January 1994, Page 15

The Party Line 

(Israeli leaders and their U.S. Lobbyists seek by their statements to set the parameters of U. S media reporting and official commentary on the Middle East and American relations with it. As echoed by Israel's fellow travelers in the U.S. media, such statements become the party line. It is echoed by American pack journalists, who may or may not understand their disservice to truth when they do, but who know their careers will suffer if they don't. As they see it, their choices are to follow the line and be published, ignore it and be ignored, or challenge it and be reviled as an "anti-Semite." Below is a problem that concerns Israeli officials, a snapshot of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin laying down the line, and examples of the results.)

The Arab Boycott The Problem: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is ignoring the Arab offer to lift the boycott of Israel in return for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Instead he is seeking to link it to the Oslo agreement. He has orchestrated all of Israel's propaganda resources to demand that the boycott be lifted even before negotiating the peace agreement's final form, and how it will be applied in Jerusalem.

Laying Down the Party Line

"Following a 35-minute meeting here with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Rabin said the 'key issue' confronting the region in the months ahead is whether Arab states–including those that have maintained trade and other boycotts against Israel–demonstrate their support of the peace process by normalizing relations with the Jewish state. 'We have done something. We expect not only to give but to get something in return and not only from those who signed the agreement,' Rabin said. 'The time has come, on their part, for Arab countries to come and say, "You have done something. We will change our relations with you." This is what Israel expects."'

—Excerpted from report by Cairo correspondent William Claiborne in the Washington  Post, Sept. 20, 1993

Following the Party Line U.S. Government Example:

"Now that the Israelis and the Palestinians have agreed to work together to promote their economic well-being, it is certainly illogical for Arab nations to continue their boycott of Israel. Every moment that the boycott remains in force, those responsible are punishing Palestinians as well as Israelis. The boycott is a relic of the past. It should be relegated to history right now."

—U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, in a foreign policy speech, Sept. 20, 1993

Israel Lobby Example:

"The centerpiece of U. S. diplomacy should be to persuade Arab and non-Arab Muslim states to end their political and economic boycotts of Israel. Normal commercial relationships between Israel and its Arab neighbors will do more to improve the quality of life of the peoples of the area than any infusion of outside economic aid."

—Former Reagan White House Middle East adviser (and Irangate participant) Howard Teicher, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 20, 1993

Jewish Media Example: "An end to the Arab boycott is seen as inevitable if the peace process goes forward. The chief benefit of such a change, says Bank of Israel Governor Ya'acov Frenkel, would not be increased Israeli-Arab trade, but rather an influx of Western industry and investment capital to this country [Israel]."

—Jerusalem correspondent Larry Derfner, The Jewish Week, Queens, NY, Sept. 24-30 1993

Mainstream Media Example:

"Arab delegates [at a State Department meeting to pledge financial support for Palestinian administration of Gaza and Jericho] rebuffed an American plea to abandon their boycott of Israel, which Vice President Al Gore said had 'no place in a world seeking peace."'

—Excerpted from report by Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, Oct. 2, 1993

Jewish Media Example:

"What of the Arab states? This is the time for them to end their boycott of Israel which, since 1948, has cost Israel some $50 billion in investments, according to some estimates. The boycott targets not only Israeli companies but any company doing business with Israeli companies or supporting Jewish charities. Hundreds of American companies are on the boycott list . . . Ending the boycott would have an impact beyond the practical, economic terms, which alone are of vital importance. It would prove that the 21 Arab states are sincere about their professed new attitude toward Israel."

—Editorial in The Jewish Week, Queens, NY, Oct. 1-7, 1993

Israel Lobby Example:

"My own conversations with Prime Minister Rabin and President Clinton, along with the expert analysis of our AIPAC staff, suggest that there is a vast array of problems still to be solved. For example, no Arab country has yet relaxed the hated boycott of Israel."

—Excerpt from fund-raising letter by American Israel Public Affairs Committee President Steven Grossman, Oct. 8, 1993

Israel Lobby Example:

"While Israel has taken serious risks for peace and committed major funds for Palestinian development projects, the Arab states have refused to take the minimal reciprocal step of lifting the economic boycott of Israel . . . The boycott's continuance past the historic Israeli-Palestinian agreement adds insult to injury."

—Near East Report, weekly publication of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Oct. 11, 1993

Israel Lobby Example:

"The Arab refusal to end the economic boycott of Israel following the Rabin-Arafat handshake is not a good omen."

—Morris B. Abram, former chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, writing in Wall Street Journal, Oct. 14, 1993

Mainstream Media Example:

"Clinton aides noted with satisfaction that the Arab League Boycott Office was supposed to hold a meeting in Damascus on Sunday to reinforce the Arab boycott of Israel, but that under American pressure the meeting had been indefinitely postponed."

—Excerpted from report by correspondent Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, Oct. 26, 1993

U.S. Government Example:

"The Arab boycott must be dismantled. This is an impediment to implementation of the Declaration of Principles, since economic cooperation is key to its success. The boycott is a relic of the past, a relic of a different era. It is inconsistent with the progress of peace."

—Dennis Ross, consultant to U.S. State Department, in speech to National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA), Oct. 30, 1993

Congressional Example:

"I emphasize that the attitude of many Arab states in the wake of the White House meeting in September has been a blow to peace. The refusal of moderate Arabs to terminate the anachronistic, self-defeating and senseless boycott of Israel is disturbing . . . As long as the Arab states persist in maintaining these official acts of hostility to Israel, they cannot expect attitudes in Congress to change significantly."

—Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in speech to NAAA, Oct. 30, 1993

—RHC