Attempt to toughen terrorism act launched

A top Republican is seeking to toughen the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act as a way of thwarting Bush administration efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. An e-mail was being sent around this week seeking co-sponsors for a
bill drafted by the office of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the
ranking Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign
Affairs Committee. An unidentified staffer for Ros-Lehtinen wrote the e-mail, which was “To counter attempts by Rice/State to deal with unity govt and send assistance to non-Hamas members of unity govt.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is dealing with non-Hamas members of the recently established national unity government. The version of PATA passed last year mostly limited its sanctions to members of Hamas, a terrorist group that rejects Israel’s existence. Ros-Lehtinen, then the chairwoman of the committee, had pushed a much tougher version through the House last year, but the White House objected to provisions that would have cut the United States from virtually any relations with the Palestinians regardless of who was in power. In the end, the more moderate Senate version was passed. The staffer’s e-mail suggests Ros-Lehtinen wants to fight the battle again: The PATA Amendments Act “takes current law and brings it to the threshold of the House-passed PATA bill,” it says. The new act restores cuts in funding to the United Nations as long as it funds the Palestinian Authority, as well as the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Washington office, among other measures.