[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 76 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5370-S5371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 31--CONCERNING THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

  Mr. D'AMATO (for himself, Mr. Bond, Mr. Mack, and Mr. Specter) 
submitted

[[Page S5371]]

the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 31

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring),
       Whereas the Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih 
     Abu Medein announced last month that anyone selling land to 
     Jews was committing a crime punishable by death;
       Whereas since this announcement three Palestinian 
     individuals were murdered in the Jerusalem and Ramallah areas 
     for, what would anywhere else in the world be considered 
     normal business activity--selling real estate;
       Whereas recently Israeli police managed to foil the 
     attempted abduction of a fourth person;
       Whereas Israeli security services have acquired evidence 
     indicating the intelligence services of the Palestinian 
     Authority were directly involved in at least 2 of these 
     murders;
       Whereas subsequent statements by high-ranking Palestinian 
     Authority officials have justified these murders which have 
     further encouraged this intolerable policy;
       Whereas the Palestinian Authority has failed to condemn the 
     policy of murdering people for business transactions;
       Whereas this policy is in direct contravention to the peace 
     agreements already reached between the Palestinian Authority 
     and the State of Israel; and
       Whereas credible evidence exists that the Palestinian 
     Authority has played an active role in these murders and in 
     enforcing this policy: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) the Clinton administration should thoroughly 
     investigate the Palestinian Authority role in enforcing this 
     racist policy and should immediately report to the Congress 
     its findings;
       (2) the Palestinian Authority, with Yasser Arafat as its 
     chairman, must immediately issue a public and unequivocal 
     statement denouncing these acts and this policy;
       (3) this policy is an affront to all those who place high 
     value on peace and basic human rights; and
       (4) the United States should not provide foreign assistance 
     to the Palestinian Authority until this policy is reversed.

  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today, along with Senators Connie 
Mack, Kit Bond, and Arlen Specter to introduce a concurrent resolution 
condemning the Palestinian Authority for the killing of Palestinians 
for selling land to Israelis. This legislation is being offered 
concurrently in the House by my colleagues, Congressmen Jon Fox and 
Jerry Weller.
  Mr. President, we are offering this resolution because it is 
appalling that Yasir Arafat, to whom we provide millions of dollars in 
aid, is allowing his so-called police officers from the Palestinian 
Authority to carry out assassinations of Arab land dealers for their 
sales of land to Jews. Arafat terms these dealers ``isolated traitors'' 
for their actions and has thereby given his approval to these killings.
  Thus far, three land dealers have been killed, execution style with a 
bullet to the back of the head, all by Palestinian Authority police 
officers. The Israeli police have already arrested one man in the 
killing of the first land dealer, Farid Bashiti, and earlier in the 
week they arrested four Palestinian officers attempting to kidnap 
another land dealer. According to a story in today's Ha'aretz (a 
newspaper in Israel) the detained Palestinian police officers have 
given information that links Tawfik Tirawi, the head of security in 
Ramallah, under Palestinian Authority control.
  At this time, I would ask unanimous consent that the text of this 
article be included in the Record.
  This is an interesting state of affairs that we have here. The United 
States provides funding to the Palestinian Authority, they violate the 
agreements they have signed with the Israelis, and we go about our way 
as if nothing has happened. Arafat's Palestinian Authority mismanages 
the funds it has and we provide more. This is outrageous and 
unfortunate.
  The world must realize that Israel, while keeping its agreements with 
the Palestinians, is held to a different standard, harassed, 
criticized, and denigrated for building condominiums at Har Homa, on 
territory that is its own, perfectly legal according to the Oslo 
agreement but nevertheless condemned as flagrantly violating the peace. 
Yet where is the criticism of the terrorism practiced by the 
Palestinians? Where are the U.N. resolutions condemning these summary 
executions by the Palestinian police? Yasir Arafat pushed for the U.N. 
to condemn the building at Har Homa, yet he brands extrajudicial 
killings as justifiable for traitors. What a despicable contradiction.
  Mr. President, we offer this resolution to call attention to these 
horrible killings by Palestinian police sanctioned by the PLO in 
violation of every standard of international human rights, and to call 
attention to the fact that Yasir Arafat's PLO has not changed its 
spots; it has not reformed. Why, we ask, does the United States 
continue to allow these acts to take place?
  I urge my colleagues to support this resolution as well as to examine 
this issue to understand Yasir Arafat's behavior.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                     [From Ha'aretz, June 5, 1997]

   Palestinian Security Official Detained in Israel: Colonel Tirawi 
                      Ordered Land Dealers Murders

                    (By Eitan Rabin and Amira Hass)

       Israeli security officials rejected the claims of their 
     Palestinian counterparts that no Palestinian agents were 
     involved in the recent murders of land dealers.
       ``The Palestinians have made a political decision to kill 
     anyone who sells land to Jews, and in recent days they have 
     even added names to their list of suspected dealers,'' a 
     senior security source said.
       Three land dealers were killed in the past month following 
     the declaration of the Palestinian Authority official in 
     charge of justice, Freih Abu-Meddien, that selling land to 
     Jews is a crime punishable by death.
       The Palestinian Authority has repeatedly denied any 
     involvement in the murders. The head of Palestinian 
     intelligence, Amin al-Hindi said reiterated this at a 
     Ramallah news conference yesterday. Commenting on reports 
     that Israel had issued a warrant for the arrest of a 
     Palestinian Authority official, Al-Hindi said the 
     Palestinians had not received any information to this effect. 
     But he warned of a grave escalation in the situation if any 
     senior Palestinian was detained.
       Al-Hindi added that the Palestinian security branches are 
     investigating the land dealer murders, even though the 
     killings took place in areas under Israeli security 
     responsibility.
       Al-Hindi charged Israel of using the murders to cover up 
     its own failure to fulfill its commitments in the peace 
     accords and to deflect debate over settlement policy.
       From questioning Palestinian security officials detained in 
     Israel, Israeli security forces have obtained testimony 
     linking the Palestinian Authority to the murders. One 
     testimony points to specific involvement of Tawfik Tirawi, 
     the head of security in Ramallah. According to questioning of 
     the detainees, orders to security forces to act came in part 
     from Abu-Meddien.
       In one case, security forces met with a land dealer from 
     East Jerusalem, and forced him to pay a ransom to save his 
     life.
       In a related development, a Nazareth-based weekly put out 
     by the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, headed by 
     Knesset member Azmi Beshara, has published a list of names of 
     well-known Palestinians who are believed to have sold land to 
     Jews between 1918-1945.
       The list includes the name of Palestinian Arab leaders from 
     the period. The Voice of Palestine radio sharply attacked the 
     article, primarily because the list included the name of the 
     grandfather of Faisal Husseini, who holds the Jerusalem 
     portfolio in the Palestinian Authority.

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