Amid a Plea to Defuse Tensions, Activists Prep for AIPAC Parley

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Vice President Joe Biden last week

By the time this year's annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee starts Sunday, its organizers -- indeed, pretty much the entire Washington village inside a village that calls itself "pro-Israel" -- hopes the shouting will be over.

That's because they want to get back to another kind of shouting -- about Iran and its nuclear threat, not last week's contretemps between Israel and the United States over a building start in eastern Jerusalem announced during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden.

The consensus of the pro-Israel center and right is that the argument -- many are calling it a crisis -- is increasingly a distraction and should be set aside.

The controversy erupted last week with what both sides agreed was a humiliation for the vice president, considered to be Netanyahu's best friend in the Obama administration. Biden had come to allay Israeli concerns that President Barack Obama's outreach to Muslims would come at Israel's expense. Just as he was getting ready to meet with Palestinian officials as part of the administration's push to restart indirect peace talks, Israel announced plans to build 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo, part of disputed eastern Jerusalem.

The call to put the crisis to rest came from several sources, including the unofficial Jewish caucus on Capitol Hill.

Palestinians burned tires and clashed with security forces in reaction to Israel's latest actions in Jerusalem this week.

"Our countries have weathered temporary diplomatic storms and diversions of every nature and size for more than 60 years," said Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.). "I am confident that nothing has or will occur that will change that, especially given the stakes for both countries."

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who is close to the Zionist Organization of America, was commensurately blunter.

"Israel is a sovereign nation and an ally, not a punching bag," he said. "Enough already."

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the Republican minority whip and the sole Jewish Republican in either chamber, said that he raised the issue in a call to Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff.

"It's in the interests of U.S. national security that this administration back off any suggestion there's been a shift in the U.S.-Israel relationship and U.S. support for Israel," said Cantor. "Who's been the ally here? There's been one ally who's stood fast with us in the war against terror, the fight against radical Islam, who's sent aid to every humanitarian crisis."

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who controls the powerful foreign operations appropriations subcommittee, went straight to the Iran question.

"Having just returned from the region, where I urged Arab leaders to support sanctions on Iran and efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians, I believe the stakes are too high and the threats are too urgent to allow the unfortunate recent exchange between Israel and the United States to derail ongoing diplomacy," she said.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.)

'Delicate Fabric of Friendship'
It's no coincidence that Iran features in two of the four action items that the 7,000 activists expected at the AIPAC conference here will take with them to the Hill during their lobbying on Tuesday, the conference's last day. Some 200 participants from the Philadelphia region, including Cherry Hill, N.J., are expected to attend, including a delegation of some 30 students.

The activists will lobby for rapid final passage of a bill that would expand unilateral sanctions to target Iran's energy sector. Both houses of Congress have passed the measure, which now must be reconciled. AIPAC wants the bill to keep its substantial bite; the Obama administration reportedly wants to carve out an exception for China as a means of drawing its support for expanded multilateral sanctions.

The Iran piece of the lobbying will also include an appeal to lawmakers to sign on to letters to the Obama administration encouraging its efforts to expand multilateral sanctions through the U.N. Security Council.

Beyond Iran, the activists also will lobby, as they always do, for passage of the foreign aid budget -- it includes more than $2.7 billion in assistance for Israel, commensurate with Bush administration policies -- and a letter to the administration promoting a close U.S.-Israel relationship and urging direct Israel-Palestinian talks.

That letter was planned before last week's tough talk, but it couldn't be more timely. The Netanyahu administration has made clear that it wants to get past its embarrassment.

"We cannot afford to unravel the delicate fabric of friendship with the United States," Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday at a memorial service for late prime ministers and presidents of Israel -- the latest in a litany of "mea culpa and let's move on" statements from Israeli leaders.

It's not clear, however, whether the Obama administration is ready to move forward. On the one hand, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday was back to emphasizing the relationship's deep roots.

"We have an absolute commitment to Israel's security," she said at a briefing with reporters. "We have a close, unshakable bond between the United States and Israel."

That set a considerably different tone from her words last week, when she termed Israel's action an "insult" and reportedly berated Netanyahu in a lengthy phone call. On March 12, her spokesman, P.J. Crowley, said that the United States was still upset with the substance of the announcement of the housing starts, not merely its timing

Though Clinton's tone on Tuesday was more conciliatory, her reported three conditions for Israel to return to American good graces still stood: reverse the decision to add housing in eastern Jerusalem, make a substantive gesture to the Palestinians, such as a prisoner release, and agree to peace talks that encompass not only borders, but final-status issues such as refugees and Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority has refused direct talks and, apparently emboldened by the U.S.-Israel rift, now says that it will not join indirect talks, as it had promised.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, seen here with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem back in October, called Israel's announcement on a new housing project in eastern Jerusalem an "insult."

'A Matter of Serious Concern'
Meanwhile, both Clinton and Netanyahu are set to address the AIPAC policy conference -- Clinton in the morning, Netanyahu in the evening.

This follows uncharacteristically strong language from AIPAC, which called the Obama administration's recent statements regarding the U.S. relationship with Israel "a matter of serious concern." In a statement, the group issued a rare direct broadside from a group that generally operates behind the scenes. "AIPAC calls on the administration to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish state" and to "work closely and privately with our partner Israel, in a manner befitting strategic allies, to address any issues between the two governments."

The organized Jewish community -- while loudly pressing the United States to back down -- also was sending signals to Netanyahu that he needed to step forward, too.

A statement late Tuesday from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations hit all the conventional notes of the previous week.

The thrust of the statement, from the Jewish community's main pro-Israel umbrella organization, was that Palestinians must end their recalcitrance, tamp down incitement and recommit to talks.

However, buried in the lengthy statement was an appeal to "all parties" -- unusual for an umbrella body that takes pains to avoid finding fault with Israel.

"The interests of all concerned would best be served by a prompt commencement of the proximity talks that had been previously agreed to by all parties, and all parties should act in a manner that does not undercut such talks," the statement said. "We urge the United States and Israel to resolve the controversy with the use of language reflecting their historic friendship."