US House votes to cut aid if Arafat declares state

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday a bill that would cut off virtually all aid to the Palestinian Authority if President Yasser Arafat unilaterally declares a Palestinian state.

The bill was passed by a vote of 385-27, showing wide bipartisan support for the measure, which would sever all aid except humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians and deny U.S. recognition to a unilaterally declared state.

"Today's vote reaffirms that the United States will not support any Palestinian entity that is not created through peaceful negotiations with Israel," said Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, one of the bill's co-sponsors.

RESOURCES Read text of House Resolution condemning efforts to revive the original Palestine partition plan

A similar measure has been introduced to the Senate, but has not yet come up for a vote.

The House action came after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met separately in Washington on Tuesday night with American envoy Dennis Ross, the main U.S. mediator, to try and bridge gaps between the two sides on some of the most difficult issues left in the Arab-Israeli peace talks.

Several days of contacts are planned in Washington and diplomatic sources have not ruled out bilateral discussions between the two sides over the next few days.

Israel's acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said earlier this week in Amman, Jordan that the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were at a crucial stage and that Arafat would have to make difficult decisions soon to achieve peace.

The Palestinians earlier this month agreed to delay a declaration of statehood for at least two months to allow more time for difficult negotiations toward a lasting Middle East peace accord.

But the Palestinian Central Council has set November 15 as the date it will decide when to make the declaration that Arafat had originally vowed to make as early as September 13.

"The Palestinian threat to declare an independent state unilaterally constitutes a fundamental violation of the underlying principles of the Oslo Accords and the Middle East peace process," said New York Republican Representative Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

"That threat continues unabated," he added.

The International Relations committee approved the bill late on Tuesday and sent it swiftly to a vote by the full House.

In addition to withholding aid, the House measure would urge other countries to join the United States in withholding recognition of a Palestinian state and would downgrade the status of the Palestinian office in Washington.

The House vote was hailed by American Jewish groups.

"This legislation sends a strong signal to Chairman Arafat that Congress will reject any attempt to disregard the most fundamental principle of the peace process -- that peace must be achieved through direct negotiations, not unilateral actions and threats of violence," Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), said in a statement.

Israelis and Palestinians signed the so-called Oslo peace accords on the White House lawn in 1993, ending decades as sworn enemies.

President Bill Clinton is still hoping to oversee the signing of a final Arab-Israeli pact which would settle some of the toughest issues which have been deferred in a series of peace deals, including the fate of Jerusalem.

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