[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 26 (Thursday, February 29, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1470-S1471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONDEMNING TERROR ATTACKS IN ISRAEL

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 228, 
submitted earlier today by Senators Helms, Pell, Dole, and Daschle.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 228) condemning terror attacks in 
     Israel.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, it is with profound regret that I feel 
obliged to offer another resolution condemning an act of terrorism in 
Israel.
  Early this past Sunday, suicide bombers from the Palestinian 
terrorist group Hamas slaughtered 25 innocent human beings in two 
separate terrorist attacks. In Jerusalem, two young Americans, a young 
man and his financee, were among those who died.
  Shock waves from the bomb blast reverberated around Jerusalem. I am 
confident that decent people the world over were dismayed.
  Mr. President, we hear much oratory about the sacrifices that must be 
made for peace, but surely, however, there are mothers, fathers, and 
brothers and sisters throughout both Israel and America who are asking 
themselves how much more they must sacrifice; indeed when will they 
know peace?
  When Yasser Arafat tours his new domain, when he pays condolence 
calls on the families of suicide bombers, does he ask himself what kind 
of man boards a crowded bus with pounds of explosive, specially packed 
with shards of metal to cause the maximum carnage?
  Is Arafat willing himself to continue to be identified as the leader 
of such brutal men? If not, he must do more. Hamas and other such 
groups must be outlawed, and their members prosecuted to the fullest 
extent of the law.
  For peace hangs in the balance. If Yasser Arafat expects Gaza and 
other areas under his control to be known as anything more than a 
breeding ground for terrorists, he must move swiftly, and decisively 
against the terrorists in his midst.
  Only then can mourning Americans and Israelis believe that peace has 
real meaning.
  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with the distinguished 
chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations--Senator Helms--
and others in submitting a resolution to condemn the recent terrorist 
attacks in Israel.
  I have not doubt that all of my colleagues were as stunned and 
dismayed as I to learn about the horrifying bombings. All too often in 
the past several years, we have been forced to watch the gut-wrenching 
pictures on CNN of the Chaos, carnage, and misery of yet another 
terrorist bombing in Israel.
  The frequency of these occurrences, however, does nothing to lessen 
their devastating impact. Each time a bombing occurs, the Israeli 
Government must reexamine its approach to security and its commitments 
to the Palestinians. The Israeli people again must come to grips with 
the fact that the peace has a heavy toll. The Palestinians must 
reaffirm that they are worthy of taking charge of their own destiny, 
and that they are living up to their commitments to end terrorism. And 
the United States must step back and ask yet again if we are doing the 
right thing.
  As painful as these realities are, we must not let them obscure our 
interests in the Middle East peace process. Having just led a 
congressional delegation on a trip to the region--where Senators, Robb, 
Inhofe, and I met with Prime Minister Peres and PLO Chairman Arafat 
among other--I have a renewed sense of the importance of the peace 
agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.
  We must also remember that the perpetrators of these heinous bombings 
are in fact the enemies of peace, and more to the point, the enemies of 
those Palestinians who have committed themselves to peace with Israel. 
My own hope is that the world--and specifically the parties to the 
peace process--will not let them succeed in destroying the peace. While 
we must indeed hold Arafat's feet to the fire, and insist that he do 
more to stop terrorist acts, we must acknowledge the progress that the 
Palestinians have made to stop violence and terror. Clearly they have 
not yet succeeded, but we should not minimize the improvements they 
have made since signing their peace agreements with Israel.
  Above all, this is a moment to commiserate with the families of the 
victims, to express our profound sorrow and regret to our ally, Israel, 
and to reaffirm our basic and fundamental commitment to the true 
success of the peace process. Our resolution intends to do just that, 
and I hope that the Senate will move to adopt the resolution as quickly 
as possible.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to join with the 
leadership of the Foreign Relations Committee and of the Senate in 
cosponsoring Senate Resolution 228, a resolution condemning the recent 
terror attacks in Israel.
  The heinous attacks in Jerusalem and Ashkelon on February 25 killed 
25 people and wounded dozens more. A radical, crazy minority opposed to 
the peace process which is supported by most Israelis and Arabs has 
again taken innocent lives. The perpetrators and their supporters must 
be brought to justice.
  Such cowardly attacks are always reprehensible. But these attacks 
truly brought home to us the horror of terrorism because the victims 
included two Americans, one of them from Connecticut. This is the 
second time in less than half a year that the hand of terrorism has 
struck someone from Connecticut.
  In this case, Matt Eisenfeld--a wonderful young man, committed to the 
peace process, a student of the bible, exemplary of the best 
traditions--was struck down by cowards planting a bomb on a bus. 

[[Page S1471]]

  I am in awe of the strength of the Eisenfeld family of West Hartford 
at such a difficult time. They have been true to their principles and 
true to their son's principles and continue to support the movement 
toward peace in spite of the awful loss they have suffered. Let us hope 
that people of similar strength and good will among the Palestinians 
and the Israeli population will not be distracted and deterred by these 
violent acts.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise to condemn in the strongest possible 
terms this past Sunday's heinous bombings in Israel. I also wish to 
convey my heart-felt condolences to the families of the 23 Israelis and 
the 2 young Americans who lost their lives in these despicable acts.
  Mr. President, many of us are asking the same questions that Israelis 
are asking in the wake of these attacks: why and for what end would 
someone commit such senseless acts of mass murder? We probably never 
will be able to penetrate the demented mind of a suicide-bomber to 
understand what causes that person to kill. But I think we all know the 
immediate aim of the bombers who struck on Sunday--it is to spread fear 
and terror in order to derail the peace process.
  As hard as it is to comprehend, peace in the Middle East is actually 
perceived as a threat in some quarters. Coexistence, friendship, 
cooperation--all of these concepts are anathema to a small, extremist 
minority on both sides.
  And Mr. President, I would submit that the vast majority of 
Palestinians--which does believe in these concepts--needs to stand up 
now to prevent its future from being stolen by the extremists. These 
extremists offer a version of the future that includes a return to the 
darkest days of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Indeed, they see renewed 
conflict as a necessary means to achieve their ultimate goal of 
destroying Israel.
  Mr. President, if the Palestinians want a brighter future for their 
children--as I know they do--then they will need to stop these 
extremists in their tracks.
  We stand ready, and I know that Israel stands ready, to provide 
whatever help the Palestinians need to win this fight. But they must be 
the ones to initiate a new all-out battle with the violent 
rejectionists.
  Israelis have rejected the message and methods of extremists in their 
midst. Their democratically chosen institutions have been acting to 
thwart the designs of Israeli extremists.
  Recently, the Palestinians have acquired their own democratically 
chosen institutions. It is time for those new institutions to be put to 
the test by employing their full might in a battle whose outcome will 
be historic for the Palestinian people and the middle east as a whole.
  Mr. President, we cannot let Sunday's attackers achieve their goals. 
The peace process must continue. The two young American victims, 
Matthew Eisenfeld and Sarah Duker, whose future life together was so 
cruelly taken from them on Sunday, were committed to peace. We can best 
honor their memory by staying on the path that they had chosen.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to; that the preamble be agreed to; that the 
motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements 
relating to the resolution appear at the appropriate place in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  So the resolution (S. Res. 228) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:

                              S. Res. 228

       Whereas on February 25, 1996, two vicious terror attacks in 
     Jerusalem and Ashkelon killed two American citizens and 23 
     Israelis, and wounded dozens more;
       Whereas the Gaza-headquartered terrorist organization 
     ``Hamas'' claimed credit for the attack;
       Whereas in 1995, 47 innocent Israeli and American citizens 
     were killed in Palestinian terror attacks;
       Whereas since the signing of the Declaration of Principles 
     between Israel and the PLO on September 13, 1993, 168 people 
     have been killed in terrorist acts, 163 Israelis and five 
     American citizens;
       Whereas the Gaza-based ``Hamas'' terror group and Damascus-
     based Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Popular Front for the 
     Liberation of Palestine terror groups have claimed 
     responsibility for the majority of those terror attacks;
       Whereas the PLO, the Palestinian Authority and Yasser 
     Arafat have undertaken on repeated occasions to crack down on 
     terror and bring to justice those in areas under their 
     jurisdiction who commit acts of terror;
       Whereas notwithstanding such undertaking and some 
     improvements in Palestinian efforts against terrorism, the 
     vast majority of terror suspects have not been apprehended, 
     or if apprehended, not tried or punished, and no terror 
     suspects requested for transfer have been transferred to 
     Israeli authorities by Palestinian authorities in direct 
     contravention of agreements signed between the PLO and 
     Israel;
       Whereas the governments of Iran, Syria and Lebanon continue 
     to provide safe haven, financial support and arms to terror 
     groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah among 
     others, and have in no way acted to restrain such groups from 
     committing acts of terrorism;
       Whereas failure to act against terrorists by the 
     Palestinian Authority, Syria and others can only undermine 
     the credibility of the peace process: Now therefore be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns and reviles in the strongest terms the attacks 
     in Jerusalem and in Ashkelon;
       (2) extends condolences to the families of all those 
     killed, and to the Government and all the people of the State 
     of Israel;
       (3) calls upon the Palestinian Authority, the elected 
     Palestinian Council and Chairman Arafat to act swiftly and 
     decisively to apprehend the perpetrators of terror attacks, 
     to do more to prevent such acts of terror in the future and 
     to eschew all statements and gestures which signal 
     tolerance for such acts and their perpetrators;
       (4) calls upon the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian 
     representatives in the elected Council to take all possible 
     action to eliminate terrorist activities by Hamas, 
     Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the 
     Liberation of Palestine, and all other such terror groups;
       (5) urges all parties to the peace process, in order to 
     retain the credibility of their commitment to peace, to bring 
     to justice the perpetrators of acts of terrorism, and to 
     cease harboring, financing and arming terror groups in all 
     territories under their control; and
       (6) urges the Clinton administration to act decisively and 
     swiftly against those who continue to harbor, arm or finance 
     terror groups seeking to undermine the peace process.

                          ____________________