washington | In case anyone has missed the latest rapprochement between Israel and the Palestinians in the Middle East, take a look at what’s happening in Washington.
The pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Americans for Peace Now are joining forces to defeat an effort to strangle massive aid to the Palestinians.
And the Israeli and Palestinian envoys to Washington are exchanging pleasantries while agreeing on the need for American generosity to the Palestinians — as well as Palestinian transparency and self-discipline.
All those forces were lined up this week to push $200 million in emergency assistance for the Palestinians through the U.S. Congress. The aid was overwhelmingly approved Wednesday, March 16, by the House of Representatives. The Senate is expected to approve a similar measure.
The $200 million is part of the House appropriations bill for $81 billion in supplemental aid for the war on terrorism, including for Iraq. The bill earmarks $5 million of the $200 million in assistance to the Palestinians for an outside audit before any aid is disbursed.
Included in the package was an amendment approved last week by the House Appropriations Committee. The amendment, introduced by Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), removes a national security waiver, which presidents have used in the past to rush aid to the Palestinians. That could slow down the aid, as now each dollar of the $200 million must come under congressional scrutiny.
But lawmakers defeated an effort to put a brake on the aid altogether.
Last week, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) introduced a measure that would prohibit all assistance to the Palestinians pending presidential certification that the Palestinian leadership “is not tainted by violence,” a tall order given the intifada over the past several years.
The measure, which Weiner then offered as an amendment to the legislation on Tuesday, March 15, was defeated by the House.
Make no mistake: There are still some substantive differences among the newfound pals — chiefly over the arduousness of the reporting procedures attached to the aid — but there’s a definite shift in perspectives.
“It symbolizes the changes of the time, and I hope the time is changing,” Daniel Ayalon, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, said earlier this week of his Capitol Hill appearance with Hassan Abdel Rahman, the Palestine Liberation Organization representative.