WASHINGTON, 28 February 2005 — Rightwing pro-Israeli supporters on Capitol Hill are trying to block the Bush Administration attempts to jumpstart the Palestinians’ economy and revive the peace process with increased aid.
Following the January election of Palestinian President Mohamoud Abbass, US President George W. Bush said he would welcome Abbas to the White House.
The Bush Administration then asked Congress for $200 million in emergency aid for the Palestinians, in addition to the $150 million for the Palestine in the president’s 2006 fiscal budget.
But some lawmakers on the Hill are trying to block Bush’s request to directly give aid to the Palestinian Authority. “If you want to ensure that there will not be a peace process, the you attach enough strings (to the aid package) that you strangle the process,” Rep. Gary Ackerman of New York, the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East, told journalists.
Congressional staffers sought guidance from the American Israeli Public Affairs committee, “the most influential pro-Israel lobbying organization,” in Washington, and were told that AIPAC “supports aid to the Palestinians, including direct cash assistance” — as long as safeguards are in place to ensure the funds are not used to fund terrorism to “perpetuate corruption in the Palestinian Authority,” said Forward, a New York-based Jewish newspaper.
Lobbying against the Palestinian aid is the Zionist Organization of America, which is also sharply critical of Israeli Prime Minister Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza.
House Majority Leader Tom Delay, whom Forward calls “a top ZOA ally,” is trying to impede progress to aid the Palestinians. His aides told reporters last week that the majority leader, who is suspicious of current Israeli-Palestine peace efforts, and the new Palestinian Authority, would try to detach most of the proposed Palestinian aid from the administrations $82 billion supplemental spending request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is not the first time Delay has blocked efforts to aid the Palestinians. Last December he blocked almost all the $20 million requested by the Bush Administration to assist the election of a new Palestinians president. Delay insisted the money be used instead to cover Palestinian utility bills to Israel.
Israel officials have said both they and the White House support safeguards against the money being diverted to terrorist activities, and Palestinian officials also said publicly such safeguards are welcome.
Israelis officials have told journalists they worry they might be facing a situation similar to the one that existed in the mid-1990s, when rightwing American Jews strongly opposed the Palestinian-Israeli Oslo process.
