A majority in Congress has signed onto a lobbying campaign
to limit the oversight role of Washington's three Quartet peace
plan partners, seen by many of Israel's supporters as biased in
favor of the Palestinians.
It may be hard for President Bush (news - web sites) to resist the pressure
from the Jewish-American lobby in the run-up to next year's
election since his main Democratic presidential rivals are
already on board.
"It's not a collective knock at the Quartet. But there is
growing disdain for those other parties based on Iraq," one
senior congressional aide said.
Bush plans to unveil the plan, with its goal of creating a
Palestinian state by 2005, following the confirmation of a new
Palestinian cabinet.
But already 83 senators and 278 members of the House of
Representatives have signed letters objecting to efforts to
pressure Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) to make concessions until
the Palestinians do more to fight terrorism, according to the
powerful pro-Israel lobby group, AIPAC.
The lawmakers are also warning Bush against giving the
United Nations, the EU and Russia a "meaningful role" in
monitoring the peace plan, which envisions a raft of measures
including a halt to Palestinian violence and an end to Jewish
settlement building in the West Bank and Gaza.
"The United States has developed a level of credibility and
trust with all parties in the region which no other country
shares," according to the House letter, which will be sent to
Bush after he releases the plan.
"We are concerned that certain nations or groups, if given
a meaningful role in monitoring progress made on the ground,
might only lessen the chances of moving forward on a realistic
path toward peace," the letter added.
EVEN-HANDED?
Championed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), Bush's
closest ally in the war in Iraq, the road map's release could
help blunt Arab and European charges that the United States was
too preoccupied with the war in Iraq to make a solid commitment
to the Middle East peace process.
Eager to be seen as even-handed, White House spokesman Ari
Fleischer (news - web sites) insisted on Wednesday that the road map envisioned "a
series of actions that need to be taken by all parties."
Soon after its release, the administration is expected to
step up pressure on Israel to ease its crackdown on the West
Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
"As the Palestinians implement more and more reforms and
progress is made on their side, more will be expected of the
Israelis," a U.S. official said.
But the road map is already under fire from some of Bush's
closest conservative allies, including House Republican leader
Tom DeLay of Texas.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an adviser to the
Pentagon (news - web sites), blasted the Quartet earlier this week as "a
deliberate and systematic effort to undermine the president's
policies procedurally by ensuring that they will consistently
be watered down and distorted by the other three members."
Many of Israel's U.S. backers see the EU and the United
Nations as too biased toward the Palestinians to win a role in
the process.
"Europeans have a long history of anti-Semitism and
anti-Zionism, and the United Nations has consistently
demonstrated its bias against Israel, and neither party will
serve the interest of peace," one pro-Israel lobbyist said.
The White House has not spelled out what role its Quartet
partners would play going forward, but has suggested it would
be limited. "The Quartet was helpful ... in producing the road
map," Fleischer told reporters.
But he insisted: "The future of the road map is up to
Israel and the Palestinians. Those are the parties that will
determine the acceptance of the road map."
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