Crowley: Create 'Fund For The Middle East' To Help Achieve Peace
BY JOHN TOSCANO

The lawmaker, Crowley, in calling upon U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to spearhead the creation of the organization said the fund could be modeled after the International Fund for Ireland...

An International Fund for the Middle East designed to provide financial support for hundreds of non-governmental organizations working to promote economic partnership, peaceful coexistence and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians and other Arab nations has been proposed by Congressmember Joseph Crowley.

The lawmaker, in calling upon U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to spearhead the creation of the organization, said the fund could be modeled after the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), which he said had successfully promoted coexistence and reconciliation efforts in Northern Ireland.

Crowley (D- Queens/The Bronx) credited the IFIwith playing a key role in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement, which led to sharing of power between the loyalist and Republican movements in the six counties of Northern Ireland.

In a letter to Rice, Crowley said that the U.S. Congress had provided roughly $500 million in an annual appropriations to IFI, which had been "tremendously successful" in helping to build critical public support for political peace agreements, facilitating positive relationships between communities in conflict, and putting the economies of the communities which had suffered most back on track.

Crowley added: "The IFIhas allowed thousands of families and communities to thrive peacefully, and I believe the time has come to apply this model to the Arab- Israeli conflict. That is why, on the eve of the Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, I urge you to spearhead the creation of an International Fund for the Middle East."

Crowley, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, pointed out to Rice that a multitude of non-government organizations are working constantly to promote people-to-people co-existence and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs and Jews.

The lawmaker said the groups had spent years developing successful, scalable models for breaking down barriers, building up communities and fostering positive relations between Israelis and Palestinians and other Arab and Jewish groups.

"The many diverse approaches are helpful," he pointed out, "but a central clearinghouse is needed to achieve the goal of a final peace."

For this reason, he said, many of these organizations, including the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) have proposed an International Fund for the Middle East. He noted that such a fund would be an independent, public- private, multinational effort. Its focus would be on helping to build "a flourishing civil society and grassroots support for peace".

Crowley concluded the letter with, "History has taught that no political solution may arrive, and certainly none will last, without seriously engaging the publics on both sides of this conflict."

The proposed fund, he said, "would certainly help to engage the people who are impacted daily" by the conflicts in the Middle East.

"It is time to bring about this kind of effort, but doing so will require your leadership and the leadership of the United States," Crowley told Rice.