At a time when the controversial issue of Jerusalem’s future status is once again coming to the fore, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told a convention of pro-Israel activists that “Jerusalem will remain united under Israel’s sovereignty.”
The prime minister’s words were almost drowned out by a sea of applause from the approximately 2,000 participants gathered Tuesday for the closing session of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s 35th annual policy conference.
Rabin, who received a warm welcome from the AIPAC participants, began his passionate address by evoking an image of Jerusalem, which included both personal and political reflections on the meaning of the Israeli capital.
“Jerusalem is a city of peace, a city that yearns for peace and the city from which the word of peace will go forth, notwithstanding any United Nations resolution,” Rabin said.
The issue of Jerusalem, more than any other topic raised at the convention, seemed to evoke the most passion from the participants, more than half of whom were students.
Under the terms of last year’s Israeli-Palestinian accord, Jerusalem was considered a final-status issue, discussion of which would be postponed until the third year of a five-year interim period.
But AIPAC’s convention came at a time when Jerusalem has once again emerged as a sticking point, this time at the United Nations, where there has been a dispute over whether a resolution condemning the killings of Palestinian worshipers by a Jewish settler should include a reference to Jerusalem as occupied territory.
The United States had reportedly been ready to accept the presence of such language under a compromise formula, in order to encourage Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to return to the peace talks.
The PLO had broken off talks with Israel after a Jewish settler killed at least 29 Arabs at a mosque in Hebron on Feb. 25.
COMPROMISING ON U.N. RESOLUTION
The compromise would allow the United States to support the overall resolution, which calls for greater security for Palestinians, while abstaining on the language that refers to Jerusalem as occupied territory.
A meeting Monday in Tunis between Arafat and U.S. peace talks coordinator Dennis Ross to try to coax the Palestinians back to the table ended in stalemate, with no progress reported.
During his address to the AIPAC conference Tuesday, Rabin spoke of the slayings in Hebron, saying it “has shamed the Jewish people and Zionism.” But he also spoke of “the murderous bloody acts of terrorist fanatics who shot Jewish worshipers who stood in prayer in the synagogues of Istanbul, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome.
“The same denunciation should have been expressed by the Arab parties; however, most remained silent,” he said.
Rabin said that there would be no compromise from Israel on security issues in Israel, inside and outside the Green Line.
“The feeling of loss and sorrow in the wake of the Hebron tragedy will not change our fundamental positions regarding the security of the State of Israel and its citizens, including the Jewish residents in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip,” Rabin said to a round of applause.
“We have no intention of compromising on any security matters,” the prime minister continued. “No bullet, no knife, no Molotov cocktail, no stone, will undermine our commitment to peace and security.”
Rabin said he thought the Israelis and Palestinians were “near the conclusion of the Gaza-Jericho stage in the negotiations for peace. We already see the finish line.”
He also spoke of hopes for progress on the other negotiating tracks with Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.
“Our negotiations with Syria have been serious. I called on (Syrian President Hafez) Assad, and call upon him once again, to walk an extra mile in order to meet us on the road for peace,” Rabin said.
‘CHERISH YOUR JUDAISM’
The prime minister praised AIPAC, calling it “the spearhead of the special relations between Washington and Jerusalem.”
He also spoke of the importance of Jewish tradition in the United States.
“My message to you and through you, to all the Jewish homes in America, is, ‘cherish your Judaism and strengthen it,’ ” the prime minister said. “We are so few in the world and each one of you represents the hope of our people.”
After his address to the AIPAC conference, Rabin headed for meetings at the State Department with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, and at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary William Perry.
Rabin, who last visited Washington in November, was scheduled to meet with President Clinton at the White House on Wednesday.
Rabin’s address ended a three-day AIPAC conference that also featured remarks by Vice President Al Gore, House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.), Israeli Ambassador to Washington Itamar Rabinovich, and Egyptian Ambassador to Washington Ahmed Maher El-Sayed, among others.
Speakers addressed both the promise emanating from last September’s Israeli-PLO accord, as well as the problems ensuing from the killings in Hebron.
The conference also featured the first address from new AIPAC Executive Director Neal Sher, who previously headed the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations.
Sher told the audience that he considered his new position “the pinnacle of my life’s work. It is the logical extension of my background and experience.”
The conference participants also spent time lobbying their senators and representatives on foreign aid and other issues.
The issue of Jerusalem, while only one of many topics under discussion in the massive Sheraton Hotel ballroom, seemed to loom over all the other issues, including foreign aid and the peace process.
At a meeting Sunday at the White House with President Clinton, Sher and AIPAC President Steve Grossman told Clinton that AIPAC strongly opposed any formulation equating Jerusalem with occupied territory, and that AIPAC believed that Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel.
Grossman said the two AIPAC leaders reminded Clinton of his own previous statements, and of the wording of the 1992 Democratic Party platform, which are in agreement with the AIPAC position. Clinton responded that that policy was still correct, according to Grossman.
AIPAC did not take the option of urging a U.S. veto of the proposed U.N. resolution.
Some boos rang out in the room Sunday night as Grossman responded to a question about AIPAC’s tactics on this issue.
Both Sunday night and at a press briefing Tuesday morning, Grossman said that AIPAC’s executive committee had debated the issue and decided against urging a veto, choosing instead to voice opposition to the proposed language with administration officials and members of Congress.
“The members felt this was the most appropriate way” to express their feelings, Grossman told reporters Tuesday.
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