Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 50, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 18, 1996 Page: 4 of 24
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Opinion 4
TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1996 - IN OUR 50TH YEAR!
Washington Watch
By James David Besser
TJP Washington Correspondent
Finally: South Lebanon Moni-
toring Agreement
Prime Minister Binyamin Net-
anyahu's inaugural visit to Wash
ington may have been the best dip-
lomatic show in town last week,
but a quieter encounter at the State
Department also promised a sig-
nificant impact on the Middle East.
On Friday, after months of dith-
ering. members of the five-nation
South Lebanon cease fire monitor-
ing group finally got their acts to-
gether.
The group, which includes Syr-
ia, Lebanon, Israel. France and the
United States, was created in the
wake of Secretary of Slate Warren
Christopher’s shuttle mission that
ended the fighting between Israel
and Hezbollah terrorists in April.
Initially, the Washington cease
lire talks were expected to last only
a day or two; instead, they dragged
out inconclusively for months, at
first because of resistance by the
Syrians and efforts by the French
to inject themselves into the mid-
dle of the negotiations, later be-
cause of the Israeli elections and
uncertainty about the American
role.
Al ter the election, there was con-
cern in Washington that the new
Netanyahu government might seek
to renegotiate parts of the rough
agreement worked out during the
spring. But last week, with some
nudging from Washington, partic-
ipants agreed on a final formula
The roster at Friday’s meeting
included Syrian ambassador Walid
Mualem and outgoing Israeli am-
bassador Itamar Rabinovich. U S.
peace process envoy Dennis Ross
and Dorc Gold, Netanyahu’s top
foreign policy adviser. Gold and
Mualem met briefly after the five-
nation session—the first direct
contact between Syria and the new
Israeli government.
Gold, according to sources here,
sent a message to President Hufe/
Assad calling for a resumption of
direct negotiations between the two
countries with "no preconditions."
But both administration and Israe-
li sources indicated that there were
no immediate plans for renewing
the Syrian-Israeli discussions.
Israeli embassy officials de-
clined to pros ide details about the
agreement, sources here say that
the leadership of the committee
w ill change every five months, with
American representatives starting
the rotation.
The committee will be headquar-
tered in Cyprus; meetings to inves-
tigate violations of the cease-fire
agreement, which prohibits the tar-
geting of civilian targets, will take
place in Ras Nequra, just north of
Israel’s northern border.
Netanyahu’s visit may have
helped break the deadlock.
"The basis for last week’s agree-
ment was in understandings be-
tween the United States and Isra-
el," this source said “Some of those
understandings were finalized dur-
ing the visit, in meetings with Net-
anyahu’s people.”
School Prayer Backers Making
their Move ,
After months of delay, backers
of a “religious equality" amend-
ment to the Constitution, which
Jewish activists see as a backdoor
attempt to legalize school prayer
and public funding of religious
schools, are apparently about to
make their big move.
Next week. Rep Henry Hyde
(R III.) will hold Judiciary Com-
mittee hearings on at least one ver-
sion of the amendment Hyde and
the House leadership have report-
edly decided to press hard for the
amendment in the few legislative
days left before the Novembcrclec-
tion.
But that may fuel the controver-
sy between supporters of two dif-
ferent versions of the constitution-
al change—one by Hyde, and an-
other by Rep Ernest Jim Istook
(R-Okla).
rhe Hyde amendment focuses
mostly on government benefits to
religious groups; the Istook ver-
sion emphasis school prayer, the
original goal of groups like the
Christian Coalition, which includ-
ed the amendment as the first item
in its Contract with the American
Family.
Despite the Christian Coalition
endorsement, the House has been
stalemated by battles between
backers of the two amendments.
Next week's hearing will report-
edly foe us on the Hyde version—
which may be amended to include
several lines on school prayer as a
sop to the Istook forces
But for Jewish groups, it makes
little difference: both amendments
represent direct attacks on church-
state separation.
“These amendments represent a
very deliberate and calculated first
step on the road to government
funding for religious institutions
and sectarian prayer in the schools,"
said an official with a major Jew-
ish group here. "If anybody thinks
the real intent is just a moment of
silent prayer, they’re living on an-
other planet.”
Duke Redux
In a kind of political summer
rerun, former Klansman David
Duke announced last week that he
will run in the September primary
for a chance at the Senate seat
being vacated by Sen. J. Bennett
Johnston (D-La.), who is retiring.
In his 1990 battle against
Johnston, Duke, a Republican, won
44 percent of the total vote and
more than 60 percent of the white
vote.
Last week, anti-Duke forces
were worried about the possible
entry into the race of Rep. Cleo
Fields, a black Democrat. That
could have divided the anti-Duke
vote in the state’s unusual open
primary
But Fields decided not to run;
the frontrunners now are former
state Treasurer Mary Landrieu on
the Democratic side and Rep. Jim-
my Hayes for the GOP
Duke's platform is simplicity it-
self; his 10-point program includes
a halt to "forced integration" and
both legal and illegal immigration
and an "end to discrimination
against while people ”
The ledcral government, he
writes in his
home page on
the World Wide
Web, “has become
our greatest enemy. It dis-
criminates against the
very heritage of Ameri- —■
cans who founded our nation. It
promotes racial discrimination
against Whites in jobs, promotions,
scholarships and student aid, and
union admittance."
Just in case he didn’t make his
point, he adds this: "I’ll fight for
our American traditions, our Chris-
tian traditions and our Southern
honor."
He predicted that he would be
vigorously opposed by "the liberal
media...and a host of New York
City ultra-liberals."
Jewish politicos, having been
through serious Duke scares be-
fore, are once again scrambling for
an effective political response.
"The problem is a familiar one,”
said an official with one major
Jewish group. "Once he declares
his candidacy, most Jewish orga-
nizations are effectively prohibit-
ed from attacking him because of
our nonprofit status. We have to
rely on the grassroots groups in
Louisiana that have mobilized
against him in the past, and we
have to hope that the Republican
party docs everything in its power
to make sure he’s not seen as a
‘legitimate’ candidate."
But Louisiana politics are un-
predictable, this source said, and
the mood of voters remains explo-
sive. ’1
Reform, Conservative Jews
Unite in Social Action
In Israel, conflict between dif-
ferent groups of Jews is on the
increase. But in this country. Re-
form and Conservative Jews are
coming together for a more active
social action agenda.
That was the theme of a confer-
ence this week in Washington that
brought together 65 activists rep-
resenting the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, the cen-
tral Reform group, and the United
Synagogue of Conservative Juda-
ism, whose name speaks for itself.
The idea was to give congrega-
tional social action leaders the tools
they need to mobilize their mem-
bership on issues of economic and
social justice, said Mark Pelavin.
associate director of the Religious
Action Center of Reform Judaism.
"At most synagogues, there is
strong support for social action pro-
gramming,” he said. "The real chal-
lenge is getting people mobilized.
How do you make social action an
see WASH WATCH p. 10
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 50, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 18, 1996, newspaper, July 18, 1996; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754865/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .