Jerusalem Embassy Pact Passes House

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives yesterday passed without opposition a resolution calling on President Bush to move America's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and adhere to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act.

The resolution marked the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War, when Israel won the West Bank, Sinai, Gaza, and the Golan Heights from Arab armies. It passed the House just four days after the White House exercised — for the 14th time — the Jerusalem Embassy Act waiver, which allows the president to ignore Congress. Since the act's passage, Presidents Clinton and Bush have exercised the waiver without fail every six months, as required.

The new resolution "commends Israel for its administration of the undivided city for the past 40 years, during which Israel has respected the rights of all religious groups." It also urges Arabs and Palestinian Arabs to take steps to seek peace but does not include similar language for Israel.

The resolution, while symbolic, is a reminder to the Arab world that even the Democratic-controlled Congress, which has endorsed timetables for America's withdrawal from Iraq, is on the Jewish state's side in the conflict in the Middle East.

In many ways, the war for Jerusalem personifies the entire struggle. During the second intifada, a terrorist offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party named itself Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade after the mosque built on the remains of the Second Temple, where Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to heaven in a dream.

In advance of the vote, the Council for the National Interest, which boasted of being the first American organization to meet with the leadership of Hamas after its victory in the Palestinian Arab parliamentary elections in January 2006, urged its members to contact their representatives to vote against the resolution.

"What Congress must understand is that the key for a lasting peace in the region is a two-state solution, with Jerusalem serving as the capital for both Israel and a future state of Palestine. That aim cannot be achieved if the entire city of Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of Israel," the group's "action alert" said. Similar releases were sent out by another group, Churches for Middle East Peace.

None of the members of Congress spoke against the resolution on the House floor. Some members, however, did speak to endorse the bill, such as the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Rep. Tom Lantos, a Democrat of California. Noting that the Jerusalem Embassy Act calls for the White House to begin moving the embassy to Jerusalem, Mr. Lantos said, "I earnestly hope that with this commemorative resolution, we again call attention of this administration to its promise, clear and unequivocal, to move the embassy to Israel's capital, Jerusalem.

A similar resolution is expected to pass the Senate this week.