[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  A RESPONSE TO THE MASSACRE AT HEBRON

                                 ______


                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 24, 1994

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, on February 25, 1994, during the Moslem holy 
month of Ramadan, 500 worshipers knelt in prayer at dawn in the Hebron 
mosque, a holy place known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
  As they prayed, in holy communion with God, an American physician, a 
Jewish settler in the Palestinian town of Hebron, and also a reserve 
captain in the Israeli army, opened fire with his army-issue Galil 
automatic rifle, killing 39 innocents instantly, and wounding more than 
150 others, both then and in the awful aftermath throughout the town.
  ``All the ground was full of blood, and most of the people were 
bloody,'' said one of the wounded who survived, barely, with his own 
life.
  It was the bloodiest single day in the West Bank of the occupied 
territories since 1967.
  I joined millions of people worldwide in expressing my great personal 
sorrow over those events in Hebron, and only 2 days later, was again 
stunned when the news reached me that a deadly bomb had been set off at 
the Maronite Catholic church near Jouneih in Lebanon, killing another 9 
worshipers and wounding more than 60 others--men, women and children--
in the spiritual attitude of taking holy communion.
  As in the death of a loved one, so it is when deaths occur among a 
people well loved--as in the case of the Palestinians and the 
Lebanese--first we go through stages. Denial, anger, reproach, and then 
grieving.
  I extend my profound sympathies to the people of Palestine--of the 
West Bank and Gaza, driven from their homes in 1948, millions never to 
return. I extend my deep sorrow and mourning to the people of Lebanon, 
just having ended an unprecedented 16 years of civil strife, and still 
occupied to the south by the Israeli military, and to the north by the 
Syrian military. They have also been driven from their homes and their 
homeland, in order to survive, to get on with their lives, to raise 
families, and to pray for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
  These people--the Palestinians and the Lebanese--are a martyred 
people every bit as much as the Israelis--the Jews--who believe they 
have a divine right to be considered the martyred people. For some 
reason, the world is expected to weep and rend its clothing over their 
losses--and that they have suffered much there is no doubt--but are we 
expected to weep forever, and while we are weeping, are we supposed to 
look the other way no matter what happens, and no matter what atrocity 
is committed at their hands and under their policies and standards?
  It is time for Israel to move over a bit, and allow the Palestinians, 
the Jordanians, the Lebanese--to demand a certain amount of worldwide 
sorrow and sympathy for the suffering and the loss, by brutal mean, of 
an entire people or peoples.
  It is time we stopped paying and paying and paying, by ignoring the 
acts of Israelis, whether it is an isolated act by one madman as many 
would have us believe, or the actions of the terrorist group which 
spawned that madman.
  I am pleased to note that since the Hebron massacre, the Israeli 
government itself has described the extremist group to which the 
assassin at Hebron belonged, as a terrorist group. I am pleased to note 
that the Israeli Government has indeed called for effective protections 
of the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. I am pleased to 
note that perhaps the Israeli Government is rethinking any further 
settlement activity in the territories, and perhaps to ways of 
disarming those who live there not--especially settlers who are in the 
Israeli Army with each access to army-issue automatic weapons.
  In other words, I am glad to note that the rest of the world--
including the United States Government--has finally agreed that just 
perhaps there might be terrorist groups operating out of Israel proper, 
aided by some who are of their extremist persuasion in the United 
States. I applaud the action being taken in the wake of Hebron's 
massacre, by our Justice Department to conduct domestic investigations 
into the ties between the United States and the Israeli terrorist 
groups, and to determine what, if any, United States antiterrorism laws 
might have been violated already.
  At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I am gravely concerned over the effect 
these two recent events in Hebron and then in Jouneih, Lebanon, might 
have on the future success of the Middle East peace process. I want 
that peace process to continue, and I want it to succeed.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, I have introduced a resolution, House Resolution 
390, expressing the Sense of the House, in condemning the Hebron 
massacre, but also defying those who would derail the Middle East peace 
process, no matter which side of the issue they may claim as their own. 
In the condemnation of the Hebron massacre, I have also sought balance 
in demanding protection of all civilians, regardless of identities.
  Further, the resolution encourages the Government of the United 
States to support the efforts of the Security Council of the United 
Nations to guarantee the security and protection of the civilian 
Palestinian populations in the West Bank and Gaza against further 
violence, and I am pleased to note that the United Nationals Security 
Council has acted on its resolution to that effect, with the 
endorsement of the United States Government.
  House Resolution 390 also calls upon all parties to the Middle East 
peace talks to return to the negotiating table and to redouble their 
efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the 
Middle East.
  Whatever extremist group acts out against the people in Israel or the 
people in the occupied territories, is acting against their own best 
interest--which is peace in the region for everyone.
  There is ample blame to go around when it comes to extremist groups, 
terrorist groups, and violence associated with them with respect to 
derailing efforts to bring peace to Middle East. But America and its 
people need to be educated more as to how broad is the brush that 
paints one group as terrorist while assuming the other is the innocent, 
long-suffering martyrs of the world, and because they have suffered 
have the right to do whatever they please.
  It isn't just Israel and its people who have suffered untold agonies 
as a people--it is the entire Middle Eastern region--and all those 
people can point to decades upon decades of cruelty, deprivation of 
human, civil and religious rights; to loss of independence and 
sovereignty of entire populations; to loss of homeland. And more, all 
can speak eloquently about death and destruction brought to their 
doorsteps just because they can called Arabs.
  I ask my colleagues to cosponsor House Resolution 390. I believe if 
they read it, they will find it is a fair and balanced Sense of the 
House, not only rightfully condemning the Hebron, and Jouneih, Lebanon, 
murders, but also calling upon the United States to take a more active 
role in the Middle East peace process.

                          ____________________