Congress continued its efforts this week to move the Middle East peace process along, with the approval of measures allowing the Palestine Liberation Organization to receive U.S.-backed international aid.
With the backing of Jewish groups and some pro-Israel lawmakers, a House-Senate conference panel decided Tuesday to modify some restrictions on U.S. financial dealings with the PLO, thereby entitling the PLO to receive aid from organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
But these modifications will not come without a price. They are contingent upon PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat’s renouncing of terrorism and working to end the Arab economic boycott of Israel.
Both Israel and the Clinton administration have pushed for increased economic assistance to the Palestinians since the historic Palestinian self-rule accord was signed in September.
The parties hope that economic aid will benefit the PLO in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho, where it is slated to establish self-rule as soon as negotiators agree on how to implement the accord.
The PLO’s ties to terrorism in years past caused Congress to enact several laws restricting various U.S. activities related to the group.
For example, the PLO is barred from opening a diplomatic office in the United States by a 1990 law that closed PLO offices in Washington and New York.
And Congress has enacted several restrictions on U.S. contributions to international organizations that give aid to the PLO.
But on Tuesday, a congressional committee considering provisions of the State Department authorization bill for fiscal year 1995 approved a one-year waiver on some of the funding restrictions, thereby encouraging the receipt of increased aid by the PLO.
However, the waiver is contingent upon Arafat’s renouncing individual acts of terrorism, encouraging Arab countries to end the economic boycott of Israel and abiding by the commitments made in last fall’s declaration of principles and related agreements.
The adoption of these conditions marked a victory for several pro-Israel members of Congress who are still wary of the long-mistrusted PLO.
Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to some members of the committee Tuesday opposing any effort to ease the conditions by which the waiver is granted.
“This is a step in the right direction,” a Schumer aide said of the conditions to granting the waiver. “The concern is that Arafat doesn’t always come through with what he says he will do.”
Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.) agreed. He circulated a letter in Congress following the bombing in the Israeli town of Hadera last week, in which five Israelis were killed, criticizing Arafat for not coming out strongly enough against the attack.
“It is unclear whether the PLO has proven whether it is a partner in Peace,” Deutsch told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Wednesday.
In January, Congress granted a similar waiver of six months. The waiver agreed upon Tuesday would extend to July 1995.
The congressional panel on Tuesday also approved an amendment prohibiting the sale of defense equipment to countries adhering to the Arab boycott.
The amendment, proposed by Sen. Hank Brown (R-Colo.), allows the president to sidestep the Prohibition if U.S. national security or national interest warrants it.
The amendment was approved 93-0 in January, when the Senate considered its version of the Department authorization bill.
Tuesday’s conference panel suggested changes to the authorization bill, which will be voted upon by Congress in its final form within the next couple of weeks.
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