WASHINGTON, 16 May — Once, Arab American and Muslim American immigrants were content to work on fulfilling their dream of becoming an American.

Now, as they gain stature and security in America, they also have found their voices in an issue of great importance to all of them: the Arab-Israeli dilemma.

This week, dozens of Arab Americans gathered in Congress to attend the “Emergency Mobilization for Palestine”, a two-day event organized by the Arab American Institute (AAI) to help Arab Americans, and Americans concerned about the Middle East process, learn how to work, and even lobby, for a balanced US policy there.

One of the main problems, according to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, is most of her colleagues on the Hill have never met an Arab Americans or Muslim Americans, let alone sat down and discuss the Middle East with them.

“Many of my colleagues have never spoken with anyone from the Arab American community, they only hear from the Jewish American community. Most of my colleagues do not hear both sides (on the Middle East),” she told the AAI audience.

Majed Jafar, AAI’s director of government relations, said this was the reason for the conference:

“We realized we needed to educate people about the public policy process and what they can do to become part of a constructive dialogue. Too many of these folks wear their emotions on their sleeves, and focus on their opinions too much. We urged them to create a dialogue, and push for a change of public policy — which means they also need to see the other side, in order to push for more positive activity. Yes, we need protests, but we also need constructive dialogue with elected officials,” Jafar told Arab News.

Congressman Darrell Issa, D-California, outlined why it is important for American to be an honest broker in the region: “The Arab League — which once sponsored war against Israel when it was founded — is now sponsoring peace in the Middle East, and most of the world has lined up behind the Arab League. We, in the US, should line up as an honest broker, or we will look very stupid, very quickly.”

Rep. Issa praised the Arab League for its sensibleness: “You don’t bring an olive branch against a machine gun, as the US has done with Israel. The Arab world is doing the right thing by being patient, and by saying: ‘Here is our offer, we ask the world to respond to it, and we ask Israel to respond to it.’

“Israel needs to come out with a statement by this summer’s peace conference.”

The recent pro-Israeli resolution in Congress was a compromise, said Sen. Stabenow, who defeated former Sen. Spencer Abraham last November. “The first resolution was something we could not sign, so we put forward a compromise solution, which included a resolution for the recognition of a 2-state solution.”

Stabenow also spoke of the hardening of US attitudes regarding Islam following Sept. 11.

“Sept. 11 didn’t help, it created a real challenge. People want to be fair, they want to do the right thing, but dehumanizing one side is a problem, and we need to get away from it.”

Americans have to understand there are extremists in every faith, she said. “Here in the US, we had the Ku Klux Klan, which burned the US flag and committed horrible atrocities against non-whites. These people no more represented Christianity than extremists and terrorists represent Islam.”

“The challenge is to look at the full picture, not just the suicide bombers,” she said.

Jean Abi Nader, AAI’s managing director, helped the newly formulated lobbyists outline the issues they would need to focus on when they met their representatives in Congress later in the afternoon.

The most important issues, he said, is to help Congress understand that it can best support US interests by having a balanced position in the Middle East; and to stress that $200 million in aid is the minimum of what the US should give the Palestinians for the reconstruction of areas damaged by the Israelis; and that the Arab peace plan needs a response from the US.

“Israel has always asked for normalized relations with the Arab world, the US needs to back this,” said Abi Nader.

“Every year, 2,000 bills are introduced in Congress. Congressmen listen to their constituents and lobbyists to influence and inform them on how they should vote,” said Abi Nader.