RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITÄT HEIDELBERG HEIDELBERG CENTER FOR AMERICAN STUDIES THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS AND U.S. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS BY MAHMOUD M.A. ABDOU A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN AMERICAN STUDIES ADVISORS: DR. MARTIN THUNERT (HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY, GERMANY) PROFESSOR PATRICK ROBERTS (VIRGINIA TECH, USA) Heidelberg, Germany January 27, 2012 List of Abbreviations UN United Nations UNSC United Nations’ Security Council UNGA United Nations’ General Assembly UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees PACs Political Action Committees NSC National Security Council AIPAC American Israel Public Affairs Committee FEC Federal Election Commission CAMERA Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America CUFI Christians United for Israel ICEJ International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem BFP Bridges for Peace NCLCI National Christian Leadership Council for Israel CFOIC Christian Friends of Israeli Communities UCFI Unity Coalition for Israel CIPAC Christian Israel Public Affairs Committee NAAA National Association of Arab-Americans ADC American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee AAI Arab-American Institute JDL Jewish Defense League ADL Jewish Anti-Defamation League AJC American Jewish Congress ZOA Zionist Organization of America PLO Palestine Liberation Organization IFCJ International Fellowship of Christians and Jews SFI Stand for Israel JStreet Americans for Middle East Peace and Security ii List of Tables and Figures Map 1 Israel/Palestine after the 1947 Partition Plan and the 1967 war “Stealth PACs” Pro-Israel PACs Contributions to Federal Candidates in 2004 Election Cycle Table 1 Pro-Israel PACs Contributions Totals (1990-2000) Table 2 Top Recipients of Campaign Contributions from Pro-Israel PACs (1990-2000) Map 2 The West Bank After the Signing of Oslo II Interim Agreement Table 3 Campaign Contributions Totals (2002-2010) Table 4 Top Recipients of Campaign Contributions from Pro-Israel PACs (2002-2008) Table 5 Top Recipients of Campaign Contributions from Pro-Israel PACs (2010) iii Table of Content Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 Chapter One: Special Interest Groups and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy……………….. 7 I. The Executive vs. the Legislative Foreign Policy Roles………………………………. 7 II. Gaining Access to Capitol Hill: The Case of AIPAC………………………………… 10 The Israeli Lobby Defined………………………………………………………... 10 Tools, Strategies, and Techniques……………………………………………….... 12 III. Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christian’s Support of Israel……………………...... 19 Premillennial Dispensationalism and U.S. Foreign Policy……………………….. 21 IV. Weak Link: The Arab Lobby and its Interest Groups………………………………… 23 Chapter Two: Active Involvement……………………………………………………………. 28 I. Planting the Seeds of the Peace Process………………………………………………. 28 II. The Peace Process and the Clinton Administration (1993-2000)……………………... 31 The Israeli Vision………………………………………………………………….. 32 Palestinian Domestic Politics……………………………………………………… 34 Benjamin Netanyahu’s First Term and the Peace Process………………………... 35 The “Final Status” Negotiations and the Second Intifada……………………….... 38 III. The Israeli Lobby and the Peace Process……………………………………………... 42 Pro-Israel PACs Contributions……………………………………………………. 47 IV. Evangelical Christians’ Reactions....………………………………………………….. 50 Chapter Three: Advantageous Involvement…………………………………………………... 55 I. The Bush Administration and the Middle East Peace Process (2001-2008)………….. 56 The Peace Process on “the Policy Backburner”…………………………………... 58 II. U.S. Public Opinion and the Media………………………………………………….... 63 III. U.S. Congress and the Middle East Peace Process……………………………………. 66 107th Congress (2001-2002)………………………………………………………. 67 108th Congress (2003-2004)………………………………………………………. 72 109th Congress (2005-2006)………………………………………………………. 75 110th Congress (2007-2008)………………………………………………………. 79 IV. Evangelical Christian Activism……………………………………………………….. 80 Chapter Four: Hesitant Involvement………………………………………………………….. 86 I. The Obama Administration and the Peace Process (2009-2011)……………………... 86 II. The Israeli Lobby and U.S. Congress…………………………………………………. 90 111th Congress (2008-2010)………………………………………………………. 90 112th Congress-First Session (2011)……………………………………………… 94 III. JStreet and the Jewish-American Voter……………………………………………….. 98 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….103 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………. 109 Index…………………………………………………………………………………………. 118 Notes.. ………………………………………………………………………………………...135 iv Introduction The United Nations‘ Partition Plan of 1947 has given the legal legitimacy to the creation of an Israeli state on parts of what was previously a British-mandated territory. At the same time, the Arabs‘ loss of the 1948 War has made the boundaries of Israel become defined by the armistice lines of 1949, rather than by those envisioned by the Partition Plan (See Index for Map).1 This fact was iterated by U.N. Security Council resolution 242, which calls for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it has occupied as a result of the 1967 War with its neighboring Arab states. Under those provisions, UNSC resolution 242 has also marked the future boundaries of a Palestinian state within Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Therefore, the recent application for full U.N. membership of a Palestinian state is built on the provisions of UNSC resolution 242, as well as on those of the Partition Plan, in order to enforce the call for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.2 The Middle East Peace Process has been an attempt to resolve that conflict outside the chambers of United Nations, while using the particularity of UNSC resolution 242 as the main framework for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Giving the United States‘ close ties to the Middle East and its status as the world‘s leading superpower; the Peace Process has been led by the U.S. since the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference ―almost to the exclusion of all other parties.‖3 As highlighted the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N, Arthur Goldberg, in 2005, ―only the United States could act as an intermediary and…all the parties involved have to accept resolution 242.‖4 However, as scholars as diverse as John Mearsheimer, Noam Chomsky and Steven Walt observe, U.S. approach to the general Israeli-Palestinian conflict has favored Israel almost 100% of the time.5 The U.S. has vetoed more than 35 UNSC resolutions that condemn Israel; it continues to supply Israel with nearly $6 billion/year in direct and indirect military and economic aid; and it has avoided placing any political or economic pressure on Israel during the latter‘s peace negotiations with the Palestinians.6 In The Israeli Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, Mearsheimer and Walt argue that the Israeli lobby in the U.S. is the main reason behind such U.S. bias. And in the eyes of attentive observers around the world, the influence of the lobby and its allies within the American evangelical Christian community has had the effect of undermining U.S. role as the main facilitator of the Peace Process. 1 Thus, this thesis carefully follows the progress of the Peace Process under the current and last three White House administrations, and it highlights the influence of pro-Israel U.S. interest groups on U.S. role as the main mediator between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This author points out that the end-result of the Peace Process has been to create a Palestinian administrative entity in Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, rather than a viable and independent Palestinian state. I will try to show that the support of evangelical Christian and Jewish-American U.S. special interest groups of Israeli policies aimed at maintaining such status-quo has undermined U.S. credibility as the main facilitator of the two-state resolution. It has resulted in the Palestinian Authority‘s application for full U.N. membership of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, which has also brought the issue of Palestinian statehood back to the international community to resolve. The slogan of such Palestinian efforts has been: ―Recognize Palestine—a New Path for Peace.‖7 This thesis is meant as a contribution to resolving the puzzle regarding the actual clout of pro-Israel U.S. special interest groups by studying their influence in relation to the Middle East Peace Process. This author builds on his first hand experiences of living in Palestine and the U.S., and analytical tools he has acquired by studying the role of United Nations in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict as well as U.S. history, politics and society. This study combines a qualitative analysis of U.S. official policies toward the Peace Process from 1991-2011, with a quantitative investigation of the Peace Process-related activities of pro-Israel U.S. special interest. The quantitative data is collected from public opinion polls, the Congressional Record, government documents, the reports of the Federal Election Commission, and the monthly publications of the non-partisan Washington Report on Middle East Affairs from 1989-2011. The qualitative data is based on experts‘ and scholarly reflections about the Peace Process and the influence of special interest groups on the making of U.S. foreign policy. Special attention is given to the influence of those groups over the presidential elections of the current and last three U.S. administrations; the Peace Process-related congressional resolutions and legislations that they have helped enact through