Congress Adopts ALLMEP Proposal, Dedicates $9 Million for People-to-People Projects in the Middle East

Washington, DC, Dec. 24 -- With a final vote of approval in the House of Representatives last week, Congress passed a massive omnibus spending bill for the federal government that included $9 million in funding for people-to-people coexistence and reconciliation activities aimed at building grassroots support for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. The funding stems from a proposal by the Alliance for Middle East Peace ("ALLMEP"), a coalition of non-governmental organizations that bring together individuals and communities across conflict lines to cooperate on joint projects involving education, medicine, the environment, business, sports, culture, religion, and other areas of everyday life.

Congress allocated the funds as part of the U.S. "Economic Support Fund" that provides most U.S. foreign aid. Earlier in the year, the House included $11 million for these activities after a bi-partisan, Arab-Jewish-Christian coalition of 35 members of the House, led by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), circulated a letter to appropriators seeking the funding. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chair of the House Appropriations Sub-committee on Foreign Operations, played a key role in supporting the funding as appropriators drafted the legislation.

In a parallel effort, a full 25% of the U.S. Senate signed a bi-partisan letter to appropriators in support of Israeli-Palestinian coexistence funding, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), and Sen. John Sununu (R-NH).

Other appropriators believed to have played a key role in supporting this funding include: House Foreign Operations Sub-Committee Ranking Member Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Senate Foreign Operations Sub-Committee Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ranking Member Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), and Sub-Committee members Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS).

"All of these people-to-people projects are working to change attitudes and build positive relations between ordinary citizens on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict," said ALLMEP Executive Director, Susan Mirbach. "At a time when the world is focused on trying to solve the conflict, this much-needed funding by Congress is a critical step toward building strong and active grassroots support for peace. Without significantly expanding these efforts, there simply won't be the vocal public support needed for a peace deal to arrive or survive."

Copies of the House and Senate letters showing all members who signed on in support are available on ALLMEP's web site: House letter | Senate letter.

Until this vote, U.S. funding for reconciliation projects in the Middle East had declined to zero in the last two years even as U.S. funds for reconciliation efforts worldwide had almost doubled as a result of ALLMEP's advocacy. Since the need for people-to-people activities to counter the Arab-Israeli conflict is so great and since so many grassroots initiatives are already underway but in need of significant support, ALLMEP first proposed a dedicated fund for Middle East people-to-people efforts in 2006 but Congress failed to complete its appropriations bills that year.

In addition to proposing dedicated funding for this work, since 2003, ALLMEP has raised considerable awareness about the scope and value of people-to-people projects involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict, enabling both public and private sector funders to understand the need for increasing funds for this sector.