[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 73 (Thursday, May 24, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E935-E936]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

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                            HON. SUSAN DAVIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 24, 2001

  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, as we all reflect on the grave 
situation in the Middle East, I commend to all my colleagues the 
following OpEd piece published in the May 18, 2001 San Diego Union 
Tribune.

                    Negotiations Can Stop Bloodshed

                            (By Yuval Rotem)

       Since the days of Sir Isaac Newton schoolchildren have been 
     taught that for every action there is a reaction, and that 
     there is an axiomatic distinction between cause and effect. 
     This truth applies both to the world of physics and to 
     today's conflict in the Middle East.
       For over eight months, the citizens of Israel have been 
     confronted with a virulent campaign of violence and terror. 
     Israel, like any other nation, has a right and obligation to 
     react in order to protect the lives of its citizens. The 
     legitimacy of self-defense is a foundation of international 
     law and of the United Nations Charter.
       That both Israelis and Palestinians have suffered due to 
     the current uprising, there can be no doubt. Yet while it may 
     be easy to assign equal blame to the two sides, there is in 
     truth no equivalence between the actions of Palestinian 
     terrorists and the reaction of the Israelis whom they target.
       If Chairman Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders 
     were to call for a cessation of shootings and bombings, an 
     end to the violence would be well within reach. No such calls 
     have been issued, and the Palestinians continue to shoot, and 
     Israel is compelled to react. That anyone is killed is 
     unjustifiable, but sometimes it is forgotten who exactly 
     started the shooting, and who continues to deem 
     indiscriminate killing as a legitimate bargaining chip.
       Israel cannot sit idly on the sidelines while its people 
     pay the ultimate price for the Palestinian leadership's 
     opting for confrontation over reconciliation. Palestinian 
     leaders and militias consider violence to be an effective 
     tool in promoting a unilateral solution to a conflict which 
     Israel believes can only be addressed via bilateral 
     negotiation.
       Palestinian gunmen purposely select targets with the 
     intention of maximizing carnage and shock value. Suicide 
     bombers and explosive devices containing nails and shrapnel 
     are employed in densely populated civilian areas. Israeli 
     children and adults are maimed and murdered while shopping at 
     the mall or riding on the bus.
       Israel, forced to defend itself, undertakes operations 
     designed to hamper further terror, striking only against 
     those actively involved in violence. For the most part, 
     Israeli reprisals against those initiating terror strikes are 
     extremely accurate. However, sometimes unintended 
     consequences have regrettably occurred.
       There have even been instances when children have been 
     injured. In the vast majority of cases, this takes place when 
     Palestinian children are intentionally used as human shields 
     serving as buffers for gunmen firing upon Israeli targets. 
     Remember that the Israeli army is no longer deployed in 
     Palestinian populated areas. In order for stone-throwing 
     children to be within close proximity to Israeli forces, they 
     have to be consciously transported to such locations by their 
     elders.
       Despite this brutal tactic, Israeli forces do their utmost 
     to prevent casualties. Tragically, a totally innocent child, 
     five-month-old Iman Haju, fell victim last week. She was 
     unintentionally killed in Israeli return fire, which was 
     directed at positions used by a Palestinian mortar crew to 
     bombard an Israeli community just minutes earlier.
       The fact is that terrorists have been consistently 
     launching mortars from civilian sites such as school yards 
     and apartment buildings. By contrast, Palestinian militants 
     have routinely and specifically targeted Israeli children. 
     Shalhevet Pass, a 10-month-old Israeli girl, was spotted, 
     fixed and then shot in the head by a Palestinian sniper in 
     March. In the past week, two 13-year-old Israeli boys were 
     brutally stoned to death, and their bodies mutilated by 
     terrorists while hiking in a riverbed close to their homes.
       These are not cases of unintentional civilian causalities. 
     These and other Israeli children were slain because their 
     Palestinian executioners found them to be useful targets. 
     Such heinous actions do not arise in a vacuum.
       Since the Palestinian rejection of the proposals offered by 
     former Prime Minister Barak and President Clinton, the 
     Palestinian Authority has carefully orchestrated a campaign 
     of hatred and incitement through its official newspapers, 
     television and radio stations, its schools and religious 
     institutions.
       Palestinian Authority spokesmen have praised violence and 
     suicide bombings. The Palestinian Authority has freed known 
     terrorists from prison, and official Palestinian police and 
     security forces have joined in attacks upon Israeli civilians 
     with impunity. Palestinians have employed illegal mortars and 
     anti-tank weapons against Israeli communities, and heavy arms 
     such as Katyusha artillery rockets and shoulder-fired anti-
     aircraft missiles are now being smuggled into Palestinian 
     territory.
       The Palestinian leadership is doing nothing to prevent 
     further escalation of violence, and the people of Israel are 
     wondering just exactly what the Palestinians are trying to 
     achieve.
       An end to the occupation? Some 98 percent of Palestinians 
     already live under Palestinian control. Statehood and 
     independence?

[[Page E936]]

     It was offered and rejected. An end to check points? More 
     territory? It was offered and rejected. Not only were all 
     attempts to genuinely settle the conflict rejected out of 
     hand, but the Palestinians responded to them--instead of with 
     counter-proposals for peace--with intifada, jihad and terror.
       The current confrontation is one which Israel neither 
     sought nor initiated, and still, there is no desire for 
     punishment and revenge. There is no wish to suppress or 
     repress anyone. What point does it serve?
       Negotiation and education for peace are the only means 
     forward, and hopefully a meaningful resumption of dialogue 
     can begin again soon. In the meantime, the Palestinian 
     leadership must be made to understand that terrorism and 
     bloodshed cannot exist side by side with diplomacy.
       The path of violence was supposed to have been forever 
     abandoned on Sept. 13, 1993, when Chairman Arafat shook the 
     hand of Israel's late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and 
     pledged in word and in writing to forswear achieving his 
     goals by the sword. Though that day over seven years ago 
     seems so remote, it must continue to guide all sides even 
     now.
       Terror will not bring the Palestinian people what they 
     desire. They will not be able to gain through violence what 
     they could not gain through negotiation. Only a return to 
     talks and moderation can bring a mutually acceptable 
     settlement for both sides.
       Rotem is consul general of Israel to the southwestern 
     United States.

     

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