washington | Like any firstborn confronted with the end of only-child status, the pro-Israel community in Washington is learning to deal with the Bush administration’s new baby: a plan for a viable Palestinian state.
Many of Israel’s friends on Capitol Hill maintained a sullen silence last week when Congress passed two resolutions essentially welcoming the prospect of Palestinian statehood, and when President Bush almost quintupled aid to the Palestinians in hopes of achieving that state.
Most conspicuous in its silence was the pro-Israel powerhouse, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which issued a tepid commendation of the resolutions — after the fact, and only when reporters asked.
“This is not in AIPAC’s comfort zone,” one senior House staffer said. “Many of us on the Hill think they lost here.”
AIPAC officials say privately that the initiatives are par for the course and that there was little point in opposing them, given their origin in the White House. They would have preferred to wait a month or so to see if new Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas makes good on his pledge to stop terrorism and end anti-Israel incitement.
It might not have a choice. Bush is making renewed talks between Israel and the Palestinians a centerpiece of his second-term foreign policy. As a result, the man who last year was lauded by many in the Jewish community as the most pro-Israel president in history is marching into uncharted territory, unabashedly advocating a Palestinian state.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had just met separately with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; later, the two declared their intention to end violence. They are each to meet separately with Bush at the White House in the spring.
To be sure, every time Bush or an aide mentions hope for a Palestinian state, it is conditioned on an end to terrorism and the introduction of democratic reforms, items Rice dutifully listed.
Rice also emphasized “the need for Israel to meet its own obligations and make the difficult choices before it,” references to Israel’s pledge to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.
Many pro-Israel groups, chief among them AIPAC, have become accustomed to extracting the best deal possible for Israel from Congress and the administration, and to encountering profound skepticism about the Palestinians.
That may have hobbled them last week, said Seymour Reich, new president of the Israel Policy Forum and a past chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
“I have no doubt that AIPAC’s skepticism of Palestinian efforts in the past has been justified, but AIPAC, like others, has to take another look and give Mahmoud Abbas a chance to encourage him to stop terrorism and to be a full-fledged partner of Sharon,” Reich said. “Things are moving fast. Jewish organizations have to catch up and begin to express support for the initiative.”
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