The Hill News

A bipartisan congressional letter against Palestinian incitement gained 46 signatures from key members of Congress, according to a list of signers obtained by The Hill.

The letter, circulated by Reps. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and Steve Austria (R-Ohio) and first obtained by The Hill, urges President Obama to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to to eradicate terrorist elements, join peace negotiations with the Israelis and root out "all vestiges of incitement."

{mosads}Twenty-seven senators endorsed a companion letter in the upper chamber.

The letter, which began circulating two weeks ago, comes in response to a terror attack on a Jewish family livin! g in the West Bank and a bombing at Jerusalem's central bus station, both of which occurred this month. 

Organizers circulated the letter to members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, two panels that play a key role in overseeing Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations. Large majorities of both panels signed the letter.

J Street, an alternative Israel lobby, objected to the tone of the letter, saying that while it is appropriate to protest instances of Palestinian incitement, its sole focus on Palestinian activity instead of incorporating Israeli problems, is unhelpful to renewing peace negotiations between the two sides.

"This letter falls short of that goal, containing material omissions and misrepresentations of fact and presenting a biased and inaccurate picture of the current status of the Israeli-Pa! lestinian conflict," the group said in a statement.

J Street helped organize a separate letter, which Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) circulated.

That letter, which urges for a more even-handed approach, gained many more signers: 116 members, almost all of whom are Democrats.

But a Democratic aide who helped organize the Rothman-Austria letter explained that it is intended to be more limited in scope and that J Street's opposition to it helped attract more signers than organizers anticipated.

"J Street did not get a majority of these two committees a! nd this letter did," said the aide, who requested anonymity. "! The fact that J Street attacked the letter helped get more members of Congress to sign on."

The aide noted that Schakowsky, a lead signer of the J Street letter, also endorsed the Rothman-Austria letter. In total, eight J Street signers also endorsed the Rothman-Austria letter.

J Street did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.  

Below is the list of signers (asterisk denotes members who also signed J Street letter):

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