Senate Supports Visa Denial

By Dennis J. Wamsted

When Secretary of State George Shultz decided on November 26 to deny a visa application to allow Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to address the United Nations in New York in early December, the secretary's decision was castigated by virtually the entire world—with the notable exceptions of the Israeli government and 68 US senators.

Secretary Shultz had based his decision on assertions that "The US government has convincing evidence that PLO elements have engaged in terrorism against Americans and others ... As chairman of the PLO, Mr. Arafat is responsible for actions of these organizations which are units of Fatah, an element of the PLO of which he also is chairman and which is under his control."

Shultz's reasoning was universally faulted, particularly among such European allies as Great Britain, France, Italy, and Norway, and Middle Eastern supporters as Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps the strongest condemnation was offered by UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, who said in a statement released soon after Shultz's decision: "Such a decision is incompatible with the obligations of the host country." The subsequent UN General Assembly vote to hold a session in Geneva so that Arafat could present his case only underlined US isolation. Of 159 UN members, 153 voted for the motion, the US and Israel opposed it, Britain abstained, and three members were absent.

As is so often true with US policy decisions regarding the Middle East, the only vocal supporters were Israel and the US Congress. Indeed, the Senate's response clearly illustrates the awesome clout wielded by the pro-Israel lobby, orchestrated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), over US policy in the Middle East. Although out of session, 61 sitting senators as well as 7 senators-elect signed a letter to Secretary Shultz praising the decision-less than three days after it was announced. The signatories included 33 Democrats and 35 Republicans, including Vice President-elect Dan Quayle.

The Senate's response clearly illustrates the awesome clout wielded by the pro-Israel lobby, orchestrated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee over US policy in the Middle East.

The letter, which was organized by Senator Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), who has gradually become one of the Senate's most aggressive defenders of Israel, said in part: "We are extremely pleased to learn of your decision to deny ... Arafat's application for a visa to visit the United Nations in the United States. We strongly commend you for the courage you showed in articulating this issue." The Senators' letter praised Shultz for having "rightfully and lawfully concluded [that] such an individual has no place in the United States."

The scope of AIPAC's influence in this most recent letter is clear. Less than two months earlier, only 51 senators had signed a similar letter to Secretary Shultz asking him to deny a visa application from Arafat should one be submitted. Interestingly, that first letter was written before the November elections, when kowtowing to the pro-Israel lobby might have been politically beneficial, and while Congress was still in session. Perhaps, having suffered several electoral defeats, AIPAC decided to flex its muscle before the new Congress convened in Washington in January.

Notwithstanding the senators' letter, the affair ultimately was a disaster for American supporters of a hardline anti-PLO policy. After Arafat's Geneva speech and clear disarray within the Reagan administration, a reluctant George Shultz was forced to yield to almost unanimous advice from the State Department and the National Security Council and agree to begin a long-delayed dialogue between the US government and the PLO.

Mitchell Elected Senate Majority Leader

During a closed-door session in late November, Senate Democrats tapped Senator George Mitchell (D-ME), 55, as the body's new majority leader. Mitchell, who has been a senator only since 1980 when he was selected to fill the unexpired term of former Senator Edmund Muskie, will succeed Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) when the 101st Congress convenes in early January. Mitchell easily defeated his two Democratic rivals, Louisiana's Bennett Johnston and Hawaii's Daniel Inouye, in what most observers had thought would be a tightly-contested race.

Even though Mitchell is of Lebanese descent, in his eight years in the Senate, Mitchell has compiled a generally pro-Israel record. Specifically, the Maine Democrat, who served as a federal prosecutor and judge before joining the Senate, has voted in favor of Israel's annual US aid stipend, which now totals $3 billion a year. Mitchell has also generally opposed the Reagan administration's efforts to sell arms to moderate Arab allies of the US, notably Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Not surprisingly, Mitchell's name has appeared on many of the Senate letters to Secretary of State Shultz and President Reagan opposing these arms sale proposals.

Still, Mitchell has been willing to defy the pro-Israel lobby at times, something many of his colleagues would never even consider. In particular, last March Mitchell was one of 30 generally pro-Israel senators who wrote to Shultz urging him to proceed with his Arab-Israeli peace initiative and calling upon Israel to adhere to the traditional "land-for-peace" formula as the basis for resolving the festering Arab-Israeli conflict.

The letter provoked a storm of controversy on Capitol Hill and even one counter letter. Although the letter was quickly forgotten, it shows that Mitchell has the courage to act independently when he so desires. Similarly, the new majority leader did not sign the recent letter to Shultz regarding Arafat's visa application. In this case, however, an aide claimed it was simply an oversight and that the Maine Democrat had not seen the letter before it was delivered to the secretary of state.

A decidedly less independent voice, Senator Robert Dole (R-KS), was re-elected as the minority leader by the Senate's 45 Republicans. Dole, a long-standing supporter of Israel, ran unsuccessfully against President-elect Bush for this year's Republican presidential nomination and, in the process, publicly disavowed the letter of 30 signed by Mitchell and played a leading role in seeking to close the PLO's observer mission at the United Nations.

Committee Preview

The committee ratios on the three key Senate panels involved with Middle East affairs-appropriations, armed services and foreign relations will remain the same in the 101st Congress, although the makeup of the three will change slightly. The biggest shift will occur on the appropriations panel, where Democrats Brock Adams of Washington, Wyche Fowler of Georgia and Robert Kerrey of Nebraska will replace three retiring members. Former Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, who will chair the appropriations panel, will also take a seat on the Armed Services Committee, replacing retiring Mississippian John Stennis. Finally, Senator Kerrey's place on the foreign relations panel will be taken by incoming Virginia Senator Charles Robb.

Stability reigned supreme in the House of Representatives, where Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-TX) and Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-IL) were both handily re-elected. Other assignments in the House, particularly various committee and subcommittee positions, remain uncertain.

Dennis J. Wamsted is a free-lance writer specializing in Middle East affairs and the US Congress.