An alliance of Israeli-Arab dialogue groups lobbied Congress and the Bush administration for more funding. Past lobbying by the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a grouping of 55 organizations, led to a $9 million allocation for such groups in the 2008 budget. Dozens of alliance delegates met last week with lawmakers and officials in the State Department.
One result was a letter circulated among lawmakers by Reps. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) asking congressional appropriators to set aside $11 million for such groups in the 2009 budget. The letter will be sent next week.
Alliance delegates also met with private foundations. The lobbying culminated with a showing on the Hill of one of the alliance’s enterprises, “The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour.”
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