[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 50 (Thursday, April 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3623-H3624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1530
                            GRAPES OF WRATH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Rahall] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, every country has the perfectly legitimate 
right to respond to terrorist attacks upon its borders and its people, 
regardless of whether those attacks were provoked or not. Such has been 
the case in southern Lebanon, the home of my grandfathers, where Israel 
has undertaken Operation Grapes of Wrath in order to end the terrorist 
Hezbollah attacks across the border into northern Israel.
  This tit for tat, this eye for an eye, this cycle of violence has 
gone on for well over a decade now. Ever since Israel's bombardment 
into southern Lebanon, and indeed, into Beirut itself in 1982 to rid 
Lebanon of the PLO, they have occupied what they have called a buffer 
zone in southern Lebanon in order to protect its northern borders.
  This Israeli occupation has led to the growth of Hezbollah, or Party 
of God. This Lebanese group has sought to end this occupation, and 
therefore has undertaken needless, uncalled for, unprovoked terrorist 
attacks into northern Israel. These have been undertaken, and in the 
past have been guided by unwritten agreements by which Israel and 
Syria, the two main power brokers in the region, have agreed not to 
attack each other directly. Therefore, Hezbollah operates as a proxy 
for outside powers, in this case obviously financed and trained by Iran 
and given the green light by Syria to operate in Lebanon.
  In order to end these attacks, Israel undertook Operation Grapes of 
Wrath. As I say, every country has that perfectly legitimate right to 
respond to terrorist attacks across its border. Today we saw a dramatic 
change in its operation. We saw a dramatic turn of events in which 
innocent civilians who have been killed over the last week or so of 
this operation escalated into which the death count now stands at close 
to 100 innocent civilians killed in an Israeli bombardment of a U.N. 
base camp in southern Lebanon, these innocent civilians having tried to 
flee, according to Israeli warnings beforehand, in order to prevent 
harm to themselves.
  Whether it was a mistake, whether it was just another message being 
sent in the long list of messages in which Lebanon is used as a 
chessboard in which outside powers play their game in Lebanon, remains 
to be debated, and is currently being debated in the highest echelons 
of Israeli government.
  President Clinton, much to his credit and however late it may be, 
has, within the hour, from St. Petersburg, Russia, called for a cease-
fire in the Middle East. He has issued his sympathy to the families of 
those innocent civilians killed in today's state-sponsored terrorist 
act, and he has called for a cease-fire to take place, I hope, 
immediately. The President is to be commended for this call, however 
late it is in coming.
  But the final resolution, the final resolution of this conflict will 
only occur when a peace treaty is reached between those two main power 
brokers, Israel and Syria. It is time to quit using Lebanon as a 
chessboard. It is time to quit using the lives of innocent civilians, 
women and children, in order to send political messages to one party or 
another.
  Let us hope that, as has happened in the past in the Middle East, 
with this outrageous action today and with this uncalled for action, 
that perhaps it will be the last salvo and we will see a true 
breakthrough and peace occur.
  That peace will occur when the Lebanese Army, which in my opinion is 
quite capable of disarming Hezbollah, disarming them completely, put it 
in writing if need be, as Israel is demanding, with Syria guaranteeing 
the safety of Israel's northern border along with the Lebanese 
Government, and assurances that Hezbollah will stop these attacks once 
they are fully disarmed, and second, and at the same time, and no 
waiting until on down the road to see what happens, but at the same 
time, then I call upon the Israelis to recognize U.N. Resolution 425 
and withdraw their forces from southern Lebanon at the same time.
  Let us put it in writing. Let us do it, however, by unwritten 
agreement or whatever, but this is the only solution to the current 
eye-for-an-eye, tit-for-

[[Page H3624]]

tat cycle of violence that has taken too many innocent lives, has 
caused too much suffering, and has inflicted economic damages upon a 
country friendly to the United States, upon a country that has not been 
responsible for these terrorist actions, the country of Lebanon, too 
weak to handle it, strong in my opinion, growing stronger militarily 
but not politically, because of the controls the Syrian Government has 
in that country.
  But if we want to see peace, a truly just and comprehensive peace to 
which the President spoke today, to which all parties aspire, then it 
is time we get to the root of the problem. It is time we reach that 
agreement that would be a major step forward in Israel's recognition by 
all Arab countries in the region.

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