High-level officials of the Bush administration made clear Tuesday that the United States does not oppose the right of Jews, including Soviet immigrants, to live in parts of Jerusalem formerly held by Jordan.
They also indicated that the United States will not link U.S. aid for Soviet immigrants to a demand that Israel end settlement activity in the administered territories, though the Washington still wants assurances its money will not be used to build housing for Soviet Jews in areas beyond Israel’s 1967 borders.
The policies were enunciated Tuesday by Vice President Dan Quayle, who spoke in New York to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and by White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, who addressed the National Leadership Conference of the Simon Wiesenthal Center here.
Their remarks appeared to calm mounting concern in American Jewish circles over remarks President Bush made last weekend about the status of united Jerusalem.
Bush appeared to imply at a news conference Saturday in Palm Springs, Calif., that the United States opposes the settlement of Jews in East Jerusalem, an area Israel annexed in 1967.
“The policy of the United States says we do not believe there should be new settlements in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. And I will conduct that policy as if it’s firm, which it is,” Bush was quoted as saying.
JERUSALEM A SEPARATE ISSUE
The United States has consistently opposed the building of additional Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But the president’s remarks were believed to be the first time the U.S. government has taken a stand on Jewish settlement of East Jerusalem, which Israel regards as an inseparable part of the capital.
The president’s remarks triggered “extreme concern” among American Jewish leaders that there had been a “perception of change in U.S. policy,” Seymour Reich, chairman of the Conference of Presidents, said Monday.
That concern was partially alleviated Monday afternoon, when Bush telephoned Reich and told him that the U.S. government is not opposed to Jews living in any part of Jerusalem, which the United States believes should remain undivided.
But a statement on the telephone call, issued Monday evening by the White House press secretary, contained language that some American Jewish leaders found ambiguous and possibly troubling.
For one, the statement expressed U.S. support for “Jews as well as others” to live in any part of Jerusalem, “in the context of a negotiated settlement.”
That led some Jewish leaders to question how the United States feels about Jews living in all parts of Jerusalem in the absence of a peace settlement.
But after meeting with Quayle on Tuesday afternoon, Reich told reporters that “there is no problem with Soviet Jews and others residing in East Jerusalem.”
“The vice president gave us a clear indication that East Jerusalem was not to be confused with the West Bank,” he said. “The two issues are separate.”
SETTLEMENT BAN NOT REQUIRED
The White House statement also said Bush was prepared to support $400 million in loan guarantees so that Israel could build housing for Soviet immigrants, “provided the United States and Israel can work out assurances that satisfy the United States on settlement activity.”
Some Jewish leaders took that to mean that the Bush administration might not approve the loan guarantees unless Israel ceases all settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
That impression also was given last week by Secretary of State James Baker, during an appearance before the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations.
He told the panel that the administration would be prepared to support the loan guarantees, “if the government of Israel could perhaps provide some assurances that it would not be engaging in any new or additional settlement activity.”
But on Tuesday, Quayle told the Conference of Presidents that while the administration is opposed to new settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a ban on such settlements is not a condition for receiving the loan guarantees.
“We do have a disagreement with Israel over settlements,” the vice president told reporters after the meeting, but it is “an honest difference between friends.”
Likewise, Sununu told the Wiesenthal Center group in Washington that there would be no linkage between housing loan guarantees and Israeli assurances against new settlement activity.
“The aid linkage is not a linkage,” he told the group.
‘OTHER FUNDS’ FOR EAST JERUSALEM
But he added that U.S. policy “continues to be opposed to new settlements and the expansion of settlements.” President Bush “has made no bones about making that as a clear statement” to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, he said.
Richard Haass, senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the National Security Council, told the Wiesenthal Center leaders that the administration is prepared “to talk with the Israeli government about whether we can come up with a mutually acceptable approach to how we could make available these housing investment guarantees.”
The administration’s chief concern appears to be that the loans will not be used to build housing for Soviet Jews in the administered territories, including parts of Jerusalem beyond Israel’s 1967 borders.
Reich said that is consistent with U.S. policy, which has always restricted U.S. foreign aid from being used in the territories, including parts of Jerusalem. He said Israel would “find other funds for settling Soviet Jews in East Jerusalem.”
Reich added that “as far as American Jewish leaders are concerned, Jerusalem will never again be divided. It is the capital of the Jewish state and will remain so.”
(JTA staff writer Elena Neuman in New York contributed to this report.)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
