[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 115 (Thursday, September 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S8821]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   ANOTHER ACT OF TERRORISM SHOWS PEACE PROCESS SIMPLY IS NOT WORKING

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, another tragedy struck the people of Israel 
today. Three Palestinian suicide bombers attacked a crowded pedestrian 
mall in the center of Jerusalem. At least three Israelis were killed; 
many more were wounded.
  There was another bombing in the center of Jerusalem on July 30, in 
which 17 people were killed. Those murders were also claimed by the 
Palestinian terror group, Hamas.
  As in July, all the requisite people will issue the required 
condemnations, and comfort themselves that they have responded 
adequately. But how can we pretend that enough is being done about 
Palestinian terrorism? How can we look at pictures of Yasser Arafat 
embracing a terrorist on the front page of the New York Times and still 
maintain the fiction that this is a man committed to fighting terror?
  The answer, Mr. President, is simple: we cannot.
  Last month, in the wake of the most recent Jerusalem bombing, 
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she would travel to the 
Middle East if the PLO took the necessary steps to crack down on 
terrorists. Those steps clearly have not been taken. More innocent 
civilians lie bleeding in the streets. But the administration still 
clings to the fiction of a peace process.
  I have said many times, and I say again today: There is no peace in 
this process. How long will we be expected to play along with this 
charade, pretending that meetings, consultations, and formalities can 
substitute for genuine attempts to deliver peace and security to the 
people of Israel?
  In the coming months, the Congress will reconsider the provision of 
assistance to the Palestinians. At that time, we must ask ourselves 
whether the PLO has complied with its commitments, not only to Israel, 
but to the United States. We must ask ourselves whether Palestinian 
territories have become a beachead for terrorists. We must ask 
ourselves if the PLO and Yasser Arafat are partners worthy of the 
confidence of the United States.
  Mr. President, all we need do is look at the pictures on our 
television screens to see that the answer to each of those questions is 
no.

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