US lawmakers visit settlement on lobbyists' dime

File Photo: Myles Tannenbaum, leader of the Republican Jewish Chapter in PA, with Republican whip Eric Cantor, who is leading current GOP delegation to Israel

Ma'an
Republican members of the US House of Representatives visited at least one illegal West Bank settlement during an event organized by pro-Israel lobbyists on Thursday, Ma'an has learned.

A foreign policy associate at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)'s Jerusalem office, David Kreizelman, confirmed reports that 25 lawmakers visited Alfei Menashe, an illegal settlement near Qalqiliya, while on an official trip organized by lobbyists.

"It was right outside of the Green Line, very close to the Green Line," the AIPAC official made a point to note in a telephone interview hours after the event. "It was an overview, a chance to get the lay of the land."

Alfei Menashe is indeed located close to the Green Line - so close that Israel's contentious separation barrier snakes around the area, annexing the land under it and a number of Palestinian villages into Israel. In September 2005 shortly after the wall's construction began, the Israeli High Court ruled that its military should consider rerouting the barrier elsewhere. It did not....

The small settlement's 6,200 residents are located within the so-called Seam Zone that describes Palestinian territory both east of the Green Line, the Palestine-Israel border, and west of the separation barrier, which was ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004....

The 25 lawmakers were also in Jerusalem on Thursday in a visit billed as the largest Republican Party delegation in Israel's history. All expenses were taken care of by the American Israel Education Foundation, an organization affiliated with AIPAC, although not officially.

"It wasn't AIPAC at all," Kreizelman insisted, before clarifying that the group was at least loosely linked to the powerful lobbying organization. "It's affiliated, but it would be incorrect to say that AIPAC funded the visit." Full story

Israel's Government Press Office also told Ma'an in a forwarded statement that AIPAC was linked to the event, saying, "The trip is fully sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, a supporting organization of AIPAC, America’s pro-Israel lobby.... "

..... Noting that he looked forward to welcoming 31 Democratic Party lawmakers next week, Peres added that the Republicans' visit reconfirmed "the message that the US Congress stands staunchly on the side of Israel." Full story