Baker Meets with Jewish Leaders in Attempt to Thaw Icy Relations

The Bush administration appears to be trying to make good on its recent pledge to “set thing right” with the American Jewish community.

A dozen top Jewish organizational leaders met at the State Department this week with Secretary of State James Baker, the fourth such meeting in recent weeks.

The meeting Monday follows a near-explosion in U.S.-Israel relations over an apparent State Department misstep on the question of repatriating Palestinian refugees and the sovereignty of Jerusalem.

But the leaders, mainly members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations, refused to confirm this incident was the catalyst for the meeting, saying they discussed a broad range of issues affecting the ties between the two countries.

“We put certain issues of our concern on the table, and there were several of mutual concern,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who was one of the 12 at what he said was a “good meeting.” Foreign aid was the only issue he would specify was discussed.

When pressed to describe the circumstances of the meeting, Foxman would only characterize it as “part of a more intensified effort at communication and reaching out.”

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents, also refused to comment on the substance of the meeting, saying only that it was intended to “clarify the issues.”

He confirmed that the meeting helped strengthen the strained relationship between the administration and the Jewish community, but apologized that he could not elaborate, in deference to an agreement of confidentiality reached with the secretary.

SILENCE FROM JEWISH LEADERS

Participants were uncharacteristically silent about what transpired during the meeting, which in itself seems to point to the fragility of relations between the administration and the organized Jewish community.

Those relations have steadily frayed since September, when President Bush launched what the pro-Israel community felt was a frontal assault over its attempt to win $10 billion in U.S.-guaranteed loans for Israel.

Ties between Jews and the White House unraveled further when Bush insisted on linking the loan guarantees to a freeze on the building of Jewish settlements in the administered territories.

Pro-Israel lawmakers on Capitol Hill responded by proclaiming publicly that the administration had sabotaged the longstanding bond between the two nations, and accusations surfaced that Baker had made an obscene comment about Jews, a charge he has denied.

Then three weeks ago, State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler dropped another bombshell when she was asked if the United States supports U.N. Resolution 194. She said the United States still backs the 1948 resolution, which calls for the repatriation of Arabs to Israel and the internationalization of Jerusalem.

A crisis nearly erupted. But before it could, the State Department quickly retrenched, saying the issues in the resolution “can only be resolved through a process of direct negotiations among the parties themselves.”

HANDWRITTEN NOTES FROM BUSH

Nevertheless, tensions have been running high enough to prompt President Bush to send handwritten notes to Foxman of ADL and American Jewish Congress President Robert Lifton. The notes told them he appreciated their efforts to defuse the hostile atmosphere choking the relationship.

In his note to Foxman, Bush pledged to “set things right” after Israel’s elections in June. In the meantime, the State Department has orchestrated a series of recent meetings.

Lifton was at the first such meeting in early May, when he said he told Baker and the other officials present that the relationship had frayed. He said he told them “it was important that it not (continue) from the point of view of the Jewish community, the administration and particularly Israel.”

“It was valuable to review what had happened and compare (Baker’s) view and our view, and develop a common view of where to go from here to ameliorate the situation,” Lifton said, adding that Baker thought that was “desirable.”

Lifton said the secretary seemed genuinely bewildered over why things had deteriorated. “They’ll cite, chapter and verse, their support for Israel,” he said of the administration.

Lifton’s explanation for the strain is White House insensitivity, highlighted by Bush remarks last September, coupled with some overreaction of the American Jewish community and the volatility caused by the election campaign in Israel.

Asked whether the administration was politically motivated to make amends, Foxman said, “In a political season, everything is political, even saying hello. But I think the administration is concerned about how the Jewish community feels. The meetings are part of that.”