Sixty-six members of the House of Representatives have urged Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher to prod Saudi Arabia and Kuwait into at least partially ending their economic boycott of Israel.
In a letter sent May 24, the members of Congress ask Mosbacher to seek an end to the “secondary boycott,” which prohibits the purchase of products from companies that do business with Israel.
They argue that “the very least that could be expected” of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War is “a renunciation of this boycott.”
The letter was co-sponsored by Reps. Anthony Beilenson and Howard Berman, both California Jewish Democrats.
Saudi Arabia has shown no signs since the war of easing the boycott.
But Kuwait has imposed “no restrictions on products entering the country” since the war’s end, said Raed al-Rifai, spokesman at the Kuwaiti Embassy here.
He said that policy went into effect because of a “dire” need to help Kuwait rebuild as quickly as possible.
For Kuwait, the secondary boycott has “always been very difficult to gauge,” he said, referring to differences among the 21 Arab League members in observing that aspect of the boycott.
After Israel was founded in 1948, the Arab League instituted the direct or primary boycott of Israeli-based companies. A few years later, in the early 1950s, the Arab League called on its members to observe the secondary boycott.
But Rifai said that Kuwait continues to “boycott companies with direct tics with Israeli capital.”
2 BILLS INTRODUCED
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) told reporters late last month that Kuwait’s suspension of the secondary boycott is a positive step. But Lieberman criticized the Kuwaiti government’s “timidity” in not publicly renouncing it.
Rifai responded by saying that his government has not decided to forego the secondary boycott permanently. He said that policy, like many others, continues to be under “serious review.”
Lieberman introduced a bill last month that requires U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills or her designee to try to end boycott compliance among U.S. trading partners during upcoming meetings of GATT, the 99-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and the 24-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Lieberman’s bill has 13 other co-sponsors. Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is planning to introduce an identical version in the House.
The bill, which is called the Pro-Competitiveness and Anti-Boycott Act of 1991, is being touted as a measure to protect U.S. companies from the effects of the boycott.
Another bill introduced recently would bar U.S. arms sales to any Arab country that continues to observe the boycott. It was introduced by Rep. Bill Green (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Brock Adams (D-Wash.).
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