Focus on Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

Tehiya Pressures JNF and UJA

Tehiya USA, the American branch of Israel's ultra-nationalist Tehiya Party, is pressuring the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) to finance openly projects in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. US law permits taxpayers to make tax-deductible contributions to the JNF, which supports land reclamation and forestation projects in Israel, and to the UJA, which supports immigrant absorption and needy Jews overseas. Both organizations are considered charities by the Internal Revenue Service.

Tehiya launched its campaign after the JNF returned a $5,000 check, sent by one of its board members, that had been earmarked for a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The JNF said it could not accept the money because the IRS does not permit contributions for projects beyond the "Green Line" (Israel's pre-1967 borders). An IRS attorney adviser, however, says it does not disallow such contributions.

The United Israel Appeal (UIA), UJA's affiliate in Israel, has claimed that the UIA has contracts with the Department of State preventing it from funding projects in the occupied territories. But Boston's Jewish Advocate quoted Michael Teplow, Tehiya's USA's national director, saying a key IRS official told him that no such contracts exist. The State Department merely "prefers" that American donations not be funneled into the territories. A State Department official told the Advocate that the US government does not "feel it's helpful to the peace process to build up the settlements," but added that the department has "no police authority" regarding the matter.

Teplow vows to carry on with his campaign in spite of the State Department's "preference." "I think the grassroots Jewish community believes that Jerusalem deserves as much money as Tel Aviv," he declared. "The Jewish public should know if UJA feels the Old City (of Jerusalem) is not worthy of American contributions."

Jewish-PLO Contacts

Three American Jews who met with PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat last month in Tunis said the PLO "expressed a clear and strong interest in achieving a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with security guarantees for both sides." The three delegates—Jerry Segal of Washington Area Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (WAJIPP), Mary Appelman of the America-Israel Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (AICIPP) and Hilda Silverman of New Jewish Agenda (NJA)—all represent organizations which support the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza next to Israel.

The delegates, who also met with PLO executive committee members Farouk Kaddoumi and Abu Mazan, indicated that the PLO is extremely concerned about the "anti-PLO" legislation currently under consideration on Capitol Hill. Representative Jack Kemp (R-NY) and Senator Bob Dole (R-KS)—both presidential aspirants—are sponsoring bills which would close down the PLO observer mission to the United Nations and the Palestine Information Office in Washington, DC. "That would be a mistake," Segal insisted. "It would be another instance of denying the existence of the Palestinians and ignoring the injustice that has been done to them.

Meanwhile, in Paris, representatives from the American, Danish, Swedish, and English chapters of the International Jewish Peace Union (IJPU) discussed expanding IJPU-PLO contacts with two top PLO officials. Three Oriental Jewish groups were represented, including East for Peace from Israel and the World Organization of Jews from Islamic Countries, based in New York. IJPU member groups support "self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians" and the "opening of negotiations between Israel and the PLO to achieve mutual recognition." Jonathan Boyarin from the New York chapter said Israeli IJPU members were unable to participate in the discussion because the Knesset has forbidden them from meeting with representatives of what the Israeli Ministry of Defense has branded "terrorist organizations."

Andrea Barron, a PhD candidate in international relations at American University in Washington, DC, writes frequently on Middle East issues. She is a member of Washington Area Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (WAJIPP) and New Jewish Agenda (NJA).

Focus on Arabs and Islam

By John P. Egan

ADC Calls Attention to Israel's Anti-Arab Practices

American Arab Anti-Discrimination (ADC) President Abdeen Jabara has called upon the Department of State to issue a travelers advisory warning Americans, particularly Blacks and Arab Americans, that they may be subject to both official and unofficial harassment on visits to Israel.

Jabara said in a July 16 press conference at ADC's Washington, DC headquarters that in addition to sometimes denying entry to American Blacks and Americans of Arab descent, Israeli officials have confiscated the US passports of some of those admitted, taken their return tickets as "collateral," or required Arab Americans to put up deposits as high as $6,000 to ensure their departure from Israel or the occupied territories. Jabara held the press conference upon his return from a trip to Israel and the occupied territories, where he discussed Israeli harassment of American citizens with US Ambassador Thomas Pickering and the US Consul in East Jerusalem. Jabara introduced journalists to Mrs. Nawal Hamad, who, with her four children, was turned back by Israeli officials at Ben-Gurion airport. The ADC president said Mrs. Hamad's case is one of at least 40 this year where Israeli officials either harassed or denied entry to American citizens of Arab descent.

The Washington Post and the New York Times both featured stories on Israeli harassment of Arab Americans, and on July 16 both ABC and NBC national news carried stories on the treatment of Mrs. Hamad. After denying her entry to Israel, where she and her children had planned to care for a sick relative, Israeli officials forcibly put Mrs. Hamad and her children on a Pan American jet to France.

At Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, Pan Am officials refused to allow Mrs. Hamad to telephone her attorney or to remain in the international transit lounge. Instead, she was put on an empty Pan Am American plane, where she waited for approximately 90 minutes before other passengers began to board the flight to New York. Mrs. Hamad's attorney plans to sue Pan Am airways, using a recent Supreme Court decision which held that Arab Americans have standing as a minority under the 1866 Civil Rights statute, and can therefore sue for discriminatory behavior based on race.

Anti-PLO Drive Focus of Wide Attention

A number of Arab and Arab American groups have combined efforts to keep bills calling for the closure of the PLO Information Office in Washington, DC and the PLO Observer Mission at the United Nations in New York from coming up for House and Senate votes. Although Director Hassan Abdul Rahman of the Washington, DC PLO Information Office has been assured by Justice and State Department officials that there are no legal grounds for closing the two offices, there are reports that officials of both departments have recommended a plan to close the Washington office by a presidential executive order, while leaving open the Observer Mission in New York. Five Arab Ambassadors to the US, representing Kuwait, Jordan, Tunisia, South Yemen, and the Arab League, met jointly with Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead, who assured them that since the PLO Information Office has complied with all provisions of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, there were no legal grounds for closing the offices.

ADC has also provided journalists with editorials critical of the bills to close the PLO information offices from the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Hartford Courant, the Oakland Tribune, the Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and a Los Angeles Times poll which showed that 50 percent of those surveyed supported US negotiation with the PLO within the context of an Arab-Israeli peace.

AAI Commission Supports US-Palestinian Dialogue

Creation of a Commission on American-Palestinian Relations was announced June 30 by Executive Director James Zogby of the Arab American Institute (AAI). Zogby, a coordinator of the new commission, said it will seek to "encourage dialogue with the PLO, to distribute information about the PLO, and in general to promote constructive American-Palestinian relations."

Commission board members include former US congressman Paul Findley (R-IL) and Pete McCloskey (R-CA); the Rev. Benjamin Weir, past Moderator of the Presbyterian Church; President Mary Appelman of the American Israel Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace; President Jean AbiNader of the National Association of Arab Americans; and the Rev. Donald Wagner, national director of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign. The commission will oppose the bills to close PLO information offices proposed by Senator Robert Dole (R-KS) and Representative Jack Kemp (R-NY). If either bill becomes law, or if the PLO office is closed by presidential executive order, the newly-created commission will seek other ways to ensure that dialogue continues between Americans and Palestinians, and that the Palestinian viewpoint is fairly represented in discussions of the Middle East.

NAAA Testifies on Political Action Committees (PACs)

Robert Clark, director of governmental affairs for the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA), testified in mid-July before the House Administration's Subcommittee on Elections, which is examining campaign finance reform. Clark called attention to the sharp growth of pro-Israel political action committees (PACs) over the last six years and said that the ability of pro-Israel PACs to target certain legislators for their stands on Middle East issues has eroded the democratic tradition of "one man, one vote." Earlier written testimony submitted by NAAA noted that Sen. Robert Kasten's (R-WI) 1986 re-election campaign received $117,000 from out-of-state pro-Israel PACs, which probably made the difference in Kasten's close senate race with Ed Garvey. Similarly, Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Alan Cranston (D-CA) received a large proportion of their PAC contributions from out-of-state pro-Israel PACs. NAAA called for prohibiting out-of-state contributions to a candidate, whether from an individual or a PAC, as one possible remedy for the current situation.

John P. Egan is managing editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.