Washington Report, April 2, 1984, Page 5

Lobby Activities

For Arabs:

The National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) has warned the Reagan Administration that if it continues to make Mideast policy decisions which, in NAAA's view, unfairly favor Israel, the U.S. could suffer serious strategic and economic losses in the region. The warning came at a press conference called by NAAA following the Administration's recent cancellation of the proposed sale of Stinger antiaircraft missiles to Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

NAAA executive director David Sadd said the "rebuff" had further discouraged Arab leaders, who, he said, viewed the cancellation as only the most recent example of "Israel getting its way on just about everything." As other examples of U.S. largesse to Israel, Mr. Sadd cited the U.S.-Israel strategic accord, increased aid, and the agreement allowing Israel to develop its aircraft industry with American assistance. "If this pattern continues," Mr. Sadd cautioned, "it portends the loss of basic American interests and opens the door for Soviet adventurism..."

Mr. Sadd suggested that U.S. policies may already have played a role in leading Saudi Arabia to negotiate with France and West Germany, instead of the U.S., for multi-billion dollar defense contracts. "We ought to have those sales," he said, "but we're not going to if an Arab country cannot depend on us for the most basic of its defense needs."

In addition, Mr. Sadd criticized the Administration for meeting with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and offering to withdraw the proposed Stinger sale from Congress if, in return, AIPAC agreed to stop pushing for pending legislation that calls for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The meeting was held last month between Undersecretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and AIPAC executive director Thomas Dine, who did not agree to the proferred deal. Of the meeting, Mr. Sadd asked: "Is this any way for us to run American foreign policy? Where an Administration looks at the region, attempts to make judgments about what is good for us and what protects our interests, and has to negotiate with an ethnic lobby to obtain it."

Meanwhile, in mid-March the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) hosted its annual convention—which was, an ADC spokesman said, "the largest Arab American political gathering ever convened." According to the spokesman, 2,400 persons attended one or more of the sessions, which featured past and present members of Congress, Arab American leaders, as well as many senior officials from the Arab world. A highlight of the four-day program—held at a downtown Washington hotel—was a speech on the last day by Democratic presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson. He drew frequent sustained applause from the 1,500 persons in the audience, who afterward contributed more than $50,000 to his campaign.

For Israel:

The clout exercised by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was put into sharp relief by the negotiations it held in March with the Reagan Administration on major Mideast policy issues.

In a highly unusual procedure, Undersecretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and other Administration officials met with the head of AIPAC, executive director Thomas Dine, to try to strike a deal. Mr. Eagleburger proposed that if AIPAC agreed to drop its support for pending Jerusalem legislation—which calls for moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—the Administration would, for its part, agree to withdraw proposals to sell Stinger antiaircraft missiles to Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

As it turned out, AIPAC was the big winner—since it rejected the offer but the Administration withdrew the Stinger proposals nonetheless. This set a precedent that surely pleased AIPAC officials, for it was the first time that Congressional opposition had, in effect, blocked a major arms sale which had been sent to the Hill for approval. What is more, the Jerusalem bill is continuing to gather support and has the potential to become a major campaign issue, something the Administration would prefer not to happen.

The Administration faces still more opposition from AIPAC if it goes ahead with current plans to help Jordan establish a rapid deployment strike force. The supply package is said to contain 58 Stinger missiles, and it has been reported that during the meeting with Mr. Eagleburger AIPAC signaled that it would not actively oppose the plan if the Stingers were first removed —suggesting another possible deal. Publicly, however, AIPAC continues to say that it opposes the plan in its entirety.