In an unprecedented vote, the US House rejected a proposal to cut Egypt's military aid in half, Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington The US House of Representatives rejected an attempt by the extreme pro-Israel lobby last week to cut annual military aid to Egypt by half following intense pressure by senior administration officials, arms contractors and the Egyptian Embassy in Washington. Although the bill, introduced by Representative Tom Lantos, Democrat, California, was rejected by 287-131, diplomats noted that this was the first time in 26 years that the House voted over cutting military aid to Egypt. Members of both the Republican and Democratic parties backed Lantos's proposal, another bad sign for Egyptian-American relations and an indication of the growing pressure on Cairo by the pro-Israel lobby in Congress. Among those who backed the bill was House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Republican, Texas, a diehard supporter of Israel in Congress and a close ally of US President George W Bush. Sixty-eight Democrats and 63 Republicans voted in favour of the bill, and 130 Democrats, 156 Republicans and 1 independent voted against it. After the signing of the 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the United States pledged to pay both countries annual military and economic aid to cement their treaty. In the 2005 foreign aid budget approved by the House, Egypt will receive $1.3 billion in military aid and $535 million in economic assistance. Israel will get $2.2 billion in military aid in the same fiscal year. Knowing that the US administration would not approve a direct cut in aid presented to Egypt, as that would undermine relations between the two countries and violate the understandings reached in Camp David, Lantos proposed reducing the military aid presented to Egypt by half and transferring that amount, $570 million, to economic aid. He claimed that after signing its peace treaty with Israel, Egypt no longer faced any military threats to justify the annual purchase of US weapons, and that the Egyptian people would be more appreciative if that money went to economic assistance. "We should no longer have to pay the Egyptian military political protection money to keep it in place," Lantos said. "If we enhance our support for economic and social projects in Egypt, our credibility with the Egyptian people will soar." Lantos also demanded a roll call vote, meaning that each member had to publicly state his or her position, in an effort to intimidate the members due to the strong influence of the pro-Israel lobby in an election year. Congressional sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that Lantos had repeatedly tried to introduce a similar proposal in recent years, but that he failed to garner enough support to even table it for voting. According to House members, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had written lawmakers urging the plan's defeat. Also, some legislators said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice made telephone calls to round up votes against the proposal. Powell said in a letter to the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Aid, Jim Kolbe, Republican, Arizona, that the proposal would "seriously undermine" American relations with "an ally that can help us in war and peace". He added that shifting the money would hurt their relationship "at a very sensitive moment in the region, one that has witnessed Egyptian engagement in and support of our regional objectives". Powell emphasised Egypt's recent effort to reach a deal between Israel and the Palestinians regarding the implementation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for the so-called unilateral disengagement in Gaza, its support for the new government in Iraq and willingness to restore stability there by taking part in reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi police. "Our credibility in this relationship depends to a great degree upon being a reliable provider of assistance to the Egyptian military," Powell said. "Without question, the secretary of state... made it very difficult for us," said Representative Mike Pence, Republican, Indiana, a sponsor of the defeated plan. "We didn't make law, but hopefully we made a point." Another factor in the vote was a concern by some lawmakers about Powell's assertion that the proposal could have caused the cancellation of $2.2 billion worth of contracts for Egypt to purchase military items from US companies, House aides said. They added that major weapons companies also lobbied lawmakers to reject Lantos's proposal. The measure's proponents reiterated a long list of allegations against the Egyptian government to justify their request. Those included the alleged failure to help the United States in its war against terrorism by refusing to provide troops for recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, refusal to normalise relations with Israel, what they described as incitement against Israel in the Egyptian press and failing to put pressure on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to stop anti-Israel attacks. Supporters of the bill also claimed Egypt has failed to crackdown on tunnels, which are allegedly used to smuggle weapons along the border between Egypt and Gaza, despite the fact that the Egyptian Embassy staff in Washington provided all members of the House with a recent letter from the Israeli government thanking Egypt for its efforts in closing down more than 30 tunnels last year alone. Massive Israeli military attacks, which included the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian houses along the border during the same period, resulted in the closure of only three tunnels. Egypt denies that these tunnels are used to smuggle weapons, saying that they have historically been used to smuggle goods to the impoverished Israeli-occupied strip. But an informed US source told the Weekly that Israeli intelligence reports claimed there was a recent attempt to smuggle weapons, including Katyusha rockets, from Rafah in Egypt to Gaza. Despite the bi-partisan support Lantos' proposal received, House aides said several key Jewish-American Congressman rejected his effort. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the principal pro-Israel lobby in the United States, did not publicly support the anti-Egypt bill. The same group lobbied heavily a day earlier to pass a resolution in Congress condemning the ruling issued by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which concluded that the segregation wall, which Israel has been building in the occupied West Bank, was illegal and should be torn down. Congress approved the legislation with a resounding 361 to 45 vote.
