June 1995, Pages 11, 36

A Tale of Two Conferences: Arab Americans and Zionist Americans

By Eugene Bird

The first weekend in May provided disturbing contrasts as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) held its 1995 convention (at the Crystal City Marriott near the Pentagon) from May 5-7 and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) held its conference (at the Washington Sheraton) from May 6-8. The contrast wasn't so much in numbers, with perhaps 1,000 participants turning out for ADC's 12th annual convention and 2,400 persons (including 700 students whose attendance was subsidized) attending the 37th annual AIPAC conference.

The shock was provided by AIPAC's demonstration of naked political power. It was the first time an incumbent U.S. president had addressed an AIPAC meeting, and he certainly was not alone. Fifty-three senators and some 100 members of the House of Representatives also attended the AIPAC outing. By contrast, only three members of Congress attended the ADC affair. Nevertheless, morale was high as ADC members, after a dismal financial year, seemed excited, perhaps even surprised, to see the size of their turnout.

Those attending the AIPAC convention heard calls for continued aid to Israel at present levels; for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem; and for continued U.S. hostility to both Iran and Iraq in the Middle East.

What Democrat Bill Clinton did not promise in the way of support for Israel, Republican Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole did, making it clear that he was prepared to out-Israel the president even to the point of embarrassment. The next day, Senator Dole introduced a bill in the Senate to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by 1999. Since about half of the Senate's members already had signed a letter calling for the move, the bill seemed likely to pass. Will the president sign it, even though Martin Indyk, Clinton's new ambassador to Israel, told senators such a move would "explode" the peace process? Dole was ready for that eventuality: "If the peace process should fail in the end, I can assure you that Israel will have the full support of the United States," he told the cheering delegates.

AIPAC Positioning Itself for Likud Government

AIPAC changed its president again, letting Democrat Steve Grossman retire with honor after shepherding the organization through a change in direction from supporting Likud to supporting, however reluctantly, the Rabin government and its recognition of the PLO. In fact, although it adapted its official rhetoric to the Labor government, members remain in tune with Likud. "Terror" was the word most often heard, and there seemed little firm resolve to continue the peace process if one more nasty incident occurred.

The new president of AIPAC is Melvin Dow of Houston, a lawyer with stronger conservative credentials, one more sign of AIPAC positioning itself for the 1996 elections in both Israel and the U.S. Even though the crowd pleased the president's advisers by shouting "Four More Years" during his Sunday night presentation before flying off to Moscow to celebrate the 50th anniversary of V-E Day, there was almost equal enthusiasm for Bob Dole.

Not one mention was made of Israeli government seizure of more land in Jerusalem to build more Jewish settlement housing. No one mentioned the continued refusal of Rabin to offer any substance on a possible withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

Clinton: Help Me Get Aid to Jordan

The president did call for assistance in getting his full aid package. When he got to funding of loan forgiveness for Jordan, however, the crowd at AIPAC gave him luke-warm support. There was no talk of "sharing" Israeli aid with its new and friendly neighbors as a means of cutting the U.S. deficit, an idea suggested by Rep. Sonny Callahan of Alabama. Given AIPAC's clout with Congress, it seems the idea will be dead on arrival.

The AIPAC convention featured speaker after speaker attacking Iran, Islamic fundamentalism, and Arafat. Only one lonely voice was heard urging a policy of including radicals in the peace process, wooing them to join in negotiations or in sharing responsibility for governing the Palestinians. That voice was Kenneth Katzman of the Congressional Research Service and his views were not received with any enthusiasm by the Zionist group.

Instead the theme was the unbridled arrogance of power: deciding who are to be America's next enemies, and rejecting any "sharing the pain" with other Americans to balance the budget. "Relations between Israel and the United States are at a new high point," Neal Sher, executive director, said, "but we are not complacent. We must work constantly to strengthen both strategic ties and the involvement of Washington in confronting Iran."

Another $3 Billion in Contracts for Israeli War Industries

In his talk, President Clinton cited contracts for $3 billion in U.S. military purchases from Israel that have been signed by the Pentagon as proof of support for Israel by his administration far beyond the ordinary aid package. (The U.S. Department of Commerce calculates that each $1 billion creates between 20,000 and 40,000 jobs, meaning the Clinton administration has transferred between 60,000 and 120,000 U.S. defense industry jobs to Israelis.) He also cited the free-trade agreement between the two countries, "giving Israel better access to the U.S. markets than any other country." Israel made $8 billion in sales to the U.S. last year.

No one mentioned that in Jerusalem the previous week, former Florida Congressman Dan Mica and agricultural committee members were citing the failure of Israel to live up to its free-trade agreement with the U.S., specifically by continuing tariffs and thereby excluding U.S. farm goods for the most part. However, no U.S. retaliation has been threatened, and only the Jerusalem Post reported this violation by Israel of the terms of its agreement with the United States. No U.S. media informed American readers of this complaint by U.S. legislators.

The ADC Convention

By contrast, ADC audiences heard a call for lifting sanctions on Iraq and for an approach to a dialogue with Tehran, a reversal of Clinton policies in both cases. Nor did members of ADC take much comfort in the prospects of a Republican victory next year. Quite the contrary, they groused about Dole's Jerusalem embassy bill and found little cheer in a possible Gingrich candidacy.

One of the most dramatic moments occurred when a 13-year-old Arab-American girl asked veteran ABC newsman Sam Donaldson, a convention speaker, "Why do you hate us?" Donaldson, stunned, reassured the girl that "we do not hate you." In a session that was viewed by C-SPAN audiences across the country, Donaldson's talk was the only national coverage the ADC convention received. However, the poignant exchange was the explanation for a rather emotional soliloquy by Donaldson in his regular appearance on the Sunday "This Week With David Brinkley" program, in which he invited viewers to imagine themselves in the situation of Arab Americans during the first few hours after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Other ADC speakers, including Hanan Ashrawi and Walid Khalidi, attracted an enthusiastic response. The crowd was particularly moved by Khalidi's call for holding Israeli feet to the fire of the Oslo agreement: "Organize, organize, organize," he said to cheers. "We have only three choices: accept Oslo (as they interpret it with the U.S.); reject it and go back to an intifada; or persist in working with its terms and exploit it to the maximum."

He called for the latter: Do not let the Israeli negotiators and the United States erode Oslo. Work with it to achieve a state.

Eugene Bird is president of the Council for the National Interest, a membership organization based in Washington, DC.