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Message to House - HR 4681: Grandstanding about Palestinians, at the expense of U.S. and Israeli interests

This legislation would impose sweeping sanctions against the Palestinians in response to the victory of Hamas in the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections.


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See the Bush Administration's comments on the current version of HR 4681 which supports its intent but NOT the content





The message below was sent to Capitol Hill on Monday, May 8, 2006. The vote on HR 4681 did not occur the following day, which we view as a positive development in part due to the efforts of members of our Action Network like yourself.

If you did not contact your representative on this matter, the issue has not been resolved and now is the time to ask for improvement in the legislation. See the new ACTION ALERT.



Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 9, the House is expected to suspend the rules and take up HR 4681, the "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006." This legislation would impose sweeping sanctions against the Palestinians in response to the victory of Hamas in the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections.

Hamas' victory in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) was regrettable. It is imperative that the international community (including the U.S.) make a concerted and coordinated effort to pressure Hamas. However, HR 4681 represents a case of Congress using a blunt instrument where a surgical tool is needed. In doing so, the bill risks undercutting such efforts, harming, U.S. national security, and undermining those Palestinian officials and activists who recognize Israel, reject terror, and support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This legislation is fundamentally flawed and deserves to be rejected by the House. APN urges Members - including those who have cosponsored and/or plan to vote for the measure - to speak out on the House floor and submit statements for the record drawing attention to the many serious problems with HR 4681.


APN talking points on HR 4681:

HR 4681 unnecessarily risks U.S. national security.

The U.S. can maintain a tough line against Hamas without compromising our own national security or unreasonably tying the President's hand in the conduct of foreign policy. Rejecting terrorism is not incompatible with ensuring that U.S. national security interests remain the primary concern of U.S. foreign policy.

HR 4681, however, irresponsibly and unnecessarily subjugates U.S. national security interests to political grandstanding. It does so by eliminating the President's authority to waive sanctions in the interests of U.S. national security - a waiver that is a standard component of virtually all U.S. sanctions legislation. This waiver, which has only rarely been invoked, represents minimal flexibility for the President to waive sanctions on assistance when U.S. national security interests are at stake. It is unfathomable that Congress would decide that, in the wake of the Hamas election, the President no longer needs or can be trusted with such authority. Indeed, it is not difficult to imagine scenarios under which U.S. national security might clearly call for direct, quick assistance - for instance, following new Palestinian elections or in the wake of a natural disaster. Moreover, the Bush Administration has already put in place tough new restrictions on aid to the Palestinians, clearly indicating the uncompromising stance this Administration is taking in response to the Hamas victory.

APN urges Congress to demand that a real national security waiver be added to this bill, enabling the President to waive the various sanctions if he deems it to be in the national security interests of the U.S. to do so.

HR 4681 risks undermining Palestinian moderates and strengthening extremists.

In response to the Hamas victory, we should seek to strengthen those Palestinians who reject violence, recognize Israel, and support a two-state solution. In doing so, we put pressure on Hamas to reform, and we strengthen those Palestinians who, we hope, will replace Hamas if it fails to reform.

HR 4681, however, undermines these positions and the Palestinians who hold them, by providing no political horizon for an alternative leadership to strive to reach. Under this bill, the PA - even if replaced by more welcome leadership - will likely be unable to meet the reform requirements in the short- or medium-term, especially outside the context of progress towards a peace agreement. Thus, even if new elections were held and won by a different party, all sanctions would remain in place until the other reform requirements had been met.

APN urges Congress to demand that a "sunset clause" be added to HR 4681, providing a political horizon for moderate, reasonable Palestinian political leaders and activists, and sending a signal of real support and hope to the Palestinian people. [A sunset clause is like an "expiration date" for legislation, stipulating a date or event after which Congress will either let the legislation lapse, renew the legislation, or amend it in some way.]

HR 4681 loses sight of the real priorities.

HR 4681 seeks to precondition U.S. relations with the PA - and impose sweeping sanctions - based on the demand that the PA meet a list of requirements that include wide-ranging reforms unrelated to the election of Hamas.

Important as these reforms may be, neither the U.S. nor Israel has ever considered them a prerequisite for engaging with the PA (or, for that matter, the PLO, Jordan, or Egypt, in the context of their agreements with Israel). Adding these reforms as preconditions for engagement loses sight of real priorities - like saving lives - and undermines the incentive for the most critical demands to be taken seriously. For example, under this bill, if Hamas renounced terror, changed its charter, acted decisively against other terrorist organizations, disarmed its own militants, and recognized Israel, but had not yet made substantial progress toward replacing all textbooks with "materials to promote tolerance, peace, and coexistence with Israel," all sanctions would remain in place.

APN urges Congress to reject preconditioning U.S. relations with the Palestinians on requirements that are unrelated to the specific issues raised by the Hamas election; rather, Congress should set focused, meaningful performance benchmarks.

HR 4681 loses sight of U.S. strategic interests.

A serious response to the Palestinian elections should clearly target Hamas and its control of the Palestinian Authority. Effective sanctions should clearly differentiate such targets from, for example, elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) who are not affiliated with Hamas or any other terrorist organization - political leaders and activists who, running on platforms that included rejection of terror, recognition of Israel, and support for a two-state solution, beat Hamas candidates in the January election.

However, HR 4681 not only fails to distinguish between Hamas and the PA, and the non-Hamas members of the PLC, it explicitly defines the PA as including the entire PLC - extending sanctions to longtime supporters of peace with Israel (like PLC member Salam Fayyad). Moreover, the bill includes extraneous sanctions that, while ostensibly aimed at Hamas, will in fact have zero impact on Hamas, but only serve to punish Palestinians who recognize Israel and reject terror, and make it difficult or impossible for the U.S. to talk to them. These include restrictions on visas (Hamas members are already barred by law from obtaining visas), limits on freedom of movement for officials of the PLO in the U.S. and sanctions on PLO representation in the United States (Hamas is not a member of the PLO - a group that recognizes and has signed agreements with Israel), and an entirely superfluous attack on the United Nations that does not even make the pretense of having anything to do with Hamas. In the interests of U.S. national security, including our concern for Israeli security, it is vital to open the door for dialogue and engagement with alternative leaders and representatives of the Palestinians.

APN urges Congress to reject provisions of this bill that will have no real impact on Hamas - except, perversely, to strengthen them while undermining moderate Palestinian political leaders and activists, and making it more difficult for the U.S. to engage with alternatives to a Hamas-led government, like President Mahmoud Abbas or the PLO.

APN urges Congress to reject this bill's misguided effort to attack the UN, especially at a time when Israel is asking the UN to play a greater role in providing services to the Palestinians. This attack has nothing to do with the Hamas election or UN activities in the West Bank and Gaza, and instead risks sending the message that the real goal of this bill is to assail Palestinians in every possible forum.


APN is the premier Jewish, Zionist organization working to enhance Israel's security through peace. APN believes that strong U.S. leadership is the best hope for reducing Israeli-Palestinian violence and bringing about a political process that can eventually pave the way for security and peace for Israelis and Palestinians.