Washington Report, September 17, 1984, Page 6

Lobby Activities

For Arabs:

A drive by two leading Arab American organizations to win the appointment of an Arab American liaison to Walter Mondale's presidential campaign appears to be paying off.

The National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA), which has been cooperating with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), says it has received an "oral commitment" from the Mondale campaign that a liaison position will be established. The pledge was given to NAAA Executive Director David Sadd on September 6 by Robert Thompson, Congressional Liaison for Mondale-Ferraro. Mr. Sadd later was told by a Mondale official that Representative Nick J. Rahall (D-WVA) had been chosen for the post. However, this had not yet been announced publicly by the Mondale campaign at the time of this writing.

The drive by NAAA and ADC was launched after they learned in July that $5,000 in contributions to Air Mondale had been returned to five Arab Americans in Chicago. The Mondale campaign denies it has a policy of not accepting money from Arab Americans, and says the incident was due to a "misunderstanding" over the purpose of the meeting at which the $5,000 was donated. Since the incident, NAAA and ADC have been asking Mr. Mondale to appoint an Arab American to his campaign and to make a public statement welcoming the participation of others. Mr. Mondale may feel increased pressure to meet their request since last month President Reagan's re-election committee appointed Joseph D. Baroody as its liaison to the Arab American community.

Meanwhile, on September 9, more than 100 Arab and Jewish Americans gathered in front of the Silver Spring Jewish Center in suburban Washington to protest the appearance there of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was recently elected to the Israeli parliament on a ticket calling for the expulsion of all Palestinians from Israel and the West Bank. Some of the protestors held small burning candles, while others displayed posters with messages such as "Expel Kahane, Not the Arabs" and "Ku Klux Kahane." The peaceful demonstration was sponsored by the Ad Hoe Committee to Oppose Meir Kahane and was endorsed by the following groups: American-Israel Council for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace; American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; International Jewish Peace Union; Palestine Aid Society; and Washington Area Jews for an Israeli- Palestinian Peace.

For Israel:

In less than one month the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has produced three reports designed to benefit Israel in a number of ways.

To help push legislation through Congress enabling President Reagan to conclude a free trade pact with Israel, AIPAC has issued a 46-page report forecasting "substantial" gains to U.S. exporters if the pact is adopted. AIPAC wants to prevent any erosion of support for the bill in Congress, where increasingly it is being questioned by members who fear it could result in lost American jobs. Under a free trade arrangement, all duties would be eliminated on trade between the two countries. Both Houses of Congress must authorize the Administration formally to negotiate any agreement, and the Senate also must ratify the final package, which would be in the form of a treaty.

AIPAC also has come out with a new 41-page monograph advocating stepped-up purchases by the U.S. of Israeli military hardware. According to the study, this should be done as part of "a full program of defense industrial cooperation" between the U.S. and Israel. The author, W. Seth Carus, wrote a similar report last year called "Israel and the U.S. Navy."

The third publication seems designed to protect Israel's image, and in doing this AIPAC apparently has decided that the best defense is a strong offense. Concerned by the growing attention being paid on college campuses, in the United Nations, and elsewhere to Israel's economic and military ties with apartheid South Africa, AIPAC has released a report alleging extensive Arab oil shipments to South Africa. The report—apparently designed to try to embarrass the Arab nations—claims that over half of the oil shipments to South Africa from mid-1981 to December, 1982, were from Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Saudis, who AIPAC says made the most deliveries during the period, have denied the allegations. Habib Shaheen, spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington, says Saudi Arabia "has no social, political, or economic relations with South Africa whatsoever."