Washington Watch Articles From 1998
U.S. PUBLIC READY FOR AN ARAB CAMPAIGN
An August 1-3, 1998 poll conducted for the Arab American Institute in Washington show that the attitudes of U.S. voters toward Israel and the Palestinians are now dead even.
THE GROWING DEBATE AGAINST SANCTIONS
The U.S. Senate put the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act (FRPA) on indefinite hold last week.
JEWISH VOTERS IN THE 1998 ELECTIONS
U.S. electoral politics can be a crass and unprincipled business. A reminder of this fact came last month with the release of a strategy report by Frank Luntz, a leading Republican pollster.
SCAPEGOATING IMMIGRANTS IN CAPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
The U.S. congress is under intense public pressure to reform the system of campaign finance.
CIVIL RIGHTS WEEK FOR ARAB AMERICANS
Last week we focused our efforts on addressing a number of Arab American civil rights concerns.
CHINA AND STARR: COMPETING FOR NEWS
President Clinton returns from his nine-day visit to China the nation’s press still consumed with the twists and turns of the Monica Lewinsky affair.
A BLEAK MOOD
It is difficult not to feel some degree of despair over the current demise of the Middle East peace process and its impact on the broader region.
BIGOTRY TARGETS ARAB AMERICAN CANDIDATE
Although Arab Americans have made real political progress in the United States during the past two decades, the community remains disturbingly vulnerable to attacks of bigotry.
ARAB MERCHANTS TARGETED
Even with the progress made by Arab Americans in recent years, problems of discrimination and bigotry remain.
GINGRICH AND THE NOVEMBER CAMPAIGN
Republican congressional leader Newt Gingrich’s recent behavior must be understood as part of his party’s strategic approach to the upcoming 1998 congressional elections.
WHAT AN ARAB SUMMIT SHOULD DO
It is well past the time for the Arab states to take a decisive stand to save the Middle East peace process.
THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT AND THE REPUBLICANS
As political activists in both parties are laying plans for the 1998 congressional elections and almost 20 national Republican and Democratic leaders are touring the country positioning themselves for the 2000 Presidential elections, a core group of religious conservative organizations are instead focusing their efforts on taking control of the Republican Party.
WHY CLINTON CAME
On May 7, 1998, President William Jefferson Clinton addressed the Arab American Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. It was the first time an U.S. President had addressed an Arab American conference.
A FATEFUL MEETING?
In September 1993 one half of Israel began a peace process with the Palestinian people, the outcome of which, though unstated, was inevitably to be a Palestinian state.
“ISRAEL AT 50”
American perceptions of the Arab-Israeli conflict were shaped by myth and prejudice. As described by one of Zionism’s founders, Chaim Weizmann in a 1930s appeal to supporters in the United States, the parties to the conflict in Palestine were:
ZE’VI SHOULD GO
On the eve of yet another round of peace talks with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited the leader of the Modelet Party to join his coalition government.
THE BATTLE OF LETTERS
The Clinton Administration’s as yet unannounced, but much talked about, proposal to break the impasse in the peace process may only call for an inadequate 13 percent Israeli withdrawal, but it has already created a war in Washington and deep divisions within the U.S. Jewish community.
REMEMBERING DEIR YASSIN
It was 50 years ago that the Zionist terrorist groups Irgun and Lehi (Stern Gang) committed a massacre in the Arab village of Deir Yassin.
PAULA JONES AND THE PRESIDENT
President Clinton returned from an historic African visit to a somewhat brighter Washington than the one he left.
IRELAND THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN HISTORY AND JUSTICE
Peace talks designed to resolve the conflict in Northern Ireland are entering a crucial phase.