It’s time for Barak to rally supporters

The peacemakers are holed up at Camp David while the peace-breakers are spreading out from the Catoctin Mountains to Capitol Hill and beyond.

Their mission is to block Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's desire to sign a peace treaty with Yasser Arafat that will result in a Palestinian state on 90 percent or more of the West Bank and Gaza.

Their strategy is to sow enough doubts among Israeli voters about the reliability of American financial, military and political commitments to defeat any agreement Barak may submit to a promised referendum.

Their focus is largely on the Republican majority in Congress, exploiting a distrust of Bill Clinton and a distaste for foreign engagement.

Right-wing opponents of the peace process that began at Oslo seven years ago have switched tactics after their early attacks on Israeli leaders led to charges of interference in that country's politics. More recently they've been wrapping themselves in the American flag and peddling the line that the peace process is damaging to U.S. national interests.

While the peace camp has been in disarray, offering only spurts of activism, the right has been mobilized, motivated, well financed and focused.

A Capitol Hill veteran said, "They have reinforced seeds of doubt in certain Republican members who feel uncomfortable with any agreement; they're telling Congress you can't negotiate with terrorists and anti-American thugs."

Most, but not all, deny they are anti-peace, but their definition of what constitutes peace -- virtual Palestinian surrender to hardline Israeli demands -- drowns out their protests.

In seeking to block or at least severely hobble U.S. aid to implement a new Camp David agreement, they've gotten some valuable help from Palestinians leaders who once again have demonstrated an uncanny penchant for violence.

An Arafat lieutenant said failure of Israel to agree to Palestinian demands would bring "a wave and violence and blood." And Arafat said those who oppose his position on Jerusalem can "drink from the Dead Sea." Such threats amid negotiations only reinforce claims the ex-terrorist isn't a trustworthy peace partner.

Late last month, Americans for a Safe Israel, working with right-wing Israeli parties, brought four Knesset members to lobby Congress against the peace process. They met primarily with Republicans and delivered a strongly anti-Clinton message, accusing the president of "pushing Israel into making concessions...that could be suicidal," according to Israeli reports.

The settler movement said it is sending delegations to work with American friends to stage demonstrations against Barak across the United States.

The Center for Security Policy, a rabidly anti-Clinton, anti-Oslo think tank in Washington, has accused the president of betting "Israel's future security, and possibly its very survival...for the purpose of securing a 'legacy.'"

It is not a Jewish organization but it is heavily funded by the Irving I. Moskowitz Foundation, named for the bingo baron who puts big bucks into right-wing opponents of the peace process.

IRS records for 1997-98 show he gave $75,000 to the Center for Security Policy. During that same period he gave $113,000 to the Zionist Organization of America, $30,000 to Americans for a Safe Israel, $60,000 to the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, and $820,000 to American Friends of Ateret Cohanim. During that two-year period he apparently donated more than $1.9 million to such groups.

But has it been effective? The truth is the right has had more decibels than disciples. A longtime pro-Israel lobbyist said the groups have made a lot of noise in getting Congress to pass some hortatory resolutions on peripheral issues, but they have failed to block the peace process or American support for it.

"They're marginal people who've never been able to get any mainstream groups to go along with them," he said.

But the prospect of huge new aid packages represents the soft underbelly of the peace process, and opponents know it. To counter the peace-breakers and their anti-aid GOP friends, Barak will have to lead the lobbying effort personally, not delegate it to low-level underlings.

Even in the best of times it would be a tough sell getting Congress to give Israel $17 billion to make peace and then several billion dollars more to the Palestinians.

Making matters worse is internecine Jewish battles waged on the Hill and in the media, a congressional antipathy toward international involvement, anger at Israel over the AWACS sale to China and a Republican majority disinclined to help Clinton win a Nobel Peace Prize.

If Barak gets an agreement, his first stop after leaving Camp David should be the same one Menachem Begin made 22 years ago: Capitol Hill.

He has largely neglected that piece of real estate, and he can't begin changing that soon enough. He should start with GOP leaders, to whom he is a virtual stranger, according to reliable Hill sources.

He will have to convince lawmakers he has signed a deal that will enhance Israel's security and American interests and that it is worth the price.

He also needs to understand that the road to Capitol Hill goes through the Jewish community, not the New York Times or CNN. He must speak directly to the Jews, face to face, at the grassroots, where support for the peace process is mixed with large doses of fear.

They will believe him if he comes. It won't be enough to schedule a few media interviews, a closed circuit hook-up and meeting a few ganse machers.

A leader of a major American Jewish organization and peace supporter said Barak just doesn't care what American Jews think but expects them to fall in step behind what the government of Israel wants.

Barak has been called many things, but savvy politician is not one of them. He will need the help of top-level ministers and Knesset supporters, but there is no substitute for the real thing. He is asking American taxpayers for $17 billion; it is not an entitlement program. He's got to work for it.

He also has to mobilize the mainstream Jewish organizations that have spent most of their time on the fence, nominally supporting the peace process but fearing to tangle with the more rabid peace-breakers. Barak will have to push them off the fence and make them demonstrate that Jewish leadership is not an oxymoron.

If he succeeds in mobilizing his supporters at home and abroad, and passing the referendum in Israel, his job here will be made easier, but it won't be over.

Congress, despite misgivings or partisan politics, will be reluctant to vote against funding a peace agreement approved by Israeli voters. But there will still be some heavy lifting to make sure that the peace-breakers don't persuade their congressional friends to cut the funding or try to insert some killer amendments.

As Barak negotiates at Camp David, he will have to keep in mind that Israeli voters aren't the only ones whose support he needs to ratify his peace pact.