[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 5, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1702]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A TERRIBLY SAD DAY FOR HUMANITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I welcome the eloquent 
comments of my colleague from Texas who just spoke. This is for all who 
care about the best instincts of humanity, a terribly sad day.
  The people of Israel, a democratic society represented by a 
democratically elected government, have been in the process for the 
past couple of years of taking risks for peace, of reaching out in ways 
that societies do not always do. The Israelis have shown a willingness 
to cede control of territory that was hard-earned in wartime and in a 
war forced on them by the intransigence and hostility of its enemies, 
and the effort by the Government of Israel to bring about this peace 
has tragically been responded to by a minority, but unfortunately a 
significant minority, within the Arab world, by a campaign of vicious 
murder.
  No society, and certainly no democratic society where the people rule 
as they do in Israel, can tolerate this sort of assault on the 
citizenry. We should make very clear from the outset that the 
Government of the United States is fully supportive of the decisions 
that have been made and will be made by the government of Prime 
Minister Peres. No one has done more to show his dedication to true 
peace and by that very fact, as well as by the right of self-defense 
inherent in any state, and particularly for a democratic society, Prime 
Minister Peres and his colleagues have earned the right to take the 
steps that they need to in self-defense with our full support, and that 
will include sending Israeli security forces anywhere in the area where 
they are required to go, because you cannot sit back and let dozens and 
dozens of your people be slaughtered defenselessly. You have the 
absolute, not just right, but obligation to defend them, and the United 
States should make very clear that it will be supportive of this.
  Arguments that somehow this is incompatible with the peace process 
cannot be given any weight, because what could be less compatible with 
the peace process than the systematic brutal murder of dozens of 
innocent people by the Hamas terrorists.
  People should understand that, again, Israel being a democratic 
society, it cannot go forward with a peace process until and unless its 
security can be provided.
  I thought the chance for genuine peace in the Middle East was one of 
the finest hours we have seen. I still hope that we will get the 
benefits of that. But people must understand that protecting the 
innocent citizens of Israel against this sort of butchery is an 
absolute precondition to any further progress in the peace process.
  No democratically elected government would try, and it would not 
succeed if it did try, and it would not deserve to succeed if it did 
try, to go forward with a peace process without securing the defense of 
its citizens. And an especially important burden lies with the 
leadership of the Arab world, of Yasser Arafat, who has clearly done 
far too little, we now learn, to enforce the law and true peace. The 
Palestinian leadership cannot at the same time profit from the steps 
towards peace and then fail to use the authority they are getting to 
put an end to this murder.
  If the Palestinian authority cannot put an end to this systematic, 
organized murder that comes from within their ranks, they will not have 
a moral claim and they will not have a legal claim and they will not 
have a claim anyone will recognize to control the territory.
  But it is also important for us to talk to our Arab friends, the 
Saudi Arabians and others. It is not enough simply to dissociate 
themselves from these murderers, it is simply not enough to look the 
other way unless there is a sustained willingness on the part of the 
Arab leadership to cut off funds. These are not people who are earning 
a living by some honorable means. They cannot go forward with this 
terrorism without substantial subsidies in which governments are 
complicit.
  The President of Syria, a great defender of terrorism, must be told 
any dream he has of regaining control of the Golan Heights totally 
evaporates now and for the foreseeable future until he begins a 
reversal and says, ``We will crack down on terrorism.''
  I believe the peace process was one of the finest hours of mankind. I 
believe the Israeli government was distinguishing itself. I was hopeful 
there was within the Arab world the kind of responsible leadership that 
would reach out and meet that. Today that is in question. It is not 
enough to condemn and wink and look the other way. It is important that 
we get a full commitment from the Arab leadership to cooperate fully 
with the Israeli leadership in putting an end to these murderers' 
ability to murder. Otherwise, one of the things they will have murdered 
will be the peace process.

                          ____________________