State Dept. complaints irk Israeli officials
By Barak Ravid Haaretz 22 July 2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004139.html

Senior officials in the U.S. State Department, including Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, have repeatedly complained to Israel recently over
relatively minor Palestinian issues that it would have ignored until a few
months ago, Israeli officials say.

Complaints about settlement construction or army operations that kill
Palestinian civilians have always been the norm. But Israeli officials are
worried by the State Department's new tendency to intervene in a much
broader range of issues. Advertisement

One such case occurred two weeks ago, when the daughter of Palestinian
parliamentarian Hanan Ashrawi sought to visit Israel. At one time, she had
lived in East Jerusalem and had permanent resident status, but after several
years of living in the United States, her residency had lapsed.

She therefore asked the State Department to intervene, which resulted in
Israel giving her a laissez-passer to come here and arrange her status.
However, she was warned at Ben-Gurion Airport that she had two weeks to do
so.

Via her mother, a personal friend of Rice, the younger Ashrawi complained to
the State Department again over this dictum. Within minutes, Israeli sources
said, Assistant Secretary of State David Welch had phoned senior Israeli
officials to demand they intervene. The surprised Israelis responded that
these procedures are required by law.

Another case was Washington's demand that 10 Gazan Fulbright scholars be
allowed to enter Israel for visa interviews at the U.S. consulate in East
Jerusalem. However, Israel refused, saying they had been blacklisted for
security reasons.

Rice personally intervened. In addition, an Israeli official said, the
consulate leaked the story to the New York Times to embarrass Israel.

Israel suggested that the interviews be conducted at the Erez border
crossing with Gaza, and Washington eventually agreed. Now, the students are
waiting for the consulate to approve their visas.

Yet another case involved an eviction order issued to an East Jerusalem
family over nonpayment of rent. Officials from the U.S. consulate visited
the family and sent a telegram to Washington, and the State Department
demanded that Israel prevent the eviction. The stunned Israelis responded
that the eviction had been upheld by the High Court of Justice. Moreover,
they said, this was an internal affair.

A senior Israeli official said that the person behind this growing American
criticism is the U.S. consul in Jerusalem, Jacob Wallace. "Every week, he
receives dozens of complaints from Palestinians and transfers them to
Washington without examination," the official said. "He's really inflaming
the atmosphere, causing public relations damage to Israel and even maydamage
our relations with the U.S."

An embassy spokesman responded that the embassy considers its relationship
with the Foreign Ministry "excellent."