[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 175 (Tuesday, November 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11787-H11788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REPORT TO THE HOUSE ON THE TRIP TO JERUSALEM AND THE FUNERAL FOR PRIME 
                             MINISTER RABIN

  (Mr. GINGRICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I just want to take a minute to brief my 
colleagues on the trip to Jerusalem and on the funeral for Prime 
Minister Rabin. Let me say that I commend the President for having put 
together, on very short notice, a very powerful bipartisan delegation. 
The leadership of the Congress on both sides of the aisle were there, 
and President Carter, President Bush, former Secretary Shultz, and 
former Secretary Vance. I was told personally last night by acting 
Prime Minister Perez that it was a very powerful symbol of our 
commitment to stability and our commitment to the peace process that 
such a strong delegation would go to represent the United States in a 
tragic moment.
  I think we all have to recognize that even with all of the violence 
which has occurred in the Middle East, the assassination of Prime 
Minister Rabin was 

[[Page H 11788]]
an unusually shocking moment which has left the people of Israel, I 
think, genuinely in a state of deep mourning and, frankly, deep shock 
that it could have happened within Israeli society.
  I believe for our part, we in the Congress have an obligation to 
continue to work toward the dream of a peaceful and prosperous Middle 
East, a Middle East in which Israeli's national security is ensured 
within a framework of friendship and comity with its neighbors. It is a 
long and a difficult process, but I think any Member or citizen of this 
country who watched on television, who listened to the heartrending 
personal statement of Prime Minister Rabin's granddaughter, anyone who 
saw the historic moment in which the Russian Prime Minister stood next 
to the American President, who stood next to the premier of Spain, who 
stood next to the King of Jordan; to see King Hussein back in that part 
of Jerusalem for the first time since his grandfather was killed while 
seeking peace, and then to see President Mubarak of Egypt, it was truly 
a historic moment, a moment that I think must have made Rabin proud to 
know that he had contributed with his life's work and ultimately with 
his life to begin to move the Middle East toward peace.
  I hope all Members will join in expressing our commitment and 
support. I hope all of us will remember that one person can make a 
difference, and that this sacrifice does not have to have been in vain. 
I hope all of us will continue to work to strengthen the prospects of 
having a genuine and lasting peace in the Middle East.

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