Lobbying For Peace

By Andrea Barron

On March 9, 33 members of the America-Israel Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (AICIPP) gathered in Washington to lobby Congress for a radical change in America's Middle East policy. The AICIPP members, including two rabbis, members of several Jewish peace groups, and non-Jews concerned about Israel and the Palestinians, urged their elected representatives to support Palestinian as well as Israeli national rights and to support PLO participation in an international Middle East peace conference.

AICIPP, a non-profit educational organization, was founded in 1982 to support the work of the Israel Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, a group of prominent Israeli Zionists who called for "mutual recognition by the Israelis and Palestinians of each other's right to national self-determination." In the mid-1970's, when the Palestine Liberation Organization's willingness to make peace with Israel was becoming evident, Uri Avnery and other like-minded Israelis formed the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. The Israeli Council facilitates meetings between Israelis and PLO officials interested in an Israeli-Palestinian peace based on Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 and the creation of an independent Palestinian state in those areas. Avnery, a Knesset (parliament) member for 10 years, and Matti Peled, a retired four-star Israeli General, are leading members of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, and both have met repeatedly with top PLO officials, including PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat. Avnery's work for Israeli-Palestinian peace is detailed in his recently-published book, My Friend, the Enemy (available from AET's book catalog).

AICIPP Delegates visited 38 congressional offices, including those of Senators John Glenn (D-OH), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), Alan Cranston (D-CA), Mark Hatfield (R-OR), William Cohen (R-ME), and Paul Simon (D-IL). AICIPP delegations also visited the offices of Representatives Mel Levine (D-CA), Howard Nielson (R-UT), Dante Fascell ((D-FL), Barney Frank (D-MA), David Bonior (D-MI), and George Crockett, Jr. (D-MI).

On balance, the lobbying was a modest success. While one legislative assistant for a prominent pro-Israel congressman refused to meet with the AICIPP delegation in the congressman's office, and instead held a meeting out in the hallway, AICIPP delegates reported curiosity and interest on the part of most Members of Congress and their staff members. Some legislative assistants were a little surprised when AICIPP delegates said they supported US recognition of the PLO precisely because they strongly supported Israel.

Several congressmen and legislative assistants told AICIPP delegates that an international peace conference on the Middle East would require strong and consistent support from President Reagan and Secretary of State George Shultz. Congressmen and staffers, noting the Reagan administration's disarray and the relatively low priority it has given to the Middle East affairs, predicted that an international peace conference would be difficult to convene.

Mary Appelman, AICIPP's chairperson, said, however, the group thinks that "Palestinian nationalism is alive and well and ready to accommodate itself to the Jewish state."

Reflecting on the composition of AICIPP and its goals, Appelman added, "Members of Congress should know that there is a growing body of Americans who are both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian at the same time. They want the US to help bring the opposing parties in the Mideast conflict together by recognizing the PLO as a party that cannot be ignored."

Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-Indiana), Chairman of the Europe and Middle East Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, gave the AICIPP delegates a 30-minute briefing on the formulation of US Middle East policy. Hamilton, who also chairs the House select committee investigating the Israel-Iran-Contra scandal, said AICIPP delegates could "sensitize Members of Congress to the injustices occurring in the Israeli-occupied territories" if this was done within "the context of loving Israel."

Hamilton said that a significant number of pro-Israel congressmen believed that any criticism of Israel could result in a virtual avalanche of anti-Israel sentiment on Capitol Hill.

Throughout the day, AICIPP delegates were told that their stance—criticizing US and Israeli policy on the PLO within the context of support for Israel's existence—was probably the most efficacious way to change existing US policy.

"Hamilton basically told us to massage the conscience" of Congress, said Rabbi Jim Ponet, Jewish Chaplain at Yale University. Ponet and several other AICIPP members stressed that they had not come to Washington to lobby for a cut in US aid to Israel. Rather, they came to inform Congress that Israel's policies in the occupied territories—such as administrative detention and collective punishment—had contributed to an erosion of Israeli democracy within Israel's 1967 borders. The point was often made that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza was destroying the fabric of Israeli life. The message: if you really care about Israel's future, you will oppose what Israel is doing now in the West Bank and Gaza.

Presbyterian clergyman Gordon Webster participated in AICIPP's lobbying for peace. Afterward, he said, the effort constituted a "small first step" to make Congress aware of what has been happening to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. "We're still tiny fish trying to swim up a strong river current," he added, referring to the fact that there is virtually no criticism of Israel on Capitol Hill.

Andrea Barron also writes the "Focus on Jews and Israel" column for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.