[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5496-S5502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMMEMORATING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REUNIFICATION OF JERUSALEM
Mr. MACK. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem and to congratulate the
people of Israel on their commitment to freedom.
Jerusalem, Mr. President, is a city unique in all the world. We know
much of its 3,000 year history. We know that Jerusalem has been a great
city for many people; we know that it remains a holy city for people
throughout the world; we know that it is an inseparable part of the
Jewish state, a fundamental part of Jewish identity; and we know that
it is the undivided capital of the State of Israel.
It was on the hill which we call the Temple Mount that overlooked the
Jerusalem of Abraham, where God called upon Abraham to bring his son to
be sacrificed; it was here that God made His covenant with man.
Jerusalem holds the remains of the first and second temples including
the Western Wall of the temple's courtyard, Judaism's holiest site. It
is to Jerusalem that Jews everywhere in the world turn in prayer and,
no matter where they live, they conclude their celebrations with the
refrain ``next year in Jerusalem.''
Mr. President, I would like to read from perhaps the most moving
description of this great city delivered by one of Israel's greatest
leaders and statesmen. In 1995, the late Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin
delivered the following remarks here in the U.S. Capitol:
Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people and a deep
source of our pride. On this festive occasion, thousands of
miles from home, here and now, we once again are raising
Jerusalem above our highest joy, just like our fathers and
our fathers' fathers did.
Jerusalem has a thousand faces--and each one of us has his
own Jerusalem.
My Jerusalem is Dr. Moshe Wallach of Germany, the doctor of
the sick of Israel and Jerusalem, who built Sha'arei Zedek
hospital and had his home in its courtyard so as to be close
to his patients day and night. I was born in his hospital . .
.
My Jerusalem is the focus of the Jewish people's yearnings,
the city of its visions, the cradle of its prayers. It is the
dream of the return to Zion. It is the name millions murmur,
even on their death bed. It is the place where eyes are
raised and prayers are uttered.
My Jerusalem is the jerrycan of water measured out to the
besieged in 1948, the faces of its anxious citizens quietly
waiting in line for bread, the sky whose blackness was torn
by flares.
My Jerusalem is Bab el-Wad--the road to the city--which
cries out, ``Remember our names forever.'' It is the ashen
faces of dead comrades from the War of Independence, and the
searing cold of the rusting armored cars among the pines on
the side of the road.
My Jerusalem is the great mountain, the military cemetery
on Mount Herzl, the city of silence whose earth holds the
treasured thousands of those who went to bitter battle--and
did not return.
My Jerusalem is the tears of the paratroopers at the
Western Wall in 1967 and the flag which once more waved above
the remnant of the Temple.
My Jerusalem is the changing colors of its walls, the
smells of its markets and the faces of the members of every
community and every faith, where all have freedom of thought
and freedom of worship in the city where holiness envelops
every stone, every word, every glance.
And my Jerusalem is the City of Peace, which will bear
great tidings to all faiths, to all nations, ``For the Torah
shall come forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem . . . Peace be within thy walls and prosperity
within thy palaces.''
We differ in our opinions, left and right. We disagree on
the means and the objective. In Israel, we all agree on one
issue: the wholeness of Jerusalem, the continuation of its
existence as capital of the State of Israel. There are no
two Jerusalems. There is only one Jerusalem. For us,
Jerusalem is not subject to compromise, and there is no
peace without Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, which was destroyed eight times, where for years
we had no access to the remnants of our Temple, was ours, is
ours, and will be ours--forever.
``Here tears do not weaken eyes,'' wrote the Jerusalem poet
Yehuda Amichai. ``They only polish and shine the hardness of
faces like stone.'' Jerusalem is that stone.
Mr. President, Jerusalem is more than the heart of the Jewish people.
It is sacred throughout the world. Jesus was crucified inside today's
city, and Mohammed was said to have ascended into Heaven from the
Temple Mount. Mr. President, Jerusalem indeed is a great city; it is a
city of the world, a city revered by the world, and a city for the
world. Its freedom is invaluable.
Unfortunately, from 1948 to 1967, beginning with the war waged
against the new State of Israel and ending with Israel's victory in the
Six-Day War, Jerusalem was a divided city. During this time, Israelis
of all faiths and Jews from around the world were prohibited from
entering the eastern part of the city and from praying at the holy
sites there. Jerusalem had lost its freedom, and the world had lost its
Jerusalem.
This week, Mr. President, marks the anniversary of the liberation of
the holy city and its return to freedom. That is why we are
congratulating the people of Jerusalem.
Today, Jerusalem is a city of growth, prosperity, and freedom. Upon
their victory in 1967, those denied the city for so long did not deny
it to the defeated. To this day, perhaps the most holy site for all
three major religions of the city remains housed in a Moslem mosque,
the Dome of the Rock. But it is a place which can be visited by anyone
who desires.
So, beyond honoring the freedom of this great city, I want to
congratulate the people of Jerusalem and of Israel for their commitment
to religious freedom and the principle that religious faiths should not
pay the price of political disputes. The Jews of Israel know very well
the importance of religious freedom, and the pain of its denial.
Today, as we remember Jerusalem's proud and turbulent past, and honor
its
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freedom-loving residents, we must appreciate the continuing threat to
the city's future.
Thirty years ago today, Mr. President, Israel was at war, fighting
for the freedom and indivisibility of Jerusalem. I submit that today,
Israel remains at war. We must remember, as the peace which seeks to
end this war ebbs and flows, that many people in and around Israel are
trying to accomplish through other means what they failed to do in
1967--push Israel into the Mediterranean Sea. In this environment, we
must not assume all parties are equally right and equally wrong. The
middle of a dispute is usually not halfway in between the belligerents.
Treating bombs in cafes and on buses as morally equivalent to
bulldozers on deserted hilltops jeopardizes peace.
The Senate, on May 20, passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 21,
marking the anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification and congratulating
the people of Israel. The measure had 88 initial cosponsors and passed
unanimously. This clear message cannot be misunderstood. There is only
one Jerusalem and it is the undivided capital of Israel. As the peace
process continues there should be no doubt about where the U.S. Senate
stands. The Senate strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an
undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group
are protected as they have been by Israel during the past 30 years and
calls upon the President and Secretary of State to publicly affirm as a
matter of United States policy that Jerusalem must remain the undivided
capital of the State of Israel.
Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, today the Senate joins the people of
Israel as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of the reunification of
Jerusalem. The Six-Day War began after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel
Nasser, spurred on by the Soviet Union, conspired with Syria, Jordan,
and Iraq to have the people of Israel ``thrown into the sea.'' Nasser
persuaded U.N. Secretary General U Thant to withdraw peacekeeping
forces from the Gaza strip which for 10 years had acted as a buffer
between Israel and Egypt. The Egyptians began amassing troops in the
Sinai. Israel, surrounded by 250,000 Arab troops preparing for war,
launched a devastating pre-preemptive strike on June 5.
The war was a significant event in Israeli history and resulted in
the reunification of Jerusalem, which before the war had been divided
with all access to the Old City and its holy sites denied to Jews.
I have been involved with this particular issue in some measure since
my tenure as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in
1975. By the early 1970's, a Soviet-led coalition wielded enormous
power in the U.N. General Assembly and used it in an assault against
the democracies of the world. In that regard, I cite an editorial in
the New Republic which has said of the United Nations in that time that
``During the Cold War, the United Nations became a chamber of hypocrisy
and proxy aggression.''
Those who had failed to destroy Israel on the field of battle joined
those who wished to discredit all Western democratic governments in an
unprecedented, sustained attack on the very right of a U.N. member
state to exist within the family of nations.
The efforts in the 1970's to delegitimize Israel came in many forms.
None more insidious than the twin campaigns to declare Zionism to be a
form of racism and to deny Israel's ties to Jerusalem. Those who ranted
against the ``racist Tel Aviv regime'' were spewing two ugly lies. Both
had at their heart a denial of Israel's right to exist.
The first lie, the infamous Resolution 3379, was finally repealed on
December 16, 1991, after the cold war had ended and as the Soviet Union
was dissolving. The second we are still dealing with today.
That Jerusalem is, and should remain Israel's undivided capital would
seem an unremarkable statement, but for the insidious campaign--begun
in the 1970's--to delegitimize Israel by denying her ties to Jerusalem.
For far too long the United States acquiesced in this shameful lie by
refusing to locate our embassy in Israel's capital city. As long as
Israel's most important friend in the world refused to acknowledge that
Israel's capital city is its own, we lent credibility and dangerous
strength to the lie that Israel is somehow a misbegotten, illegitimate
or transient state.
This suggestion is all the more untenable when you consider that no
other people on this planet have been identified as closely with any
city as the people of Israel are with Jerusalem --a city which recently
celebrated the 3000th anniversary of King David declaring it his
capital. No Jewish religious ceremony is complete without mention of
the Holy City. And twice a year, at the conclusion of the Passover
Seder and the Day of Atonement services, all assembled repeat one of
mankind's shortest and oldest prayers, ``Next Year in Jerusalem.''
Throughout the centuries Jews kept this pledge, often sacrificing
their very lives to travel to, and live in, their holiest city. It
should be noted that the first authoritative Turkish census of 1844
reported that Jews were by far the largest ethnic group in Jerusalem--
long before there was a West Jerusalem, or even any settlements outside
the ancient walled city.
When the modern State of Israel declared independence on May 14,
1948, Jerusalem was the only logical choice for the new nation's
capital, even if it was only a portion of Jerusalem--the Jordanian Arab
Legion having occupied the eastern half of the city and expelled the
Jewish population of the Old City. Jerusalem was sundered by barbed-
wire and cinderblock and Israelis of all faiths and Jews of all
citizenship were barred from even visiting the section under Jordanian
occupation.
The world was silent while the historic Jewish Quarter of the city
was sacked and razed to the ground, synagogues and schools were
destroyed, and 3,000 years of history were denied. This bizarre anomaly
only ended on June 5, 1967, when Israel faced renewed aggression from
Egypt and Syria, both then close friends of, and dependents of the
Soviet Union. As hostilities commenced, Israeli Prime Minister Levi
Eshkol sent a message to King Hussein of Jordan promising that, if
Jordan refrained from entering the war, Israel would not take action
against it. Jordan, however, attacked Israel that same day. Within the
week, Israeli forces had captured all of Jerusalem, as well as other
territories west of the Jordan River. The City of David was once again
united, and has remained so since 1967. Under Israeli rule Jerusalem
has flourished as it did not under Jordanian occupation, and the
religious shrines of all faiths have been meticulously protected.
Having made the odious link between Zionism and racism, the Soviet
inspired coalition now set its sights on the heart of Israel:
Jerusalem. The Seventh Conference of Heads of State of Government of
Non-Aligned Countries, which convened in New Delhi, India, March 7
through 11, 1983, devoted several lengthy passages of its Final
Declaration to excoriating Israel and its ally, the United States.
Special attention was devoted to the question of Jerusalem's status.
And not just East Jerusalem as had become the practice of such fora.
I happened to be in New Delhi in the days before the summit began and
was shown a draft of the Final Declaration. The draft passage of Israel
read: ``Jerusalem is part of the occupied Palestinian territory and
Israel should withdraw completely and unconditionally from it and
restore it to Arab sovereignty.''
While surely this can be read as a provocative statement that all of
Jerusalem is occupied Palestinian territory, when pressed on the point,
my Indian hosts assured me that by Jerusalem they really only meant
east Jerusalem, which is to say the Old City, or perhaps the Arab
section. Hence, the significance of the revised final text of the
declaration of some 101 nations.
This is what the nonaligned declared in that session in 1983:
West Jerusalem is part of the occupied Palestinian
territory and Israel should withdraw completely and
unconditionally from it and restore it to Arab sovereignty.
West Jerusalem!
The 101 nations of the Non-Aligned Movement declared that the Israeli
Parliament and government buildings, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust
memorial, the King David Hotel, the whole of the new city, did not
belong to Israel. The State of Israel is not a nation. It has no
capital, or so said the nonaligned.
What was the response from Washington to such polemics? Not a word.
[[Page S5498]]
In effect, our silence could have been interpreted as implying that we
had no quarrel with those who state that Israel has no capital. And
thus, that Israel is less than a sovereign nation.
It was at this point that I brought the issue to the Senate floor. On
October 31, 1983, I introduced S. 2031 which required the relocation of
our Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Official documents published by the United States Government at the
time, such as the State Department's ``Key Officers of Foreign Service
Posts: Guide for Business Representatives,'' listed Jerusalem separate
from Israel. The guide listed countries alphabetically, under each of
which in subscript was enumerated the various diplomatic posts the
United States Government maintained in that country.
There was Ireland, with the one post in Dublin; then came Israel,
with one diplomatic office listed, its address in Tel Aviv; then
curiously several pages later, after Japan, there was listed a
Consulate General in a country called Jerusalem. Then came Jordan and
Kenya.
That was how the ``Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts'' was
organized until the end of 1994, when Secretary Christopher published
the document with Jerusalem listed under the Israel heading. This is a
welcome change. That simple refusal by the United States Government to
associate our consulate in Jerusalem with the State of Israel carried
much greater weight with the Non-Aligned countries than we realized.
They would not have acted as they had done in 1983 if they did not
think at some measure we were not in disagreement. Our documents have
so implied.
While my legislation did not pass in 1983, the drive to clarify the
status of Jerusalem began to gain momentum in the Senate in 1990 when I
submitted Senate Concurrent Resolution 106, which states simply:
``Jerusalem is and should remain the capital of the State of Israel.''
A simple declarative sentence which gained 85 cosponsors and was
adopted unanimously by the Senate and by an overwhelming majority in
the House.
On November 8, 1995, the Dole-Moynihan Jerusalem Embassy Act became
the law of the United States. The law states, as a matter of United
States Government policy, that Jerusalem should be recognized as the
capital of the State of Israel, and should remain an undivided city in
which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected as
they are today.
In the winter of 1981, I wrote an article in Commentary entitled
``Joining The Jackals'' in response to the Carter administration's
disastrous support for a resolution challenging Israel's rights in
Jerusalem. Sixteen years later, we find that the jackals are in
retreat. Israelis and Palestinians are negotiating the details of their
future. And the United States can make a simple but important
contribution to this process by unequivocally recognizing Israel's
chosen capital.
The Senate has affirmed this simple proposition by unanimously
adopting Senate Concurrent Resolution 21, on May 20, 1997, which
commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem and states that:
[The Senate] strongly believes that
Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights
of every ethnic and religious group are protected as they
have been by Israel during the past 30 years;
[and]
Calls upon the President and Secretary of State to publicly
affirm as a matter of United States policy that Jerusalem
must remain and undivided capital of the state of Israel.
Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their strong support of this
measure, and again wish to congratulate our friends in Israel on this
important occasion.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, today I join my colleagues in
congratulating the residents of Jerusalem and the people of Israel on
the 30th anniversary of the reunification of their capital.
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism hold Jerusalem sacred, and the many
holy sites of all faiths make a city a world spiritual and religious
center. With the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, Israel ensured the
freedom of worship for all faiths and access to holy places of all
religions with the enactment of the Protection of Holy Places Law,
1967.
Today, Jerusalem is a mosaic of many cultures, religions, and
nationalities, of peoples and neighborhoods, of old and new. It is a
union of contrasts with a unique character. Last year Israel celebrated
the Trimillennium of Jerusalem, the City of David. And for the past
3,000 years there has been a continuous Jewish presence in the city. In
fact, ever since King David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom,
Jerusalem has become a center of Jewish existence.
No other nation has ever made Jerusalem its capital in such an
absolute and binding fashion. The Temple was built in Jerusalem, and to
it the religious made their pilgrimages. Chapters of the Bible were
written within its walls, and there the prophets preached their
prophesies. The city's ancient stones, imbued with millennia of
history, and its numerous historical, sites, shrines, and places of
worship attest to its meeting for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Sanctified by religion and tradition, by history and theology, by holy
places and houses of worship, Jerusalem is a city revered by Jews,
Christians, and Muslims. It reflects the fervor and piety of the three
major monotheistic faiths, each of which is bound to Jerusalem by
veneration and love.
The Jewish bond to Jerusalem was never broken. For three millennia,
Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish faith, retaining its
symbolic value throughout the generations. The many Jews who had been
exiled after the Roman conquest and scattered throughout the world
never forgot Jerusalem. Year after year they repeated ``Next year in
Jerusalem.'' Jerusalem became the symbol of the desire of Jews
everywhere to return to their homeland. It was invoked by the prophets,
enshrined in daily prayer, and sung by Hebrew poets in far-flung lands.
As a Christian, Jerusalem is a holy city for me. Jerusalem is the
place where Jesus lived, preached, died, and was resurrected. I went to
Jerusalem in 1994 and visited various holy sites including the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Via Dolorosa.
For me there is something very special about this ancient city and I am
glad I was able to visit these sites unencumbered, as are all persons.
For Islam, the prophet Mohammed was miraculously transported from
Mecca to Jerusalem, and it was from there that he made his ascent to
heaven. The Dome of the Rock built in the seventh century, is built
over the site of Mohammed's ascent.
Every year Jerusalem plays host to hundreds of thousands of Christian
pilgrims who come to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and pray at the
shrines and churches throughout the city. Thousands of worshipers pray
at the Mosques on the Temple Mount, with their numbers swelling into
the hundreds of thousands during Moslem holy month of Ramadan.
Jerusalem is a special city for me, my fellow Christians, Moslems,
and Jews. For the United States, Jerusalem is the recognized undivided
capital of Israel, and the United States embassy will be established in
the city by 1999.
Mr. President, again, I want to congratulate the citizens of
Jerusalem and Israel on this special occasion. As I wish them all my
best for the next 3,000 years, I am reminded of Psalms 122:2-3.
Our feet stood within thy gate,
O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem built up,
a city knit together.
Congratulations, Jerusalem.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I am proud to rise as a cosponsor of
Senate Concurrent Resolution 21 and commend the people of Israel on the
30th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Israel. For thousands
of years the Jewish people prayed, ``next year in Jerusalem.'' This
prayer helped to sustain Jews even through the darkest days of the
diaspora.
After Israeli independence, Jews were forced out of Jerusalem--where
they had lived for three millennia. The holy sites of Jerusalem were
closed to Christians and Jews. The Jewish quarter of the old city was
destroyed. But since Jerusalem was unified in 1967, it has been open to
all religions for the first time in its history.
I have visited Israel with Jews who were there for the first time.
When we
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visited the Western Wall, I saw what it meant for them to touch the
stones that their ancestors could only dream of. I saw that Jerusalem
is not just a city or a capital. It is the religious and historic
homeland of the Jewish people.
Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel--though the world ignores this
fact. Why is Israel the only nation that is not allowed to chose its
own capital?
There is much talk about building in Jerusalem. Well, there is a
building project that I particularly look forward to. America will
build its Embassy in Jerusalem by 1999. We should have moved our
Embassy long ago.
Mr. President, This year, as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the
unification of Jerusalem, let us mark this great event by reaffirming
that Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of the State of
Israel.
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, this past Saturday, June 7, marked the 30th
anniversary of the reunification of the city of Jerusalem. Prior to
1967, Jerusalem was a city divided, its center scarred by concrete and
barbed wire, with many of its residents displaced. Israel's recovery of
Jerusalem during the Six-Day War ended that ugly partition and restored
the ability of visitors and residents of all religions to worship
freely and visit important holy sites in Jerusalem.
For my part, I am convinced that Jerusalem should remain the unified
capital of the State of Israel. I have consistently supported measures
before the Congress expressing opposition to the division of the holy
city.
The Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act, passed in 1995, definitively
expressed Congress' heartfelt belief that Jerusalem should not only
remain the capital of the State of Israel, but that the United States
should recognize it as such.
Jerusalem occupies a central place in the Christian, Islamic, and
Jewish faiths and I believe it is crucial to each of these great
traditions that Jerusalem remain undivided and its holy sites open.
I urge that the President and the State Department declare their
support for a free, united Jerusalem, and to avoid interfering in
negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians on the status of the
holy city.
Mr. President, in these last 30 years, the holy city of Jerusalem has
flourished, not just for Israel, but for all people. Nobody can claim
complete ownership of one of the spiritual centers of the world. But we
can all congratulate the State of Israel on its excellent stewardship.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to add my voice to those
celebrating the 30th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. The
Senate has before it a resolution commemorating this occasion. Its
passage will be an appropriate and fitting testimony to the courage of
those who reunited and reopened the city, and to the wisdom of those
who have maintained it that way for the last three decades.
Jerusalem is a city of faith. It is the spiritual home of Jews,
Christians, and Muslims, and it is the sacred symbol and temporal
meeting place of their shared legacy and common humanity. Undivided
access to its holy sites is a promise made in the tumult of war and
kept in the name of peace. Those who made it and those who keep it are
rightly remembered by us today.
Jerusalem also is a national city. It is the undivided capital of
Israel--the political and cultural center of one of America's
staunchest, most important allies. The continued unity of Jerusalem
under Israel's flag is not an issue for debate. It is our best
assurance that America's most cherished values, including the rule of
law and basic human freedoms, will be preserved and protected in a
region critical to our own national interest.
Thirty years ago, the people of Israel reunified Jerusalem. But for
more than 3,000 years, Jerusalem has endured as the city on the hill.
Geography and politics alone do not being to explain its significance.
It is a place where God touches us and unifies our histories; it is
where the privilege and responsibility of Abraham's heritage becomes
our own. Peace with justice in Jerusalem is a measure of our integrity
as people of faith; and the best hope for peace with justice in
Jerusalem is continued undivided sovereignty.
I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution congratulating the
residents of Jerusalem and the people of Israel on the 30th anniversary
of that city's reunification.
Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is and shall remain the undivided capital of the State of
Israel. The facts are simple: Jerusalem belongs to Israel for the
simple reason that for three millennia, it has been the spiritual,
historical, cultural, and moral capital of the Jewish people. In
recognition of this fact, the relocation of our Embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem should take place as called for in the Jerusalem Embassy
Relocation Act of 1995.
Thirty years after reuniting the city after preempting another attack
by her surrounding Arab neighbors, Israel has sought to make the city
open to people of all faiths and to make the holy sites available to
all who come. The fact remains, that Jerusalem has never been the
capital of any nation but that of the Jews. That is the way it should
remain.
Mr. President, Jerusalem has been central in the thoughts and minds
of the Jewish people for 3,000 years. As the holy city, Jerusalem is
the spiritual and religious center of Judaism and is an indivisible
part of the State of Israel.
While I understand that the present Middle East peace negotiations
are both complicated and delicate, I do not want anyone to fall under
the impression that Jerusalem will belong to anyone other than Israel.
If the future of Jerusalem remains unclear in the minds of the
Palestinians then they will increase their demands and this will
further complicate the already tense negotiations.
Let the message be clear: A united Jerusalem is off limits to
negotiation.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Senate
Concurrent Resolution 21 of which I am a proud cosponsor. This
resolution congratulates the residents of Jerusalem and the people of
Israel on the 30th anniversary of the reunification of that historic
city. This resolution also expresses our strong belief that Jerusalem
must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and
religious group are protected as they have been by Israel during the
past 30 years. Furthermore it calls upon the President and the
Secretary of State to publicly affirm as a matter of United States
policy that Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of the State of
Israel.
There has been a continuous Jewish presence in Jerusalem for three
millennia and a Jewish majority in the city for the past 150 years.
Jerusalem has been, throughout these years, the holiest of cities and
the focal point of Jewish devotion. Jerusalem remains a unique and
critically important city to the Jewish people. Jerusalem is also the
only city in the world which serves as the capital of the same country,
inhabited by the same people, speaking the same language, and
worshipping the same God as was the case 3,000 years ago.
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Jewish people were driven out
of the Old City of Jerusalem and denied access to holy sites in the
area controlled by Jordan. For 19 years Israelis of all faiths and Jews
from all around the world were prevented from visiting their holiest
sites by the barbed wire which divided Jerusalem. Today we commemorate
30 years of unrestricted access to these holy sites. Since the Israeli
Government reunified Jerusalem under its control, the rights of all
religious and ethnic groups have been restored and vigilantly
protected.
The protection of the rights of every ethnic and religious group is
critical to the maintenance of peace in such a diverse and religiously
significant region. We are here today to commend the Israeli people and
their government for restoring full access for all people to their holy
sites. Today we again lend our support to continued Israeli control of
a unified Jerusalem.
Support for a strong, independent, and undivided Israel is the
keystone of our policy in the Middle East. Israel is not only the sole
democracy in the region, but also a country with which we share
cultural and historical ties. Our continued support of Israel, and of
Jerusalem as its undivided capital, is especially important in this
crucial point in the peace process.
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We are here today in continuation of our previous policy initiatives
regarding Israel and its control of Jerusalem. In 1990, the Congress
adopted concurrent resolutions declaring that the Congress ``strongly
believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the
rights of every ethnic religious group are protected.'' In 1992, the
Congress adopted resolutions to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the
reunification of Jerusalem, additionally reaffirming congressional
sentiment that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city.
Congress' most forceful and symbolically consequential actions in
recognition of the importance of a unified Jerusalem have been part of
its systematic rebuke of its previous policy of maintaining the U.S.
Embassy in Tel Aviv. For some time the United States has conducted its
official meetings and other business in the city of Jerusalem in de
facto recognition of its status as the capital of Israel. The Jerusalem
Embassy Act of 1995 stated as a matter of policy that Jerusalem should
remain the undivided capital of Israel. Funds for the building of the
U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem were recently appropriated in the fiscal year
1998 appropriations bill, H.R. 1486.
As a Member of this Senate and a long-time supporter of Israel, I am
proud to stand with many of my distinguished colleagues as a cosponsor
of this important resolution.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise in support of Senate Concurrent
Resolution 21, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the reunification
of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
It is an honor to be a cosponsor of this resolution, as it was to be
a cosponsor of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act. The 1995 act
declared that the holy city should remain ``undivided'' and be
``recognized as the capital of the State of Israel.''
Mr. President, for 3,000 years there has been a continuous Jewish
presence in the city of Jerusalem. No other city on Earth is the
capital of the same country, inhabited by the same people, speaking the
same language and worshipping the same God, for a span of three
centuries as has been the case with Jerusalem.
In 1948, the Arab legion conquered East Jerusalem, including the Old
City, as part of the general Arab military offensive to prevent Israel
from coming into being. Israel retained control over West Jerusalem. It
is important to note, Mr. President, that when East Jerusalem was under
Arab or Muslim rule, it never served as a capital city for the rulers.
Between 1948 and 1967, when East Jerusalem was under Jordanian control,
Jordan's capital remained in Amman. I would also note that during this
time, the holy city was closed to other religions. Jews were prevented
from visiting their holy places, all the synagogues in the Old City
were razed and Jewish burial places were desecrated.
In 1967, as Egypt and Syria moved again toward war against Israel,
the Israeli Government urged King Hussein of Jordan to sit out the
fighting and promised that the territories he controlled would be left
alone if he did so. The King failed to heed the warning. He attacked
Israel, and in the ensuing fighting lost East Jerusalem and the West
Bank.
When the holy city was reunified after the war, Israel, under Labor
Party leadership at the time, declared that Jerusalem will remain
undivided forever as Israel's capital and that all people will have
free access to their holy places. All people of all faiths are welcome
to worship in the holy city. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres said it this way: ``Jerusalem is closed politically and open
religiously. This mean that it will remain unified, and only as
Israel's capital, not two capitals. It will remain under Israeli
sovereignty.''
I agree with Shimon Peres. Jerusalem is, and should remain, a united
city--the capital of Israel. I urge the immediate adoption of this
resolution. As the 1995 act did before, Senate Concurrent Resolution 21
will send a principled and constructive signal to all the parties in
the Arab-Israeli negotiations that the United States recognizes
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in
observing the 30th anniversary of the reunification of the city of
Jerusalem. Although the modern State of Israel was founded almost 50
years ago, in 1948, the city of Jerusalem was at that time still
divided between Israel and Jordan, and its holy sites were not open to
all religious groups. After Jerusalem became one again in 1967, these
important historical and religious sites were opened to Christians,
Jews, Muslims, and all others who wished to worship or simply spend
some time in the Old City or at the Western Wall.
I have long supported an undivided Jerusalem in which the rights of
every ethnic and religious group will be protected and respected.
Jerusalem is not only the capital of Israel, but also the home of more
than 40 Christian denominations and the home of the Moslem religion. It
is imperative that we work to preserve this city's unity and prevent
any actions that would threaten this status. At the same time, we must
ensure that our efforts to maintain unity in the holy city do not
divide those working toward a lasting peace in the Middle East.
Jerusalem is holy to many people in many different ways, and its future
has understandably been a sensitive issue in the ongoing peace process.
Unfortunately, some have used the issue of a unified Jerusalem to
divide those who share in the city's heritage. Our support today for
unity in Jerusalem does not in any way detract from our support for
peace in the Middle East. The peace process, with our unqualified
support, must move forward.
In closing, Mr. President, I simply wish to restate my support for a
unified Jerusalem that is open to all those who wish to visit its
historical and spiritual sites. It is fitting that the Senate takes a
moment to reflect upon the importance of Jerusalem as a symbol to
people of diverse faiths and as a unified city open to all. Mr.
President, I yield the floor.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition today to
commemorate the 13th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem
during the Six-Day War. I congratulate the residents of Jerusalem and
the people of Israel on this important anniversary day.
On June 5, 1967, the Israelis responded to threats from their Arab
neighbors and 6 days later the war ended with a reunified Jerusalem
that once again gave Jews access to the old city and its holy sites.
Some called this unexpected price of war a miracle; it is indeed an
issue of great importance for the Jewish people.
Jerusalem holds a special place in Jewish history. Since King David,
Jerusalem has been at the center of Jewish traditions and the very core
of Jewish faith. The very city itself, not just the sites of religious
significance, is considered hallowed by those of the Jewish faith. This
issue has personal significance to me as well, as members of my own
family live and worship in Jerusalem.
Jews have long been the majority of residents of Jerusalem. However,
Jerusalem is not only important for the Jewish faith, but for Islam and
Christianity as well. I am a cosponsor of the sense-of-the-Congress
resolution that recognizes the significance of a unified Jerusalem to
the people of Israel and reiterates the Senate's position that
Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every
ethnic and religious group are protected.
This resolution also calls on the President to publicly affirm as a
matter of United States policy that Jerusalem must remain the undivided
capital of Israel. Since coming to the Senate, I have supported
initiatives that recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I also
supported the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Implementation Act of 1995,
legislation that will move the United States Embassy in Israel to
Jerusalem. I will continue to work to ensure that never again will
access to the old city and its holy sites be denied to Jews or to
persons of any faith.
Mr. President, I join my colleagues on this momentous day in
celebrating the triumph of Israel in the Six-Day War and the
reunification of Jerusalem.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I join my colleagues in paying tribute to
the nation of Israel and its courageous people on the 30th anniversary
of the reunification of Jerusalem.
Today, this remarkable city, with its proud history in both the
ancient and the modern worlds, stands as a center
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of diverse religious and cultural interests. Three of the world's great
religions--Christianity, Islam, and Judaism--consider Jerusalem to be a
holy city, and all three have holy sites in the city.
In 1967, following 20 years of division, Israel reunited Jerusalem
during the course of its heroic victory in the Six-Day War. As the
capital of Israel, Jerusalem today is a haven for persons of all ethnic
and religious groups. As we join in commending Israel on this important
anniversary, we also reaffirm our commitment to an undivided Jerusalem.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, 30 years ago a singular, unexpected and
startling event reshaped the world. I am referring to the conclusion of
the Six-Day War of 1967, when the young Jewish state was faced with the
amassed forces of the Arab world, bent on its destruction, but
prevailed against all odds and concluded the short but bloody war with
the victorious forces of Israel reclaiming and reuniting the holy city
of Jerusalem.
It was the first time since the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. that the
city was entirely in Jewish hands. One of the accounts of the first
paratroopers and soldiers to reach the wall spoke of Gen. Shlomo Goren,
then the chief rabbi of the Israeli Army, who raced to join the first
to reach the wall. Last week's Jerusalem Post recounted that he was
armed only with a Bible and a shofar, and that as they ran through the
narrow streets of Old Jerusalem
Goren did not stop blowing the shofar and reciting prayers.
His enthusiasm infected the soldiers, and from every
direction came cries of ``Amen!'' The paratroopers burst out
in song.
The Jewish author Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote movingly of this
pivotal event:
In its solitude the Wall was forced into the role of an
unreachable tombstone for the nameless dead. Suddenly the
Wall, tired of tears and lamentations, became homesick for
song. ``O Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us chant in joy
to the rock of our salvation!'' (Psalm 95:1) It will be
called the Rejoicing Wall.
It was the first time since the partition of Jerusalem that Jews
could pray at the Western Wall. In fact, after the Israeli paratroopers
and soldiers liberated the city, many flocked to the wall even before
the mines left by the Jordanians had been removed. A few days later,
the headline of the Jerusalem Post read: ``200,000 at Western Wall in
first pilgrimage since Dispersion''.
Heschel wrote:
July, 1967 * * * I have discovered a new land. Israel is
not the same as before. There is great astonishment in the
souls. It is as if the prophets had risen from their graves.
Their words ring in a new way. Jerusalem is everywhere, she
hovers over the whole country. There is a new radiance, a new
awe.
Mr. President, the conclusion of this war had profound geopolitical
consequences--for the Mideast, and for the world, as the superpowers
responded to the consequences of the defeat of the Arab armies. The
Soviets increased their support to the Arab regimes intent on revenge,
including the virulently anti-Israel governments of Saddam Hussein and
Hafez Assad who came to power over the next couple of years. The United
States, quick to recognize Israel's declaration of independence almost
20 years before, stood by our Democratic friend, as we would during the
Yom Kippur War 6 years later, and as we have ever since.
But there was consequences even more profound than the geopolitics.
The city of David was in Jewish hands. Whereas the Jewish graves and
synagogues had been desecrated since the partitioning in 1948, Israel
opened the city to the faithful of the three monotheistic religions.
The Muslim leaders retained control of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of
the Rock. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians have joined
Jews since then in pilgrimages to holy Jerusalem. Jerusalem today is a
city for all faithful.
It is also, as so befits the sadness of this bloody 20th century, the
center of unresolved political disputes.
Mr. President, if you look back at the history of the 1967 war, you
see that among the Israeli leadership, the possibility of exchanging
land for a permanent peace was being considered within days after the
Six-Day war. This was a radical notion in that part of the world--and
the years it took before the Sinai was returned was a necessary period
when facing hostile regimes on every border of a narrow state. But
Israel has always demonstrated its willnessness--in fact, its
insistence--on cohabiting in the region, and cooperating to do so--as
long as its sovereignty and right to exist are recognized. These
notions were at the heart of an unformulated peace process then as they
are in a more formal peace process now.
It is up to the democratically elected government of Israel to
determine the direction and content of that process today, as it is up
to Israel's Arab neighbors to accept the reality of the Jewish state.
But one issue has been left more muddled than it should be: the
status of Jerusalem. This issue has been debated on this floor for over
a decade. I believe that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and I have
joined many colleagues in expressing that it should be the policy of
the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of
Israel, and to cease the artificial posturing that has kept our Embassy
in Tel Aviv. This is what we declared when we passed the Jerusalem
Embassy Act of 1995, and what we reiterated in our recent resolution,
Senate Concurrent Resolution 21, congratulating the residents of
Jerusalem on the 30th anniversary of reunification. With these acts,
Congress recognized a geopolitical reality. There are times when doing
so can enhance the management of peace, by declaring, once and for all,
what are the feasible parameters of a negotiated peace. These acts of
Congress were such times. If the peace process continues, it will
progress more certainly on solid ground. I continue to encourage the
administration to join us in correcting a diplomatic anomaly that we
have visited on our closest ally in the Middle East for too long.
Mr. President, I offer my deepest congratulations to the residents of
Jerusalem, to the citizens of Israel, and to all who appreciate the
peace and openness that has reigned over that city since it was
reunited 30 years ago.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the 30th
anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem and support the
resolution offered by my distinguished colleagues from New York and
Florida in marking this auspicious occasion. Psalm 122 admonishes us to
``pray for the peace of Jerusalem.'' This biblical verse is as apt now,
on the 30th anniversary of the Holy City's reunification, as it was
3,000, years ago.
Jerusalem knew little peace in the 19 years before 1967. The end of
Israel's War of Independence left an obscene no-man's land of barbed
wire, tank traps, sniper posts, and minefields. Israel's former
adversary left almost no vestige of Jewish history in the historic old
city untouched, including the destruction of 58 synagogues; Jewish
gravestones from the Mount of Olives were used to build roads and
latrines for occupying troops.
Mr. President, Israel's foes had as much regard for the rights of
religious pilgrims as they did for religious sites: Jews could not
visit the Western Wall, and Israeli Muslims were denied access to the
Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. During the occupation, the
Christian population of Jerusalem declined from 25,000 to 10,000.
On the morning of June 7, 1967, our entire world changed. Israeli
commandos stormed through St. Stephen's Gate on the northeast side of
the old city walls and took control over the old city and its
centerpiece, the Temple Mount. They discovered that occupying troops
had used the Temple Mount area, including the Dome of the Rock and the
Al Aqsa mosque, as a huge ammunition dump. Mr. President, what might
have happened if the ammunition would have exploded, destroying the
Temple Mount and perhaps the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulcher? How
great would our spiritual loss have been?
For the first time since the Romans leveled the city in AD 70, Jews
controlled the Western Wall--the surviving remnant of Herod's Temple.
Mr. President, shortly after the end of the Six Day War, Israel did
something astonishing for a victorious power. Israeli officials assured
Arab leaders that the Muslims would keep control of the Islamic holy
places on the Temple Mount. That inspired decision began Jerusalem on
the road to reunification and began to heal the wounds of centuries.
Mr. President, I traveled to Israel with my father when I was 21 and
saw
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a city transformed from that which had seen pain and anguish for
thousands of years. Where barbed wire and armed soldiers had once stood
was a magnificent area of trees and grass that now surrounds the
renovated walls of the old city. I saw a rebuilt Jewish Quarter in the
old city. But Mr. President, most importantly, I saw for myself that
free and open access to their holy places for people of all faiths was
not merely the goal in Jerusalem, it was the rule.
The city's parks were revitalized. Schools and museums and hospitals
sprang up. Music and poetry once again rose into Israel's evening sky.
The people came together as artists, architects, lawyers, and
theologians in an effort that resulted in a city that no longer just
survived but lived and breathed. The Talmud proclaims that ``of the 10
measures of beauty that came down to the world, Jerusalem took nine.''
Mr. President, for the first time since those prophetic words were
first formed, those ``measures of beauty'' saw the light of day.
Mr. President, the question that those brave, industrious people
tried to answer is one that we still ask today: How can Jerusalem,
which means ``city of peace,'' an ancient symbol of humanity's
aspirations for redemption, become a living city that does not betray
the promise of its name? An answer tragically eludes us, still today,
30 years after Jerusalem's reunification.
The United States Congress has a long-standing commitment to a united
Jerusalem governed by Israel. Seven years ago, Congress declared that
Jerusalem ``must remain an undivided city'' and the Jerusalem Embassy
Act of 1995 unequivocally stated that Jerusalem should remain the
undivided capital of Israel as a matter of U.S. policy. The resolution
introduced by my friends Senator Moynihan and Senator Mack clearly
expresses our conviction that it should be so.
Mr. President, it is said that ``one prayer in Jerusalem is worth
40,000 elsewhere.'' This resolution offers the voice of Congress to
those voices coming from all over our Nation and the world praying for
peace and prosperity for this most special city of all cities on this
truly important day.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
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