IT’S OFFICIAL: RABIN WANTS U.S. FOREIGN AID FOR SYRIA; NOW WILL CONGRESS SAY ‘NO’?

(Washington, D.C.): On 15 June, Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin indicated to an American audience that he wanted
U.S. tax-dollars to go to Syria in the event the Syrians made
peace with Israel. According to the Jerusalem Post of 18
June, Mr. Rabin told the New York-based Israel Policy Forum:

“[For] the peace to be a real one, [it must] be
translated to the average citizen of the Arab countries. I
would like the peace to be realized by the citizens of Amman
and Irbid, by the person in Gaza and Rafiah and — in the
future in Damascus and Aleppo, in Beirut and in Sidon. For
that, we need foreign aid, not only to us…but the newcomers
to peace need also assistance.”

Over the past three months, the Center for Security
Policy has repeatedly called attention to a looming danger to a
prospective Syrian-Israeli peace agreement — namely, that it may
be predicated upon unfulfillable expectations of American foreign
aid flows to Syria. For example, on 17 March, the Center warned:

“President Clinton may be making commitments…[by]
promising that at least hundreds of millions, if not
billions, of U.S. taxpayer dollars will flow to Syria — in
the form of indirect assistance (e.g., via
multilateral financial institutions), if not directly from
the U.S. Treasury. There is, however, little realistic
prospect that American financial assistance will be
forthcoming for Syria. According to the Associated Press, on
15 March, Rep. Sonny Callahan, the chairman of the
House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee: ‘warned
the Clinton Administration that he would oppose providing any
aid to Syria as part of a future peace agreement with
Israel….He is concerned that Syria would seek the ‘annual
entitlement’ of foreign aid that Egypt and Israel have
received since they signed a peace treaty in 1979. ‘There is no
money,’ Callahan said.'” ⁽¹⁾ (Emphasis added.)

Congress has also been treated to a foretaste of what will
happen if it allows President Clinton to disregard Rep.
Callahan’s warning and similar red-flags from the likes of Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC). On 3
March, the Center noted White House Press Spokesman Michael
McCurry’s ominous rendering of a phone call President Clinton
received a few days before from Prime Minister Rabin:

“Rabin called to express his concern about a House
GOP subcommittee action to reduce from $275 million to $50
million funding for debt forgiveness for Jordan. ‘The
Prime Minister said that if we get into a situation where the
United States, having made commitments to the Middle East
peace process, [is] suddenly reneging on those commitments,
it could be harmful not only to the process of peace as it
exists between Jordan and Israel but for the entire
process.'” ⁽²⁾

The Bottom Line

The Center for Security Policy continues to believe that the
prospects for a genuine and durable peace between Israel and
Syria are not served by commitments on the part of the United
States that Washington either will not or cannot realistically be
expected to honor. That would likely be the case were the
U.S. to promise to place American personnel in exposed positions
on the Golan Heights or to remove Syria from the list of
state-sponsors of terrorism and drug-trafficking — even though
it is still engaged in both. It is certainly the case with
respect to the idea of providing scarce foreign assistance
dollars to such a country.

Before either Prime Minister Rabin or Syrian dictator Hafez
Assad is given any additional grounds for expecting U.S. foreign
aid to flow to Syria, the Congress should serve formal notice to
the contrary on the Clinton Administration. Lest some Members
feel uneasy about bucking the Prime Minister of Israel in doing
so, the results of a nationwide poll of American Jews conducted
from 2-5 May 1995 by the Luntz Research Company should be borne
in mind: Some 59% of those polled said they would oppose the U.S.
giving Syria foreign aid, versus just 32% in favor. 1 For more on
the results of this poll, please see the Center’s Decision Brief
entitled AIPAC Conference Shows American Jewry is Dubious
About Prospects for Real Mideast Peace (No. 95-D 31, 8
May 1995). It goes without saying that, given the widespread
unpopularity of foreign assistance, the split would be even more
skewed in opposition were the sentiments of the population as a
whole to be taken into account.

(1) See the Center for Security Policy
Decision Brief entitled Blindsiding Congress on the Syrian
Deal: Clinton Hopes To Go Non-stop From ‘It’s Premature to
Debate’ To ‘It’s Too Late’ ( No. 95-D 16,
17 March 1995).

(2) See the Center’s Decision Brief
entitled Warning: Congress Must Spike U.S. Commitments on
Dollars, Troops for Syria Now or Invite Peace Process
Melt-Down (No. 95-D 13, 3 March
1995).