Washington Report, July 26, 1982, Page 5

Lobby Activities

For Arabs:

The National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) has thus far obtained over 11,000 signatures on a petition urging President Reagan to demand an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and to announce that Israel has violated U.S. arms sales laws.

The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has collected 16,000 signatures on a similar petition that it plans to send Congress.

NAAA also continues to seek Congressional support for House resolution 359—introduced June 10 by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia) and calling on Israeli and other "foreign troops" to leave Lebanon—but has so far been unsuccessful in adding new names to the original 13 cosponsors.

In testimony at House hearings, NAAA officials objected to proposals for sending American troops to Beirut as part of a peacekeeping unit to help evacuate PLO forces. Robert Joseph, NAAA's President, told The Washington Report: "We don't want our boys involved in action because of Israeli aggression." He added that U.S. troops in Lebanon could give the "unintended appearance" of legitimizing Israel's invasion.

A new group has emerged in Washington that is also working to put pressure on U.S. policymakers to help bring about an end to the fighting and an Israeli withdrawal. Members of the Arab Women's Council, headed by Nouha Alhegelan, wife of Saudi Arabian Ambassador Faisal Alhegelan, have spoken in 20 American cities on the subject of the human suffering caused by the war. The Council has also sponsored advertisements in Washington-area newspapers. Members of the group, which is composed of 24 wives of Arab Ambassadors to the U.S. and about 80 Arab and Arab-American women, have also met with the wives of U.S. Congressmen who are on foreign affairs-related committees.

For Israel:

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),after working initially to justify the Lebanon invasion to the U.S. public (see The Washington Report of June 28, 1982), shifted its emphasis during July to the question of the civilian casualty toll. In appearances on Capitol Hill and in public forums, AIPAC spokesmen offered estimates sharply lower than those reported by either Lebanese organizations or by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

In testimony before the House Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, AIPAC's Executive Director, Thomas Dine, said "the estimated number of civilian casualties in the Israeli operation is only one-tenth" of the ICRC's most recent estimates of 10,000 people, mostly civilians, killed throughout Lebanon and more than 300,000 homeless. The large discrepancy stems in part from the fact that Israeli government figures, on which AIPAC's are based, do not include Palestinians killed in refugee camps near Tyre and Sidon, nor civilians killed in Lebanon during the two days of bombing before the invasion, nor those killed in West Beirut since the invasion.

Also involved in the public relations drive to circulate the lesser figures is the Israeli Embassy, which has been using them in "background" papers it has been sending to Congressional offices. The Embassy's Consulate office in San Francisco is providing similar data to the district offices of California Congressmen.

Despite these efforts to mute criticism, there exists a growing and vocal opposition to Israel's invasion among American Jews. Following the invasion, 67 prominent American Jewish scholars, writers and rabbis signed a newspaper advertisement expressing "grave misgivings" over the invasion. In Washington, a group calling itself "Washington Jews Protesting Devastation of Lebanon" held a demonstration near the Israeli Embassy to express its opposition to the invasion.