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.”
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.
