[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 38 (Friday, March 21, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1283-H1284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TERRORISM THREATENS MIDEAST PEACE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Engel] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, the suicide bombing today in a Tel Aviv cafe, 
which killed at least 4 Israelis and injured dozens of people, was a 
cowardly act. This cowardly act represents a knife in the heart of the 
peace process. Terror is not an arrow in the quiver of those who strive 
for peace.
  What bothers me, Mr. Speaker, is that while Yasir Arafat condemned 
the bombing, he once again is speaking out of 16 sides of his mouth. 
What disturbs me is the Palestinian negotiators or the Palestinian 
authorities have been using the threat of terror for a while now, 
saying that if the Israelis went ahead and built the Har Homa housing 
that there would become suicide bombings, there would be terror, and 
that they could not be responsible for what might happen.
  I say such rhetoric, such language is to give an indirect green light 
to those people who would use terror to maim and kill innocent 
civilians.
  We will not and cannot allow terror to destroy the peace process. 
When Yasir Arafat releases Hamas terrorists from prison and then 
predicts that violence will happen in Israel as a result of the 
housing, he is giving a green light to terrorist attacks.
  He cannot speak out of 10 or 20 or 30 sides of his mouth. He cannot 
oppose Hamas when it is expedient and then wink and turn the other way 
and say, ``Oh, I condemn this terror,'' when in essence we know that by 
predicting it and looking the other way, it becomes a self-fulfilling 
prophecy. When Arafat signed the peace accords, he committed himself to 
the peace process, and committing himself to the peace process means no 
side deals with Hamas terrorists.
  The Hamas terrorists ought to know that Jerusalem is the undivided 
capital of Israel and will remain so. When Israel decides it wants to 
build housing or do whatever else it deems necessary in its own 
capital, Israel has the right to do that. Terrorism should not be used 
and cannot be accepted as a vehicle with which one side in a peace 
process makes threats and says if you do not give us what we want we 
are going to have terrorist attacks and we will not be able to do 
anything about it.

[[Page H1284]]

  The conference which condemned Israel, that was held just last 
weekend, in which the United States participated, sadly, was such a 
conference where the rhetoric got out of hand and encourages 
Palestinian and terrorists to attack Israel.
  Mr. Speaker, all of us who favor peace in the Middle East must 
condemn this cowardly act. We must not stand for terror and we must put 
the blame where it belongs, on the rhetoric of Yasir Arafat and his 
people who say one thing and do another.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to my good friend and 
cochairman of the peace accord monitoring group with me, the gentleman 
from New Jersey, Congressman Saxton. I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to him, and 
then I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to my friend, the gentleman from New York, 
the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations 
Mr. Gilman.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hayworth). The Chair would instruct the 
gentleman he does not have 3 minutes remaining. However, he can yield 
the balance of the time, and accordingly the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Saxton], is recognized for the balance of the time.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I would join with my friend, the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Engel], and the chairman of the Committee on 
International Relations in condemning this.
  Frankly, I have 5 minutes of my own time set aside here a little bit 
later, so I will curtail my remarks at this time so that Mr. Gilman may 
be able to make his. But I just think this is a very, very serious 
situation, one that is overlooked all too often by us in this country, 
and I will withhold the rest of my remarks for a few minutes until I 
get to my time.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey [Mr. Saxton] for yielding his time and the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. Engel] for arranging this moment to be able to commemorate 
what is happening in Israel.
  The Hamas bombing of a Tel Aviv cafe today, killing three people and 
wounding scores of others, including a 6-month-old child, was possible 
because of the climate of acceptance of terrorism against Israel which 
still prevails among the Palestinians.
  Yasir Arafat can utter all the words of condemnation he wants to but, 
more important, he must actively root out the infrastructure of 
terrorism in territories under his control and make it absolutely clear 
to the Palestinian people that terrorism will no longer be tolerated if 
we are to see an end to these despicable acts.
  Regrettably, Arafat's recent meeting with Hamas leaders only sends 
the wrong signal. Whether or not continuing to tolerate violence gives 
Arafat an occasional short-term victory, in the end it will cost him, 
and his people, the peace that the vast majority of both Israelis and 
Palestinians so desperately want and need.

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