[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 138 (Thursday, September 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1734-E1736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 EXPERIENCES AND IMPRESSIONS OF ISRAEL

                                 ______


                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 7, 1995
  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I was privileged to join other Members of 
the House of Representatives on a tour of Israel during the August 
recess. Attached is an account of my experiences and impressions of 
Israel while visiting the country.
                [From the Jewish World, Sept. 1-7, 1995]

   Can Israel Achieve Stable Peace Among Enemies?--Fact-Finding Trip 
                         Uncovers Some Answers

                         (By Michael P. Forbes)

       News of the suicide bombing on a Jerusalem city bus came 
     over the radio early Monday morning. Fifteen members of the 
     United States Congress, including myself, and our guests, 
     were traveling at the time from Kibbutz Nof Ginosser on the 
     Sea of Galilee to the Golan Heights up north. My heart broke 
     as I heard the updates: four people dead, 106 wounded; the 
     culprit thought to be a woman suicide-bomber who carried a 
     pipe bomb in her bag. American Joan Davenny, 47, of 
     Connecticut, in Israel to visit her parents and take up 
     Jewish studies at Hebrew University, was among the innocent 
     killed.
       Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group, claimed 
     responsibility on Damascus Radio and promised similar attacks 
     through the November 1996 Israeli elections. Their goal is to 
     force Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin out of office because, 
     they say, he has declared war against Islam. A growing number 
     of Israelis blame Rabin and his peace endeavors for inspiring 
     frequent attacks and Hamas apparently sees opportunity in the 
     deepening fissures of Rabin's popularity resulting from each 
     of the atrocities. All the while, some suggest the region is 
     on the threshold of a lasting peace; that those enemies whose 
     every breath was once dedicated to the destruction of the 
     state of Israel are now her ``partners in peace.'' But I ask 
     myself, why then is this happening?
       In a hardworking, seven-day visit to Israel characterized 
     by back-to-back meetings that ran from the early morning 
     through working lunches to well past midnight, we, members of 
     Congress and our guests, came to understand the difficulties 
     Israel faces in this war-prone region and to learn firsthand 
     more about her history and gain unique insights into the 
     dynamics of her politics, economy and daily life.
       It serves this nation's interest to continue to support $3 
     billion in aid to Israel for security and economic 
     development. Six hundred thousand immigrants, largely Russian 
     Jews, have arrived in Israel since 1990. The United States 
     has provided $80 million for refugee settlement and $10 
     million in loan guarantees for housing. Five million dollars 
     for a joint U.S.-Israel scientific technology commission will 
     further both nations' research endeavors. Finally, efforts to 
     provide a lasting peace in the Middle East have been 
     bolstered by forgiving $275 million in debt owed by Jordan 
     and $100 million as the U.S. share of multilateral economic 
     assistance for the Palestinians.
       I'm proud of this nation's support for Israel. Remembering 
     the tragedy that occurred in Oklahoma City is convincing 
     evidence that, while the Cold War period in which we knew our 
     enemies is over, the world faces a far greater threat from 
     illogical, fanatical terrorist groups. Many have their 
     origins in the Middle East and the world has no better expert 
     in dealing with terrorism than Israel. Our nation's 
     investment there is a good one.
       For me, this was a return visit to America's greatest ally 
     in one of the world's most troubled regions and an 
     opportunity to see what changes had taken place in the nine 
     years since I was last there. My ties to Zionism were 
     nurtured in a visit to Israel in 1986 after uncovering a long 
     forgotten family fact that my great-grandfather, Rabbi Max 
     Moses, had emigrated to the United States in the last 19th 
     century from Esslingen, Germany and is today buried in a New 
     Orleans Jewish cemetery.
       On August 15, in a trip paid for with private funds, a 
     delegation that included me, my friend from Long Island 
     Congressman Dan Frisa; fellow New Yorkers Congressman Bill 
     Paxon and his wife, Congresswoman Susan Molinari; House 
     Republican Whip, Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas, and 10 other 
     congressional colleagues and guests departed for an exciting, 
     information-packed week of taking in and land and its people. 
     Starting at Mt. Scopus with a tour of the 3,000-year-old 
     capital city of Jerusalem and a meeting with Mayor Ehud 
     Olmert, to the administered territories of Judea and Samaria 
     and a visit there to the settlement of Ma'aleh Adunim with 
     its 200 families, our sightseeing took us from the lowest 
     point on earth (1,298 feet below sea level) at the Dead Sea 
     to the heights of Masada and Golan.
       We explored below-ground excavations of the two and a half 
     miles of walls that encircle the Old City of Jerusalem and, 
     on the eve of the Sabbath stopped to pray at the Western 
     Wall, site on an annual pilgrimage by Jews to mourn the 
     destruction of Herod's Temple Mount and their 2,000 years of 
     exile. At the Israel Museum, we took in the Dead Sea Scrolls 
     exhibit and later stopped by the highly-touted Israel Arts 
     and Science Academy, where innovation programs for gifted and 
     talented high school students are in 

[[Page E 1735]]
     their fifth year. Our travels took us to the holy sites of Bethlehem 
     and Nazareth; to one of the earliest synagogues, dating from 
     the fourth century at Capernaum and to the Church of the 
     Beatitudes, both at the nearby Sea of Galilee.
       We made a detour to the port of Haifa and out into the 
     Mediterranean to visit American Navy personnel on the USS 
     Roosevelt. Home ported at Norfolk, Virginia, this magnificent 
     aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1986, saw duty in 
     Operation Desert Storm and today continues to be a 
     stabilizing force for peace in the Middle East. The nuclear-
     powered ship is home to some 80 aircraft and, for this Long 
     Islander, it was with tremendous pride that I spotted 
     Grumman-built planes: the E-2C Hawkeyes (an early warning 
     all-weather defensive plane with a rotating dome) and the 
     supersonic F-14 Tomcat fighter. It was wonderful to meet some 
     New Yorkers while on the carrier and to experience this 
     tremendous asset to the greatest Navy in the world.
       In several dozen high level meetings with policymakers, we 
     took the opportunity to get behind-the-scenes insights into a 
     myriad of issues that impact on Israel's security, her 
     future, peace negotiations with the Palestinians, the Syrians 
     and the status of her dealings with surrounding countries. As 
     an ardent supporter of Israel and a member of the House 
     Appropriations' Foreign Operations subcommittee, I very much 
     wanted assurances that Middle East policy decisions made by 
     the United States were not only beneficial to my own country 
     but also to the best interests of our ally Israel. Over 
     dinners with such luminaries as Prime Minister Rabin, Foreign 
     Minister Shimon Peres and U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk, we 
     were assured Israel and her once-threatening neighbors were 
     moving like never before toward an unprecedented peace.
       Where Israel was once isolated, treated like a pariah by 
     its neighbors, today it has treaties with Egypt, Jordan and, 
     if Prime Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat have their way, 
     before too long will have a treaty in place with the 
     Palestinians. Ambassador Indyk is hopeful that the second 
     phase of the Oslo Accords will be signed in Washington soon. 
     In making his pitch for Congress to keep from undermining the 
     peace negotiations maintaining the U.S. commitments to Israel 
     (something about which this group didn't need convincing) 
     Indyk noted Israel is more than willing to bear the added 
     costs of putting an end to territorial hostilities.
       He cited as an example, an ``Oslo II'' provision that 
     involves redeployment of Israeli military forces out of Judea 
     and Samaria at a cost of $300 million. While telling us of 
     his past advocacy of Jerusalem as the site of the U.S. 
     Embassy, a move I've been pushing in Washington, Indyk now 
     chastises the Congress on the question saying it has ``no 
     business'' pre-empting negotiations with the Palestinians. If 
     other hopes are realized, a once impossible agreement with 
     Syria might even be in the offing. As Indyk put it, ``. . . 
     this is the `new Israel' . . . the state of siege has been 
     lifted.''
       If it is indeed a new day, as officials of the prime 
     minister's Labor party government repeatedly suggested, then 
     why are so many Israelis unhappy with Rabin and his proposed 
     terms of a peace agreement? This fact-finding trip was one 
     way I would learn more.
       In drawing distinctions between himself and Rabin, Binyamin 
     ``Bibi'' Netanyahu, member of the Knesset and leader of the 
     Likud party, suggested he is for autonomy in the administered 
     territories of Judea and Samaria, not the creation of a 
     Palestinian state, and characterized the Rabin position as 
     advocating a Palestinian state there rather than autonomy. 
     The Likud leader vehemently opposes any agreement with the 
     Palestinians to surrender land that not only possesses an 
     historical legacy intertwined with Zionism but is of 
     strategic military importance. Specifically referring to the 
     PLO (now referred to as the Palestinian Authority), Netanyahu 
     questioned, ``. . . how do we achieve a stable peace among a 
     sea of enemies?
       He said distinctions must be made between a ``true peace'' 
     and a ``false peace,'' referencing the late 1930s when for 
     ``peace in our time,'' British Prime Minister Neville 
     Chamberlain agreed in the Munich Pact to trade land for 
     peace. This left Czechoslovakia vulnerable and set the stage 
     for the madman Hitler to march through Europe in the worst 
     conflagration the modern world has ever known. Clearly, a 
     poignant example of what turned out to be a ``false peace.'' 
     Netanyahu wondered whether the Arabs are genuinely interested 
     in a lasting peace and, if so, are there sufficient security 
     conditions to hold a peace?
       Syrian President Hafez el-Assad may profess interest in a 
     peace agreement that includes handing over the Golan Heights, 
     but it's fair to question the wisdom of surrendering northern 
     Israel's three highest hills that directly overlook Syria 
     and, according to military commanders in the region, are a 
     critical line of defense to protecting Israel in the event of 
     another war. Prior to Israel's success in 1967's Six-Day War, 
     Syria occupied the area where it erected an impressive base 
     of operations.
       We saw several of those Syrian-built bunker installations 
     during our visit to the Golan Heights and from those 
     locations, developed a clear impression of the tremendous 
     vulnerability many Israeli communities must have experienced 
     during the numerous times they were under military attack 
     with no fall back position. Today, we're reminded of the 
     region's significance with word that Syrian peace talks 
     remain in limbo because they refuse to reconsider a demand 
     that Israel totally withdraw from the Golan.
       The Samarian mountains above Jordan offer a similar line of 
     defense that provides security to a peace and most 
     importantly, deters war. We were told by Yossi Beilin, Peres' 
     former deputy at the Foreign Ministry and now minister of 
     Economy and Development, that there have been no terrorist 
     incidents or killings in the secured Golan since taken by 
     Israel in 1967. Ramona Bar Lev, coordinator of the Golan 
     Residents Committee that is opposed to annexation of the area 
     by Syria, reiterated that point. Nonetheless, Netanyahu 
     reminded us that, since 1993, 170 lives have been lost to 
     terrorism, largely emanating from the Arab-dominated hotbed 
     of Gaza, and the toll continues to rise.
       In an age of very sophisticated technology, AWACs (airborne 
     warning and control systems), early warning systems, 
     satellite photos and radar, Israel's military commanders were 
     surprisingly candid in telling us there is still no 
     substitute for processing the highest mountaintops and 
     observing the movements of the enemy with one's eyes. 
     Airpower, missiles and selective strikes can cause tremendous 
     damage and distract the enemy, but as we were reminded, the 
     U.S. liberated Kuawait and won the Gulf War with its ground 
     troops and ultimately it is the ground troops that must move 
     in and take an area. In Israel's case, a longstanding point 
     was being sustained that her best defense rests in keeping 
     the strategically important mountains and hills.
       As possible terms of an Israel peace accord are floated 
     about and the potential for that nation to shrink from 40-55 
     miles wide to a narrow enclave of just 9-15 miles wide, 
     conventional thought about the strategic importance of land 
     to Israel's security are challenged. It's tough for outsiders 
     like us to fathom a new way of looking at Israel's defense, 
     even when respected leaders of the Labor government shift 
     their views and now say the best tactical approach is 
     monitoring actions at the Jordan-Saudi border 400 miles away.
       Our tour included a visit with Dr. Saeb Erekat, a highly-
     placed representative of the Palestinian Authority in Jericho 
     and a negotiator in Eilat for Arafat. I found Erekat to be 
     more defensive than conciliatory when questioned by our 
     delegation. He was asked about speeches attributed to Arafat 
     in which he called for a continued jihad. According to Peace 
     Watch, a newsletter monitoring the peace process, in a 
     January 1995 speech to Palestinian laborers Arafat was quoted 
     as saying, ``all of us are willing to be martyrs along the 
     way, until our flag flies over Jerusalem, the capital of 
     Palestine. Let no one think they can scare us with weapons, 
     for we have mightier weapons--the weapons of faith, the 
     weapons of martyrdom, the weapons of jihad.''
       Erekat dismissed that and a series of similar outrageous 
     statements with a convoluted explanation that jihad actually 
     has two meanings: one refers to ``little jihad'' as the holy 
     war the PLO leader long advocated that ends in the 
     destruction of Israel; the other refers to ``big jihad'' as 
     massive economic, social and educational changes he wants to 
     bring to the Palestinian people. It is the latter, said 
     Erekat, to which Arafat referred. When Israel's Labor party 
     officials were queried on the issue, they gave a similar 
     answer.
       I attempted to get assurances from him that since they now 
     have Gaza and Jericho and Rabin's support (though no final 
     agreement) in their bid to control Judea and Samaria, would 
     those be enough concessions to get the Palestinians to drop 
     their opposition to a united Jerusalem within the state of 
     Israel? He dismissed my question, saying that any final 
     decision must await the last stage of negotiations set to 
     begin in May 1996.
       Congress will consider extending the Middle East Peace 
     Facilities Act (MEPFA) later this month. It permits a waiver 
     of U.S. laws prohibiting aid to terrorists and paid the 
     Palestinians $100 million upon signing the peace agreement 
     with Israel. Enough doubts surrounded the Palestinians' 
     willingness to comply with the Oslo Accords that Congress 
     granted only short term extension of the act. What I've 
     learned during this trip will weigh heavily as deliberations 
     of NEPFA move onto the House floor.
       The problem of water in this largely arid region has 
     profound implications for Israel and several attempts to 
     understand the Rabin government's position yielded few 
     substantive answers. Israel is seriously dependent on its 
     seasonal rainfall and three critical feeders into the 
     national water system: Israel's only fresh body of water, 
     Lake Kincret at the Golan, the coastal plain aquifer and a 
     mountain aquifer. The coastal plain is subject to salt and 
     pollutants that reduce water quality, shifting an additional 
     burden to the Golan lake and mountain ridges of Judea and 
     Samaria for an adequate supply of water and making it the 
     most important long-term source for the national water 
     system.
       The fate of Israel's water supply would be largely left to 
     Arabs in the administered territories if tenets of the peace 
     agreement with the Palestinians are realized. I remain 
     unsatisfied with explanations offered for dealing with the 
     dilemma, most notably that a triumvirate multination entity 
     might govern future administration of the region's water.
       In what can best be described as wonderfully fun moments, 
     we celebrated a Shabbat 

[[Page E 1736]]
     dinner and spent a beautiful, cool, starry night sailing on the Sea of 
     Galilee in a replica of ``The Jesus Boat.'' Newly-emigrated 
     Russian Jews entertained with their music as we danced the 
     hora to the ``Have Nagilah.''
       I was especially moved also by a breakfast meeting we had 
     with former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, whose struggle 
     against a totalitarian regime put him in prison for nine 
     years. Sharansky's only crime was his practice of his 
     religion and his growing commitment he had to Zionism. He 
     became an icon in the struggle of Jews to leave for Israel--
     to make aliyah--and an international champion of human 
     rights. He was sentenced to 400 days of isolation, in so-
     called punishment cells, conditions that compelled him to go 
     more than 200 days on hunger strike. It was an honor for me 
     to meet the hero Sharanksy who is now enjoying freedom as a 
     resident of Israel.
       My most profound and emotional moments came during our 
     visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, a permanent 
     memorial to the millions of Jews who, for the nature of their 
     beliefs, were persecuted, suffered and died at the hands of 
     history's greatest menace. Six million Jews died in all; 1.5 
     million were children. My friend, Congressman Jon Fox of 
     Philadelphia, and I had the honor of placing a wreath at the 
     Hall of Remembrance. I will carry with me forever the vivid 
     memory of the Children's Memorial, where a soft but firm 
     voice carefully read in Polish, German, English and Hebrew 
     the names, ages and birthplaces of all those children known 
     to be among the 1.5 million killed by the Nazis.
       Ours was an extraordinary fact-finding mission. It has left 
     an indelible impression on me to ensure a sustained American 
     resolve that forever stands by Israel, our dearest friend and 
     closest ally in democracy and freedom. From history's 
     triumphs and tragedies, we must learn so that mankind does 
     not repeat the mistakes of the past. And, most importantly, 
     we must never, ever forget.
     

                          ____________________