiations."

"The fact that House conservatives and Senate liberals were willing to press ahead on such a sensitive subject highlights the depth and intensity of congressional support for Israel," said yesterday’s Washington Post.

Sharon, meanwhile, is scheduled to visit Washington yet again next week.