August/September 1992, Page 8, 9

From the Democratic Party Convention

Room in the Tent for Everyone But Arab Americans

By Eugene Bird

All hues in the spectrum of Jewish opinion, from AIPAC to Peace Now, were discernible at the table of power in the Democratic National Convention in New York. In fact, mainstream Jewish leaders expressed great relief that the party traditionally supporting Israel was "back in the fold," and no longer arguing from the convention floor, as in 1988, over self-determination for Palestinians. Only the die-hard Likud supporters within the Israel lobby seemed to be missing from the inner councils at the convention.

Two key officials from the Clinton campaign, Samuel (Sandy) Berger and Michael Mandelbaum, defended the party platform which called for unconditional loan guarantees. Jewish American Peace Now advocates, in a rough private questioning of Mandelbaum, made clear that they want to see an end to settlements as a price for peace. But the unity ultimately demonstrated by both hard-line pro-Israel delegates and Jewish peace advocates in supporting the party and its platform makes it certain that the Clinton-Gore ticket will garner far more than the 70 percent of Jewish votes that went to Dukakis and Bensten in 1988.

Although Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Zalman Shoval, a Likud political appointee, attended the convention, only Yitzhak Shamir's American supporters seemed left out of the mainstream Jewish effort to bring the Democratic Party back to traditional unquestioning support for Israel. They were reduced to handing out "Peace for Peace" buttons.

Campaign and Jewish Organization Officials "Indistinguishable"

Jewish organization officials and Democratic campaign officials were almost "indistinguishable," as Forward, the New York Jewish weekly, put it. They mounted a full-court press behind the scenes against Arab Americans, who were excluded from key positions in convention program and policy councils. Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar (D-OH) was removed as co-chair of the Platform Committee at the last minute, and was granted no opportunity to speak at the convention.

Arab Americans reacted differently to the party's tilt toward Israel. Some may take the advice of one convention official who actually told them they should vote for George Bush. Others said they would remain in the party and work for Clinton's election to the extent they are allowed to do so. Their rationale is that former President Carter and 1972 candidate George McGovern would have some clout in a Clinton/Gore administration, and they are balanced and fair on the issue of Middle East peace.

Jackson Rated Top Applause

At the convention, however, only Jesse Jackson dared to mention Palestine, in a speech that provided one of the convention's emotional highlights. Although Jackson received heavy and enthusiastic applause, The New York Times called it te speech of a crippled politician. However, a news service that surveyed reporting across the country on the Jackson speech concluded that the Times was definitely alone in its claim that Jackson, allowed to speak during the least attractive All-Star Game time slot, was wounded and all but finished politically.

Jackson to Arabs: You Will Overcome

Jackson also appeared at a reception hosted jointly by the Arab American Institute and U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce and urged Arab Americans to have patience with the party. "At Atlantic City 28 years ago, they wouldn't let the black delegation from Mississippi into the convention," he said. "This year, we have a black chairman. Stay engaged, don't give up as Arab Americans. You will overcome."

It took two Jewish students from Brown University to confound convention scene setters by unfurling a huge banner in the gallery inscribed "Palestinian Rights." Television cameras carefully avoided the spectacle and security people twice moved the students to less conspicuous spots, although they claimed this treatment had nothing to do with the message on the sign.

Veep candidate Sen. Albert Gore appeared before an AIPAC group, but not before the Arab Americans. At the AIPAC meeting, officials were disturbed that he did not mention Israel once. Gore was said to have left Israel out of his remarks because he did not wish to appear to "pander" to special interests such as AIPAC.

Gore Will Be Keeper of the Israeli Faith

Gore, whose indefatigable pandering to the Israel lobby in the 1988 New York primaries was one of the reasons his candidacy never caught fire then, is likely to be a key point of access for Israel in any Democratic administration. He has said recently that Jews have a right to live in the "administered" territories but that "the future of Israel and the occupied territories will be for the parties to determine," a formulation little different from the Bush-Baker policy. He went on to say that, "Jerusalem must remain undivided and open and accessible to people of all faiths from all the great religious traditions," again a similar policy to that of the present administration. But Gore criticized the "Bush-Quayle administration" for drawing "an equivalence between East Jerusalem and the occupied territories."

New Jewish Grassroots Effort

A new one-year-old AIPAC spin-off, the National Jewish Democratic Council, assembled 500 members for a convention breakfast addressed by Democratic Campaign Chairman Ron Brown, Convention Chair Ann Richards, New York Mayor David Dinkins, and Jewish officials of the Carter administration. Breakfast participants were informed that the NJDC is planning to mobilize 10,000 Jewish activists to operate at the grassroots level on behalf of the Democratic ticket.

The performance left little doubt that in a Clinton administration there will be a full panoply of Jewish officials in key foreign affairs and security positions dealing with the Middle East. By contrast, there appear to be no ethnic Arab Americans nor any Arabic-speaking Americans among top Clinton advisers.

Eugene Bird, a retired U.S. foreign service officer, is diplomatic correspondent for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

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