Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 2004, pages 26-27

Congress Watch

 

Congress Passes Slightly Modified Syria Accountability Act

 

By Shirl McArthur

Following the House passage of H.R. 1828, the Syria Accountability Act (see the previous issue of this magazine), the Senate quickly took up and passed the bill on Nov. 11, Veterans Day. Rather than taking up its own version of the bill, S. 982, the Senate dealt directly with the House-passed version, under rules allowing for only one amendment. Then, rather than going through the conference process to reconcile the two versions, the House on Nov. 20 simply agreed to the Senate amendment, clearing the measure for President George W. Bush’s signature. Even though he is not happy about having constraints on his foreign policies, Bush is expected to sign the bill into law.

The Senate’s amendment, offered by Sens. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rick Santorum (R-PA), reportedly was intended to meet some of the administration’s objections to the House-passed bill. In total the changes amount to a slight softening of the bill, although most of the individual items seem relatively minor. The amendment eliminates two of the 36 “findings,” slightly modifies some wording (for example, changing “shall” to “should” in a couple of places), eliminates reference to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack against the U.S., and eliminates language saying “given the recognition that Hezbollah is equally or more capable than al-Qaeda.” The most important change is that it gives the president waiver authority over all of the sanctions listed. The House-passed version did not include waiver authority over the prohibition of the export of “dual use” items to Syria. The Senate passed the amendment by voice vote.

The amended bill was then quickly passed on an 89-4 roll call vote. Those voting against it were Sens. Robert Byrd (D-WV), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Jim Jeffords (I-VT). Byrd, Chafee, and Jeffords all spoke against the bill on the floor of the Senate.

The House agreed to the Senate amendment by a roll call vote of 408-8, with 17 abstentions and one, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), voting “present.” Those voting “no” were Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), John Dingell (D-MI), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Nick Rahall (D-WV), and Pete Stark (D-CA).

Although rendered moot by the passage of H.R. 1828, the Senate version, S. 982, had gathered 82 co-sponsors. The 18 senators who did not sign on to the bill were Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Byrd, Chafee, Enzi, Bill Frist (R-TN), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Ernest Hollings (D-SC), Jeffords, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Lugar, Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Rockefeller (D-WV), Arlen Specter (R-PA), John Sununu (R-NH), Craig Thomas (R-WY), and John Warner (R-VA).

 

Senate Hearings Focus on Mideast

The last half of October saw a series of Senate hearings on the Middle East. The first three, by the full Foreign Relations Committee, dealt with the peace process, Iran, and Syria. The fourth, called by the Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, dealt with the question of whether Palestinian educational materials promote violence against Israelis.

An Oct. 15 hearing, on “The Middle East Road Map: Overcoming Obstacles to Peace,” was chaired by Middle East subcommittee chairman Chafee, who is a member of this magazine’s “Hall of Fame.” Two of the witnesses, former Ambassador Dennis Ross, who was the Clinton administration’s point man on the Mideast peace process and who now heads the AIPAC-spinoff Washington Institute of Near East Policy (WINEP), and Dr. Boaz Ganor, executive director of the International Policy Institute on Counter Terrorism, predictably claimed that the main obstacle to peace is Chairman Yasser Arafat, and that any resolution or easing of the situation can come about only if he is removed from the process.

On the other side, coordinator of Peace Now’s Settlements Watch Team Dror Etkes forcefully made the case that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and Gaza are the main obstacles to peace. “Settlements in the occupied territories,” he testified, “threaten our existence as a Jewish, democratic state, weaken the security of Israel, drain our economic resources, undermine our society’s moral fiber, and serve to perpetuate Israeli rule over another people in a way that prevents Israel from reaching peace with the Palestinians.”

Another voice for reason was that of former Deputy Prime Minister to Ehud Barak Rabbi Michael Melchior, who gave what was perhaps the most thoughtful testimony. He, too, said that “it is in Israel’s best interest that the Palestinians have a viable prosperous state,” because “if there will be only one state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, it will not be Jewish, and/or it will not be a democracy.” The rabbi agreed with Ross and Ganor that the Palestinians must dismantle the terrorist organizations, but said it is because if there is to be a Palestinian state, “the Palestinian leadership…must realize that no state can exist with uncontrolled armed militias in its midst.” Finally, he agreed with Etkes that Israel must dismantle the settlements, saying that “until we can negotiate agreed borders, we may be forced to pull out of the Gaza Strip and much of the West Bank unilaterally, and establish a secure division between us and the Palestinians.”

The hearing that received the most press attention was the two-part hearing on Iran, with the first part, closed to the public, held Oct. 28 and chaired by Foreign Relations Committee chairman Lugar. While none of the four witnesses at the public hearing were particularly friendly toward Iran, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made news by saying, six months after the Bush administration had stopped all talks with Tehran, that the administration is prepared “to engage in limited discussions with the government of Iran about areas of mutual interest as appropriate.” He also said, however, that any such talks would not be a “broad dialogue with the aim of normalizing relations.”

Lugar’s opening statement was uncompromising. “Despite some signs of reform in recent years,” he said, “Iran continues to pose a serious regional and global security threat through its active support for terrorism and its continued efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction in direct violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.”

The Indiana senator was skeptical regarding the agreement reached between the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Iran for Tehran to accept enhanced U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities and to temporarily suspend enrichment of uranium. In the short run, he argued, the Europeans “will be inclined to give Tehran the benefit of the doubt.…But the U.S. should begin laying the groundwork now for a decisive international response to any additional violations.”

In his opening statement, committee Ranking Minority Member Biden urged expanded dialogue with Tehran, because “certainly there is a great deal to discuss.” He called for “a policy of hard-headed engagement with Iran to do what we can to promote positive Iranian policies without any illusions about our ability to profoundly affect the outcome.”

During the hearing, Chafee wondered whether Iran’s policies might largely be motivated by concerns that neither Israel nor the U.S. seems to be seriously pursuing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “From the Iranian point of view,” he noted, “obviously they would be concerned. Nothing’s happening.”

 

Syria Hearing Shows Pointlessness of Syria Accountability Act

The hearing on Syria, held Oct. 30 with Lugar as chairman, also was in two parts. Witnesses for the second, open, session included Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns, former Ambassador and currently senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Murphy, and WINEP Deputy Director Patrick Clawson, who always can be counted on to advance Israel’s position.

In his opening statement Lugar referred to the debates regarding the Syria Accountability Act, acknowledging that most of the sanctions called for in the bill already are available to the president because of Syria’s presence on the State Department’s “state sponsors of terrorism” list. Noting that “we should be careful about restricting our government’s flexibility in responding to diplomatic opportunities,” Lugar also mentioned a number of issues of contention between Syria and the U.S.

Burns elaborated on those issues, while acknowledging Syrian cooperation on some issues. “While Syria has decided to work constructively with the United States in some areas,” he told the committee, “on balance we remain very concerned that the government in Damascus continues to exert a negative influence on several of the critical foreign policy priorities.…Until Syria shows itself committed to comprehensive peace in the region through concrete actions, it will continue to find itself at odds with the United States and increasingly isolated internationally.”

Clawson’s presentation was predictably hostile toward Syria, charging that “Bashar Assad seems to be campaigning to join the axis of evil.” He tried to downplay the fact that the Syria Accountability Act includes few sanctions not already available to the president by saying, “Some might say that the Act is largely symbolic, but do not underestimate the importance of symbols.”

Twelve days later, Chafee, explaining on the floor of the Senate why he was voting against the Act, raised Clawson’s remark, saying, “and that concerns me, because the symbol of the United States as cracking down on an Arab nation ultimately harms our interests in many very important parts of the world.”

yhe Oct. 30 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations subcommittee hearing on “Palestinian Education—Teaching Peace or War?,” chaired by subcommittee chairman Specter, was ostensibly to determine whether U.S. aid money was being used for educational materials fostering hatred toward Israel and Israelis. It quickly became obvious, however, that it was intended as a Palestinian-bashing session, with the first 20 minutes being devoted to a video documentary produced by the Israeli organization “Palestine Media Watch” (PMW), which is notorious for its one-sided selection of material, entitled “Ask for Death,” purporting to show how the PA indoctrinates Palestinian children to seek shahada, or martyrdom.

Among the witnesses were Itamar Marcus of the PMW and Morton Klein, president of the extreme right Zionist Organization of America. Both emphasized videos and other broadcasts allegedly intended “to indoctrinate children to hatred, violence, and shahada.” Never mind that the subject of the hearing was U.S.-funded educational materials (Palestinian broadcasting services have been explicitly prohibited from receiving U.S. aid money for years).

 

The Syria Accountability Act includes few sanctions not already available to the president.

Joining in the non-sequitur was Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), a member of neither the subcommittee nor of the full Appropriations committee, who invited herself so that she could denounce PA broadcasts featuring children praising terrorism.

The other side included American Task Force on Palestine president Ziad Asali. In contrast to the rather shrill testimonies of Marcus and Klein, Asali gave a reasoned presentation basically sticking to the subject of Palestinian educational materials. He pointed out that Jordanian and Egyptian textbooks continued to be used until the PA began a review of them in 1994 and began phasing in new textbooks for the 2000-2001 academic year. He cited objective studies conducted by George Washington University Professor Nathan Brown (2001), the European Union (2002), and the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (2003) that show, to quote the EU report, that the “new textbooks, although not perfect, are free of inciteful content and improve the previous textbooks, constituting a valuable contribution to the education of young Palestinians.”

 

Bills Modifying PATRIOT Act Gaining Support

The two bills introduced in the House and the Senate aimed at correcting the abuses of the “PATRIOT Act,” and mentioned in the previous issue of this magazine, are slowly gaining co-sponsors. In the House, H.R. 3171, introduced by Kucinich on Sept. 24 and which calls for “an appropriate review of recently enacted legislation relating to terrorism to assure that powers granted in it do not inappropriately undermine civil liberties,” has gained four co-sponsors, all Democrats. They are Reps. Anna Eshoo (CA), Major Owens (NY), Ed Pastor (AZ) and Linda Sanchez (CA).

The Senate bill, S. 1709, introduced Oct. 2 by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), which would “place reasonable limitations on the use of surveillance and the issuance of search warrants,” and would “sunset” some of the act’s most controversial surveillance provisions, has gained three co-sponsors, Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Kerry (D-MA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

 

Other Bills

Consistent with the continuing drumbeat of congressional criticism of Iran, the identical resolutions expressing Congress’s “deep concern” regarding Iran’s alleged failure “to adhere to its obligations under a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency” and its “activities that appear to be designed to develop nuclear weapons” also are gaining support. The Senate bill, S.Con.Res. 73, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on Oct. 15, has 11 new co-sponsors since those named in the previous issue. They are Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Zell Miller (D-GA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Santorum, and Gordon Smith (R-OR).

The House version, H.Con.Res. 307, introduced by Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) on Oct. 20, has 18 new co-sponsors: Reps. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Tom Davis (R-VA), Peter Deutsch (D-FL), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Walter Jones (R-NC), Ray LaHood (R-IL), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Jon Porter (R-NV), Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ed Schrock (R-VA), Mark Souder (R-IN), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Robert Wexler (D-FL), and Joe Wilson (R-SC).

However, H.R. 3347, introduced Oct. 20 by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), which would expand the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, has gained no co-sponsors. Neither has H.R. 3137, introduced Sept. 17 by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), which would add Saudi Arabia to the list of countries prohibited from receiving U.S. aid.

An interesting new bill, apparently intended to deflect attention away from the Palestinian refugee issue, is H.Con.Res. 311, introduced Oct. 28 by Ros-Lehtinen and expressing “the sense of Congress that the international community should recognize the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East should establish a program for resettling Palestinian refugees.” It also says that “Arab countries should accept a meaningful number of refugees and take a larger role in financing UNRWA.” The five co-sponsors in addition to Ros-Lehtinen are Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Souder, and Joe Wilson.

Shirl McArthur, a retired U.S. foreign service officer, is a consultant in the Washington, DC area.

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