September 1989, Page 20B.

Religion

Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

Jewish Groups Oppose Amendment Restricting US-PLO Dialogue

The Jewish community split last month on the question of support for a measure proposed by Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) which would have greatly curtailed the dialogue between the United States and the PLO. Three liberal Jewish organizations-the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)-all joined the Bush administration in opposing the Helms amendment to a Senate bill authorizing funds for the State Department.

The amendment, which was defeated by a vote of 75 to 23, would have prohibited the United States from negotiating with any PLO representative unless the president certified to Congress that the representative did not "directly participate in, or conspire in, or was an accessory to the planning or execution of a terrorist activity which resulted in a death, injury or kidnapping of an American citizen."

Helms proposed the measure to protest against recent US talks with Salah Khalaf, a principal advisor to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. Helms alleged that Khalaf was involved in the 1973 murder of two US diplomats, Ambassador Cleo Noel and Charge d'Affairs George Curtis Moore, in Sudan. Khalaf also was a founder of Black September, the Palestinian group which subsequently claimed responsibility for a hostage-taking action in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Henry Siegman, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said the Helms amendment would sabotage Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's plan for Palestinian elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "If we wish the PLO leadership to play a constructive role by permitting the elections to go forward, then the very last thing we should be saying to the PLO is that, no matter what they do and no matter how constructive a role they play, we will never raise the level of our dialogue with them."

Ira Silverman, executive vice president of the American Jewish Committee, and Rabbi Alexander Schindler from the UAHC, which represents Reform Jewry, agreed that the amendment would limit the dialogue with the PLO unnecessarily and deter Palestinians from supporting Shamir's election plan.

More conservative Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL) and B'nai B'rith International (a separate organization), strongly endorsed the Helms amendment. Abraham Foxman, national director of the ADL, said that restricting talks with the PLO could be "a useful reminder that the United States cannot advance the peace process by talking to individuals who are directly involved in terrorist acts."

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the major pro-Israel lobby, supported the Helms amendment. In doing so, however, it could no longer claim to represent all major Jewish groups on every piece of legislation dealing with the Middle East. The American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee and UAHC all belong to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and are well within the mainstream of the Jewish community.

The three liberal Jewish groups in turn supported a compromise version of the Helms amendment, which the Senate approved 97 to 1 (with Helms opposing). The modified amendment would prevent the US from negotiating with a PLO representative if the president "knows of and advises" Congress that the representative directly participated in a terrorist activity. A spokesperson from the American Jewish Congress said this version, unlike the original Helms Amendment, would not end the US-PLO dialogue, although it might prevent contacts with certain PLO officials.

Jewish Peace Lobby Challenges AIPAC

American Jews who support a Palestinian state next to Israel have established a Jewish Peace Lobby in Washington to challenge AIPAC, which claims to represent Jews and other "pro-Israel" Americans on Capitol Hill.

Jerry Segal, president of the new lobby and a research scholar from the University of Maryland, says his group is "pro-Israel" too. Like AIPAC, they believe Israel "has a right to live at peace within secure and well-defined boundaries." But the peace lobby also favors self-determination for the Palestinians and direct talks between Israel and the PLO. It does not support a cut in aid to Israel to force it to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza or accept a Palestinian state. Segal said cutting aid would "signal an American willingness to abandon Israel" and make withdrawal even less likely.

The new group has already been endorsed by over 100 rabbis and by prominent Jews such as Nathan Glazer, professor of sociology at Harvard University; economist Robert Heilbroner from the New School for Social Research; actor Ed Asner; entertainer Peter Yarrow from the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary; and Gloria Steinem, founding editor of Ms. Magazine.

Former Senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern sits on the peace lobby's American advisory board. Its Israeli board includes Moshe Amirav, once a leader of Israel's right-wing Likud Party, Arie Jaffe, foreign secretary of the leftist Zionist Mapam Party, and Chaim Shur, editor of the English-language magazine New Outlook.

Segal said the peace lobby celebrated its "first legislative victory" last month, when it lobbied successfully for a sense of Congress resolution which addressed the closing of Palestinian schools in the West Bank. Both the House and the Senate passed resolutions commending Israel for opening some of the schools on July 22 and urging it not to close them again for political purposes.

The peace lobby sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to support the resolution, sponsored by Howard Nielson (R-UT) in the House and Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) in the Senate. The letter, signed by 51 rabbis, said Israel had "deprived an entire population of their schools" and that this "only served to embitter the Palestinians." The letter referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a "conflict between two nationalisms, each with legitimate claims," and said each side had to "recognize and respect the rights of the other."

"We were the only Jewish organization which was active on behalf of this legislation," said Segal. "AIPAC was trying to block a significant congressional statement on the issue and it failed. Congressional staff told us it was tremendously important to have a Jewish voice speaking out on this issue."

Andrea Barron is a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at the American University in Washington, DC, and is a member of the Jewish Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.