Sharon wins high marks on D.C. visit

WASHINGTON — Jewish communal leaders heaved sighs of relief this week on the success of Ariel Sharon’s first visit to Washington in his new role as prime minister of a violence-plagued Israel.

Sharon won high marks for his smooth diplomatic performance in meetings with members of Congress and the administration, including President Bush.

And he won praise from Jewish leaders for his strong emphasis on outreach to a community that had been nervous about what impact the election of a hawkish prime minister would have on U.S.-Israeli relations.

“Mr. Sharon was serious, thoughtful and statesmanlike,” said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), a senior Jewish member of Congress and ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee. Lantos attended two meetings with Sharon. “The reaction of both the administration and Congress, on a bipartisan level, is extremely positive. We all understand who is responsible for the current crisis; we are fully supportive that there cannot be any negotiations until the violence completely ceases.”

Sharon, he said, directly addressed concerns about his reputation both in the American Jewish community and in political circles.

“Whatever doubts some may have had about him will be quickly dissipated,” Lantos said.

Sharon left Washington with much of what he came for, including explicit U.S. acceptance of his decision not to negotiate with the Palestinians until the current violence subsides.

Asked if he had worked hard to convince Bush that Israel should not negotiate under fire, Sharon said, “I didn’t have to talk to President Bush about that. I think what I understand the policy of…the United States [to be] is that one should not surrender to terror and pressure and violence. And therefore, I don’t have to work too hard on this thing. I even didn’t try.”

But Sharon — who did most of the talking during the two meetings at the White House — made that argument vigorously in meetings on Capitol Hill and with other top administration officials.

During a session with about 25 Jewish House and Senate members Tuesday, Sharon expressed confidence the administration supports Israel’s position on resumption of negotiations.

Sharon “told us that the president seemed fully supportive of the idea that peace cannot be dictated by the United States — or any other third party — and that you cannot negotiate under the threat of violence,” said Rep. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a leading member of the Jewish delegation in the House.

In return, Bush pressed the Israeli leader to ease restrictions clamped down on Palestinian cities in response to the current violence.

The administration believes the economic sanctions are choking the Palestinian economy and contributing to the violence.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters, said Bush wants both sides to “take steps to try to ease the volatility of the region.” That includes steps to “try to restore normal economic life, to ease closures.”

The administration also signaled a new, less intrusive U.S. stance toward Mideast negotiations.

“I told [Sharon] that our nation will not try to force peace, that we will facilitate peace and we will work with those responsible for peace,” Bush said during a White House photo op.

At a speech before AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, on Monday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said U.S. policy will now be to “assist, not insist…only the parties themselves can determine the pace and scope and content of any negotiations.”

Sharon asked for Bush’s help in winning the release of Israeli POWs and MIAs, and for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, according to Israel Radio. And on Monday, Sharon wore a blue ribbon on his lapel. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs has distributed hundreds of ribbons to members of Congress as part of a campaign to highlight the plight of Israeli prisoners.

Sharon also raised the issue of additional military aid to help Israel pay the costs of last year’s withdrawal from Lebanon and boost the nation’s anti-missile defenses. That aid was promised by the Clinton administration last year but neither the White House nor the Republican Congress pushed the issue, so the request died at the end of the last Congress.

“The supplemental appropriation is definitely an issue he feels very strongly about, ” Cardin said, “and he wants us to work very hard to help.”

But Jewish lawmakers say Sharon was unclear about whether the president had committed to working for the extra money.

And a senior administration official, briefing reporters after the meetings, said that new aid is not high on the administration’s list of priorities.

“The president is right in the middle of a tax-cut battle and trying to move his budget forward,” the official said. “And I think his priority right now is on working those issues. And the specific steps, in terms of assistance packages, I think is something that we first need to get through our own domestic agenda.”

Responding to criticisms that his predecessors always came to Washington with hands outstretched, Sharon deliberately downplayed his requests for aid during his meetings with Bush, sources here said.

Contrary to Israeli press reports, Sharon did not signal a willingness to dismantle settlements in Gaza or make any changes in Israel’s settlement policy in an effort to win an interim agreement with the Palestinians.

In fact, Jerusalem authorities approved some 3,000 additional homes in the city’s outskirts for the controversial Har Homa project, prompting criticism from the State Department even as Sharon and Bush were meeting at the White House.

“We don’t think that continued construction activity like this contributes to peace or stability,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Tuesday.

Nevertheless, observers said the meeting between Bush and Sharon was incredibly congenial.

Just as important as the diplomatic exchange at the White House was Sharon’s carefully crafted outreach to the American Jewish community.

“The prime minister is a realist,” said an Israeli official attending the AIPAC conference. “He understands that there will be times when U.S. and Israeli interests may seem to conflict. He really believes that the American Jewish community has a big role to play, and that this community has not been treated as a real partner in recent years.”

David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Israeli journalist, said that a primary goal of Sharon’s visit was “to secure his base in the Jewish community.”

Sharon’s job was made easier by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s return to violence, he said.

In his speech to delegates of the pro-Israel lobby’s policy conference, Sharon set out his markers on Jerusalem in the first sentence.

“I bring you greetings from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years, and of the state of Israel for the past 52 years and forever,” he said, prompting an immediate standing ovation. “Jerusalem belongs to all the Jewish people — we in Israel are only custodians of the city…Jerusalem will remain united under the sovereignty of Israel — forever.”

Sharon told the group that a central goal of his government will be to “strengthen the relationship between Israel and Jews all over the world. I have established a national unity government to unite the people of Israel, but unity among Jews is vital worldwide. Unity is our source of strength.”

Sharon promoted aliyah and tourism to Israel, saying that “the future of Israel is not just a matter for the Israelis that live there. Israel belongs to the entire Jewish people…our destinies tie us together and remain firmly bound.

Some Jewish observers noted that Sharon showed a human side that helped counteract his image as “the bulldozer.”

“He came off as much more humorous than people expected,” said Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who participated in a meeting with Sharon just before the AIPAC speech, and again the next day on Capitol Hill. “He was very focused on what he has to do here to work with the new administration, and what he has to do at home to create unity.”

Sharon began the critical diplomatic mission against the backdrop of continuing Palestinian violence, and intensifying diplomatic sparring as both sides wait for the Bush administration to fill out its Mideast team.

An Israeli soldier was attacked near Nablus on Sunday, and the Israeli army reimposed the military blockade of Bethlehem; a motorist, the father of six, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Monday.

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