Congress Set To Vote on Jerusalem

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote next week on a resolution calling for President Bush to move the American Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, strengthening Israel's position against recurring diplomatic efforts to take away its capital.

The resolution, which passed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on May 23, commemorates the 40th anniversary of Israel's victory in the Six Day War that unified Jerusalem. It also calls on Mr. Bush to adhere to the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which authorized the funds to begin moving the embassy and declared that it was American policy to recognize the city as the capital of the Jewish state.

The House resolution, scheduled for a floor vote on Tuesday, "reiterates its commitment to the provisions of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 and calls upon the President and all United States officials to abide by its provisions."

While Mr. Bush promised as a first-time presidential candidate to begin the process of moving the embassy, he has exercised a waiver in the 1995 law to avoid penalties the law imposes for failing to move the embassy. The fact that a Democratic-controlled Congress would press him on the issue could signal that he and Secretary of State Rice, who has been aiming to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, have little domestic political leeway to pressure Israel for concessions on its capital.

Ms. Rice yesterday took off for Berlin where she will be meeting with ministers from the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations. One of the topics for the G-8 heads of state conference on June 6, a day after the anniversary of the start of the Six Day War, will be reviving the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Yesterday, America, Europe, Russia and the United Nations issued a joint statement condemning Hamas rocket attacks into Israel and factional fighting between the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza. Ms. Rice en route to Berlin told reporters that restarting the peace negotiations is a top priority.

"There's no substitute for trying to get to the place where the Palestinians finally have their state and the Israelis finally have a neighbor who can live in peace and security with them. It's at the core of a lot of problems in the region," she said.

Presidents and presidential candidates have promised since 1980 to move the embassy to Jerusalem, only to renege on the promise once in office. As a candidate for president on August 28, 2000, George W. Bush told a B'nai B'rith convention, "Something else will happen should I be elected: as soon as I take office I will begin the process of moving the U.S. ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital."

Mr. Bush never moved the embassy, or even began the process, and has since signed the waiver built into the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy at every six-month interval, to notify Congress of his intention to ignore the legislation.

Palestinian Arab leaders have expressed a desire to claim Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian Arab State, while Israeli leaders have insisted that Jerusalem will remain Israel's undivided capital.

When asked for a comment about the House resolution calling for America to move the embassy, a State Department spokesman, David Foley said, "The State Department position remains unchanged, Jerusalem is a permanent status issue to be negotiated between the parties."

America's and Israel's terrorist enemies have also weighed in on the Jerusalem embassy debate. In 2000, following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah fthreatened to send America's diplomats home in coffins if the embassy is moved to Jerusalem, which the Arabs call Quds.

In an e-mail, one of the sponsors of the House Resolution, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Rep. Tom Lantos, said he thought the fortieth anniversary of the war that united Jerusalem was a good time to take stock.

"In the shadow of regional hate, Israelis have produced a remarkably prosperous and vibrant democracy. Yet their enemies are as determined, and as threatening, as ever," he said. "Thankfully, Jordan and Egypt have embraced a vision of peace with Israel since that war four decades ago; may the years to come bring Israel ever closer to a lasting peace with its neighbors."

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden, a Democrat of Delaware, is expected to introduce a similar resolution commemorating the Six Day War next week as well. Both resolutions are expected to pass with wide majorities. The House resolution's co-sponsors include Reps. Eliot Engel, Gary Ackerman, and Joseph Crowley, all Democrats of New York, as well as Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Dan Burton, who are Republicans.

The resolution's introduction won praise from some Jewish leaders. The director of the Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Policy, Nathan Diament, said it "would send a clear message to the administration that it is time to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to its rightful place in Jerusalem. Just as the United States locates its embassy in the duly designated capitals of other nations, so too it should locate its embassy in Israel's recognized capital." American Arab leaders have condemned similar bills in the past, saying the tilt toward Israel damaged American credibility as a mediator in the negotiations.