[WCUSP] New proposed legislation re Palestine, etc. Scroll down

[Libby or Mort Frank]

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        Government Relations


      APN Legislative Round-Up - March 30, 2007
           


      APN Legislative Round-Up for the week ending March 30, 2007

      I. New bills and resolutions 
      II. Deja Vu? New PATA Bill in the House 
      III. Final Update on Nelson-Ensign Letter 
      IV. New ME Initiative from Rep. Wolf 


      ======================================= 
      I. NEW BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS 
      ======================================= 

      (PALESTINIAN SANCTIONS) HR XXXX: During the week of March 26th, the office of Rep. Ros- Lehtinen (R-FL) circulated the text of a new piece of legislation entitled "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act Amendments of 2007." According to some House staff on March 29th reminding them that their bosses could co-sign, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen planned to introduce the bill that same day. However, according to the Congressional Record, she did not in fact introduce the bill as of this writing. For full details of this initiative, see section II, below. 

      (ISRAEL) HR 1838: Introduced 3/29/07 by Rep. Sherman (D-CA) and 58 co-sponsors, "To authorize funding for eligible joint ventures between United States and Israeli businesses and academic persons, to establish the International Energy Advisory Board, and for other purposes." Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 

      (CLUSTER BOMBS) HR 1755: Introduced 3/29/07 by Rep. McGovern (D-MA) and two cosponsors, "To limit the use, sale, and transfer of cluster munitions." Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Armed Services. 

      (IRAN) H. Res. 285: Introduced 3/29/07 by Rep. Dent (R-PA) and no cosponsors, "Condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the Iranian Government's seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in the Shatt al Arab waterway on March 23, 2007, and asking for the immediate repatriation of these sailors and marines to the United Kingdom." Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

      (IRAN) S. Res. 136: Introduced 3/29/07 by Sen. Coleman (R-MN) and 22 cosponsors, "A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate condemning the seizure by the Government of Iran of 15 British naval personnel in Iraqi territorial waters, and calling for their immediate, safe, and unconditional release."  Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to 3/29/07 without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. 

      (IRAN) H. Res. 267: Introduced 3/26/07 by Rep. Kirk (R-IL) and 59 cosponsors, "Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of British marines and sailors held captive by Iran, and for other purposes." Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

      (IRAN) S.AMDT.692 to H.R.1591: Introduced 3/27/07 by Sen. Webb (D-VA), "To prohibit the use of funds for military operations in Iran." Withdrawn by Sen. Webb on 3/29/07. 


      =============================================== 
      II. DEJA VU? NEW PATA BILL IN THE HOUSE 
      =============================================== 

      Background 
      ---------------- 
      On March 26th the staff of Rep. Ileana Ros- Lehtinen (ranking minority member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs) circulated an email seeking cosponsors on a new piece of legislation to be introduced by Ros-Lehtinen. The email included text of the new bill, entitled the "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act Amendments of 2007." 

      The email made explicit the goals of the new bill -- to thwart the current efforts of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. The email explained that the purpose of the bill is, "To counter attempts by Rice/State to deal with unity govt and send assistance to non-Hamas members of unity govt. We sqw [sic] how well the bifurcated approach worked with Lebanon, we can't let this happen with PA. The attached takes current law and brings it to the threshold of the House-passed PATA bill, minus exceptions for Abu Mazen security, etc. We just have exception for ME peace process. We raised shoulds to shalls." 

      It should be recalled that on 12/7/06, the House passed S. 2370, the Senate version of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, which was then sent to the President who signed it into law later that month. At the time, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen and some of her colleagues expressed unhappiness that the harsher House version, HR 4681, would not become law and promised to take the issue up when Congress returned in 2007 in order to seek, once again, to impose even harsher sanctions. For further details, see the 12/8/06 edition of the Round- Up. 

      Current State-of-Play 
      --------------------- 
      Contrary to another email circulated by Ros- Lehtinen staff March 29th, stating that the bill would be introduced that same day (so if other members wanted to be primary cosponsors, this was their last chance), the bill was not introduced March 29th, and the House is now in recess until April 16. It is unclear whether the decision to NOT introduce the bill reflected a failure to get sufficient cosponsors (informal conversations with Hill staff seem to indicate a lack of enthusiasm over re-fighting this particular battle). It is also possible that the Administration may have weighed in, particularly given the wide circulation of the email making clear that the goal of the bill is to undermine Secretary Rice's current efforts - efforts which are a recognized current priority of the President. 

      Details of the New Bill 
      ------------------------ 
      (A table comparing the new legislation to the version of PATA passed by the House - HR 4681 - and the version of PATA passed into law - S. 2370, which became PL 109-234 - can be found at: http://www.peacenow.org/roundup.asp?rid=&cid=35 85) 

      As promised back in December, the new bill re- visits all the major areas where S. 2370 changed HR 4681. In general, these are: 

      1. Expanding the sanctions so that they will apply to any Palestinian Authority (PA), regardless of Hamas presence or absence, unless various conditions have been met. As readers may recall, in its final form, S. 2370 (which became PL 109-234) included references throughout the text to the "Hamas-controlled" or "Hamas-dominated" PA. This made clear, by implication, that if Hamas was not in control, the specified sanction or requirement would not apply (acting, in effect, as a sunset clause). The PATA Amendments bill seeks to undo this improvement so that if and when the PA is not controlled by Hamas (or any foreign terrorist organization) the sanctions will remain in effect until all the other conditions have been met (including a long list of requirements unrelated to Hamas or terror). If enacted, this change would remove any political horizon for non-Hamas leaders, since even if they succeeded in gaining control of the PA, the sanctions would remain in place potentially forever - since it is generally recognized that many of the certification conditions imposed by PATA cannot be achieved outside of the context of an active and productive political process. 

      2. Legislating against a national unity government or anything similar. The PATA Amendments bill seeks to expand the required certification (on which all the sanctions are based) to require that all the sanctions be applied so long as even a single member of a proscribed organization serves in any senior position in the PA. 

      3. Barring virtually all aid, even to President Abbas. The PATA Amendments bill seeks to tighten the already very limited exceptions under which the U.S. may provide direct aid to President Abbas, possibly to the point where all aid would be barred. Currently, the President may provide limited aid to assist President Abbas and for other purposes defined in PL 109-234. The PATA Amendments bill would prohibit ALL of this assistance, narrowing the exception to allow only aid which the U.S. President personally certifies to Congress is "critical to facilitating a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." In addition, the PATA Amendments bill specifies that this aid can only be granted if the U.S. President certifies, among other things, that the president of the PA is not a member of or affiliated with a Foreign Terrorist Organization -- a certification that would likely be problematic under the situation of a national unity government that includes an FTO. 

      4. Reviving UN Reform language unrelated to Hamas or the PA. The PATA Amendments bill revives HR 4681 language demanding UN reform - requiring an assessment of specified UN entities that deal with Israeli-Palestinian issues and recommendations for their dissolution. The section has nothing whatsoever to do with Hamas or terrorism or even the PA, and was omitted entirely from the Senate version of the bill. It is worth noting that the UN Reform provision included in the PATA Amendments bill reprises language from the original version of HR 4681, rather than from the version of HR 4681 actually passed by the House - a harsher version requiring the mandatory U.S. withholding of UN dues (the withholding was made discretionary as part of an amendment passed during the markup of the bill in the House International Relations Committee). 

      5. Making all sanctions mandatory (rather than discretionary) and eliminating exceptions. PATA, as passed into law, included a range of sanctions provisions that the Senate changed from mandatory to discretionary (changing "should" to "shall" in the text. The PATA Amendments bill seeks to change all of these "shoulds" back to "shalls," and also to eliminate important exceptions included by the Senate. These changes would make mandatory: 

      TERRORIST SANCTUARY - the U.S. designation of areas controlled by the PA as a "terrorist sanctuary," with potential far-reaching implications for private sector activities. 

      VISAS - a ban on visas for all members of the PA (including the entire PLC), remove the exception for President Abbas and non-Hamas members of the PLC; permits such visas only if the President personally issues a certification to Congress in every case. 

      UN PRESENCE - a requirement that PA or PLO representatives at the UN be restricted to a 25-mile radius of the UN Headquarters; removes the exception for President Abbas. 

      PA/PLO OFFICE - a ban on the PLO maintaining offices anywhere in the U.S. unless the President makes a personal certification to Congress every 6 months (the ban included in PL 109-243 is already mandatory but applies only to PA offices, of which there are none; the new bill expands the ban to apply to PLO offices). 

      IFIs -- a requirement that the U.S. government use its "voice, vote, and influence" to block aid to the PA from international financial institutions; removes the existing exception permitting the U.S. to not protest humanitarian assistance from these sources. 

      CONTACT POLICY -- makes mandatory and broadens a ban on U.S. contacts with members of FTOs -- the current (discretionary) language applies to negotiations with members of FTOs; the new language bars both negotiations and any "substantive contacts." 


      ===================================== 
      III. FINAL UPDATE IN NELSON-ENSIGN LETTER 
      ===================================== 

      As reported last week, 79 Senators eventually signed on to the Nelson-Ensign letter. The non-signers of the letter, and the key committee memberships, are listed below. 

      Democrats (9) 
      -------------- 
      Bingaman, Jeff NM  Byrd, Robert WV (Approps Chair, Armed Services) Feinstein, Dianne CA (Approps, Select Intelligence) Johnson, Tim SD (ForOps) Kennedy, Ted MA (Armed Services) Kerry, John MA (SFRC/MESA Chair) Leahy, Patrick VT (ForOps Chair) McCaskill, Claire MO (Armed Services) Webb, Jim VA (SFRC, Armed Services) 

      Independents (1) 
      ----------------- 
      Sanders, Bernard VT 

      Republican (11) 
      --------------- 
      Alexander, Lamar TN (ForOps) Domenici, Pete NM (Approps) Enzi, Mike WY Gregg, Judd NH (ForOps Ranking Member) Hagel, Chuck NE (SFRC/MESA, Select Intelligence) Hatch, Orrin UT (Select Intelligence) Lugar, Richard IN (SFRC Ranking Member) Sununu, John NH (SFRC/MESA) Thomas, Craig WY Voinovich, George OH (SFRC/MESA) Warner, John VA (Armed Services, Select Intelligence) 

      APN commended all those who declined to sign this problematic letter, sending the following action alert to our activists (the alert can be found at our website at: http://peacenow.org/updates.asp?rid=0&cid=3581 

      American Engagement with Palestinians is a Must Thanks to all of you who contacted your Senators regarding the Nelson-Ensign letter to Secretary of State Rice. Our Action Alert generated over 1,000 responses, letting Senators know that their constituents opposed the letter's call for the U.S. to boycott the entire Palestinian Authority, including President Abbas and all non-Hamas moderate ministers in the new Palestinian National Unity Government. As a result of your calls and emails very few Senators agreed to sign the letter in its original form, and Senators Nelson and Ensign were obliged to revise the text. 

      Take Action NOW! 

      The revised version improved the original, in that the letter no longer implies that the U.S. should stop talking to President Abbas. However, the letter still implies that the U.S. should boycott the entire Palestinian Cabinet, including non-Hamas, moderate ministers. 

      Your activism changed the content of this letter. Your activism sent a clear signal to the Senate that American Jews do not stand united behind the pressure-tactics that would ban U.S. engagement with pro-peace Palestinian leaders. 

      In the end, 79 Senators signed onto the letter. It's noteworthy that the majority of these senators signed on only after the letter was revised, and many added their names only in the final days that the letter was in circulation, after AIPAC launched an all-out, top-level effort to pressure members to sign. 

      Please write your Senators: 

      - The 21 Senators who wisely and courageously refused to sign the letter need to hear once again from their constituents. You need to let them know they did the right thing. 

      - The 79 Senators who signed the Nelson-Ensign letter also need to hear again from their constituents. You need to let them know that you are disappointed in their decision, that you will be watching to see what they do in the future, and that you hope that they make decisions that are truly good for Israel, the U.S., and the quest for peace and security in the Middle East 


      ======================================== 
      IV. NEW ME INITIATIVE FROM REP. WOLF 
      ======================================== 

      >From the Congressional Record 3/28/07, Extension of Remarks submitted by Rep. Wolf (R- VA). 

      Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I would like to share with our colleagues information on a new initiative for the Middle East that will combine economics and faith. Ambassador Dennis Ross, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former presidential negotiator in the Middle East, and Ambassador Tony Hall, who served in Congress from 1979 to 2002, will be key players in the initiative. The initiative will be coordinated by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and be supported by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

      I submit for the RECORD my remarks, as well as those of Ambassador Tony Hall, at a press conference on March 22 at which this initiative was announced. 

      FRANK WOLF'S REMARKS BEFORE THE MARCH 22, 2007 PRESS CONFERENCE ON NEW MIDDLE EAST INITIATIVE 

      Thank you for coming today. I also want to thank and recognize Ambassador David Abshire and Ambassador Tony Hall for joining me today. Both will be speaking in a few minutes. I have known and worked with both David and Tony for a number of years and have great respect for them. And I can honestly say that Tony was my best friend in Congress and remains my best friend today. 

      Today we are here to announce the launching of a new initiative in the Middle East that will combine economics and faith. It will be coordinated by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and be supported by a grant from USAID. We are deeply concerned that time is running out to find a peaceful solution to the issues that separate the people in the land so many call holy. 

      In the Middle East, religion plays such an important role in people's lives. If you're Jewish, you have the Western Wall. If you're Christian, you have the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. If you're Muslim, you have the Dome of the Rock. We cannot work toward peace in the Middle East without taking into account the religious roots of its people. 

      The U.S. government doesn't have the capacity to deal with this reality in the lives of those who live in that region. That is why I have put together an initiative that includes the faith component. The faith component of this initiative will be led by former Congressman Tony Hall. His depth of faith and experience in building bridges between people is critical to this initiative. 

      The economic development component will be led by Ambassador Dennis Ross. Dennis is a seasoned diplomat who has maintained a significant role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process for many years. 

      Dr. Bob Cooley, president emeritus of Gordon- Conwell Theological Seminary, recently provided me some insightful observations about the faith dynamics in the Middle East. He has worked with Palestinian Muslims, Palestinian Christians, and Israelis during his 48 years of pursuing Hebrew Studies and Syro-Palestinian Archeology. 

      He points out that the three major religious groups in the land are "all Sons of Abraham, who share a common understood relationship that serves as a basis for living together in harmony today." It is largely the past 50 years of failed politics that have undermined communal harmony in the region and modified the relationships between these groups. A complete copy of Dr. Cooley's remarks about the relationships between these groups is attached to my statement. 

      The faith dynamic in the region is critical to forming the most effective approach to the political situation. If you buy a young plant, you can't place it in the ground without tilling the soil first. The purpose of this initiative isn't to deal with boundaries, or questions of status. It is to build relationships; to prepare the soil in preparation for the diplomatic efforts of Secretary Rice and others to find a political solution for the region. 

      Psalm 122:6 tells us to ``pray for the peace of Jerusalem.'' I do this every day. I believe that this initiative will bring the people of different faiths together and build bridges between them. Now I am going to turn the program over to Dr. Abshire and then Tony. We will take any questions after both of them speak. Thank you. 

      STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR TONY HALL AT MIDDLE EAST PRESS CONFERENCE ON MARCH 22, 2007 

      I am very pleased to be part of this initiative headed by my friend, Frank Wolf, and supported by other members of the Congress and Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. 

      As His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan so clearly spelled out two weeks ago to the Congress, the unresolved conflict between Israel and Palestine has resulted in tremendous pain in Israel, the Palestinian territories and other nations in the Middle East. This problem has fueled additional fires outside of the region that have brought fear, destruction and extremism to many countries and people, including our own. The situation is at such a point that it is no longer only an isolated regional conflict in which we can choose to be involved, it is a problem that directly affects the security of the United States. 

      I have traveled a number of times to the Middle East, starting in 1979, and most recently having returned from there this past week. We did a lot of listening; and what I have seen and heard leads me to believe that there has not been a more urgent time for peace. There are a lot of people already working on multiple fronts in waging peace, and my role in the coming months will be to support them by fostering additional relationships, understanding, and cooperation among the various communities in the Holy Land. 

      I want to clarify that my mission is not to distract from the political side of the peace process, but to lay additional groundwork for an eventual political outcome. However, one cannot speak about peace on the political level without taking into account the religious roots of the people involved--especially in the Holy Land. 

      Our service is to support and encourage the people of faith who bear influence in the region. We are connecting with people of faith because as leaders of these communities they can either encourage the way of compassion, sacrifice, and grace in this process--which is necessary to support a political outcome--or they can incite their people in the hopeless path of the status quo. We want to help the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities who recognize and labor for peace by practicing the commandment to ``Love your neighbor.'' 

      The Abrahamic faiths have been in conflict for so long, that most of us have forgotten that at the core of each of them lies that universal commandment: ``Love your neighbor.'' By going back to this fundamental starting point ourselves, and encouraging our friends in the region to do likewise, we believe that we can construct some good will that we hope may help support a political settlement. 

      We are not under any illusion that we alone can solve the conflict. My good friend Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and other community, political, business and religious leaders are coming together to share in the work of preparing the way for peace in the Holy Land. Together we hope that our combined efforts can, in some small way, assist in paving the way for a just and lasting peace. 

      It's worth a try. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
      For more information, contact Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations, at 202/728-1893, or at lfriedman at peacenow.org. 


       

         
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