WASHINGTON [MENL] -- American Jews are clashing over the meaning of the
negotiations between Israel and Syria and both plan to take their case to
Congress.
On one side are American Jewish community leaders who support Prime
Minister Ehud Barak's plans to return the Golan Heights and are urging the
Clinton administration to provide financial support required to seal a peace
treaty between Israel and Syria. On the other side are Jewish leaders who
oppose a withdrawal from the Golan Heights and are lobbying Congress not to
finance such an Israeli move.
The leading proponents of Israeli withdrawal is Americans for Peace Now,
who have strong ties to the White House and administration. The group
defines its mission as enhancing "Israel's security through the peace
process and to support the Israeli Peace Now movement."
The opponents of a Golan withdrawal is National Unity Coalition for
Israel, a group that says it represents 200 Jewish and Christian
organizations. The group has begun lobbying Congress to oppose U.S. funds to
finance a withdrawal.
The NUC has urged members and supporters to "stop the Clinton
Administration's plan to force Israel to surrender the Golan Heights to
Syria. Under the guise of a bilateral peace deal between Israel and Syria,
the administration is forcing Israel to give up one of its most valuable
strategic assets?"
The group said the cost of the plan would cost as much as $25 billion
and involve the deployment of 10,000 U.S. troops on the Golan Heights.
Americans for Peace Now has accused the NUC of trying to manipulate
federal lawmakers. "No deal has been negotiated yet, much less signed, but
the opponents of peace already are trying to whip Congress into a frenzy
with speculation about American pressure, potential costs and troop
commitments," said Debra DeLee, president of Americans for Peace Now.
Ms. DeLee said Israel will need aid to move its bases from the Golan and
improve intelligence-gathering capabilities along the northern border.
"But if Congress already is lined up against a treaty, Israel will be
placed in a situation in which it is expected to
live up to its international commitments, but lacks the means to
sufficiently provide for its own defense," she said.
On Thursday, Yoram Ettinger, a former Israeli consul in the United
States who has lobbied Congress against U.S. troops in the Golan, said in a
report that the Clinton administration plans to remove Syria from the list
of terrorist sponsors, provide Damascus with billions of dollars in aid and
help modernize Syria's military.
"The administration aims at avoiding congressional scrutiny of the
Syrian Package," Ettinger said. "It assumes that a euphoric White House lawn
ceremony would guarantee a rubber-stamp Congress, precluding an orderly
hearing process."
