[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E131-E132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THOUGHTS OF RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN ON HIS RECENT TRIP TO THE MIDDLE EAST

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. J. RANDY FORBES

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2002

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, on September 11 and in the weeks that 
followed, it seemed inconceivable that anyone in the world would ever 
be able to return to true normalcy. The horror of that day would--as 
well it should--live forever in our hearts and minds. But, in parts of 
the world, old hatreds have been revived and violence has once again 
become an everyday occurrence. In particular, the Middle East has again 
become a tinderbox.
  Rabbi Israel Zoberman of the Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia 
Beach, a congregation that draws people from all over the Tidewater 
area, recently traveled to Israel for the Israel Bonds Rabbinic 
Conference Solidarity Mission. As someone who had grown up in Israel 
before coming to the United States to preach, Rabbi Zoberman is 
regrettably well accustomed to the daily routine of violence in the 
Middle East. But, he is far from desensitized to its effects on human 
lives. He published his thoughts on the recent violence in the National 
Jewish Post, and he has shared them with me. I commend his article to 
my colleagues' attention as well.

       As an early supporter of mutual accommodation between the 
     Israelis and the Palestinians, I urged in the wake of the 
     1982 Lebanon War--in an article inserted into the 
     Congressional Record by then Senator Charles Percy of 
     Illinois--for responding creatively to the Palestinian 
     question while guaranteeing Israel's security. Indeed, the 
     1993 historic handshake between the late Prime Minister Rabin 
     and Chairman Arafat at the south lawn of the White House 
     vindicated those believing in the necessity of peace between 
     the long warring parties. However, the past 16 months have 
     painfully impacted the peace camp following Arafat's 
     initiation of the Second Intifada, violently rejecting former 
     Prime Minister Barak's wide proposal at Camp David to fully 
     end the historic conflict.
       While on an Israel Bonds Rabbinic Conference Solidarity 
     Mission, we watched on Israeli TV the captured ship ``Karine 
     A,'' packed with fifty tons of Iranian offensive weapons 
     ordered by the Palestinian Authority. Major General Shlomo 
     Gazit (Res.) who headed the Israeli Army Intelligence branch, 
     described to us the action as the most daring commando raid 
     since the 1976 Entebbe Operation, also meant to save Jewish 
     lives. All that while General Anthony Zinni was in the region 
     receiving cynical assurances from the Palestinian of their 
     commitment to implement a cease-fire.
       U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, the second consecutive 
     American Jew to serve in the important post replacing 
     Ambassador Martin Indyk, greeted us most warmly and 
     unequivocally state, ``there is a connection between the ship 
     and the Palestinian Authority for which it should answer.'' 
     Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud Olmert, thanking us heartfeltedly as 
     did Israelis at large for visiting at a trying time, 
     emphasized that the ship's episode illustrates the gap 
     ``between Arafat's declarations and deeds'' with peace 
     remaining elusive.
       Israel's President Moshe Katsav movingly welcoming us in 
     his official residence was highly critical of Arafat's 
     conduct since the Peace Process began, and stressed the 
     internal division the latter created in Israeli society. He 
     emphatically announced, acknowledgingly borrowing President 
     Lincoln's famous phrase, ``Mr. Arafat, you cannot fool all 
     the people all the time.'' The President spoke of the need to 
     vigorously fight terrorism while asserting the meeting points 
     of common interests between Palestinians and Israelis.
       Deputy Defense Minister, Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, daughter of 
     the slain Yitzhak Rabin, bemoaned the transition ``from hope

[[Page E132]]

     to despair,'' calling on Arafat to cease engaging in violence 
     as well as teaching Palestinian children the language of hate 
     and suicide bombing. She regards economic development 
     essential and finds the ultimate solution to be political 
     rather than military. Jacob Perry, who led the Shin Bet, 
     Israel's internal security service, reflected on Israel's 
     long encounter with Arab terrorism even as recently Islamic 
     fundamentalism ``openly challenged the West.'' He praised 
     American Intelligence capability, the failure of September 
     11th notwithstanding, explaining the difficulty of 
     penetrating the compartmentalized and religiously extreme 
     Muslim terror cells.
       Dr. Raanan Gissin, Prime Minister Sharon's Media Advisor, 
     analyzed Arafat's inability to change course and shed off his 
     life's identity as a terrorist, thus bound to remain such. 
     His present forced confinement to West Bank's town of 
     Ramallah will extend till he turns in the murderers of 
     government minister Rehavam Zeevi. Yet Gissin shared, ``we 
     have to find a way to live with Arabs'' without compromising 
     Israel's overwhelming right to its land, keeping Jerusalem 
     united. He voiced enthusiastic support for President Bush's 
     war on terrorism by unstoppable ``democracy on the march.'' 
     Rabbi Binyamin Elon, assassinated Minister Zeevi's party 
     colleague who jointed the government in his stead as Tourism 
     Minister, cautioned of the need to be strong in face of an 
     enemy regarding Israel's moral code as a weakness. Limor 
     Livnat, Education Minister, refuses to view Arafat as a peace 
     partner in the midst of his waging war against Israel, 
     denying Jerusalem's centrality for the Jewish people.
       Encountering the families, fellow soldiers and the 
     classmates of terror victims, including twenty-two immigrant 
     Russian students from Tel Aviv's Shevah Mofet School, we 
     witnessed with horror the bullet-ridden bus where ten 
     Israelis found their death at Emanuel town's entrance. 
     Tearfully facing freedom's high price, we were reassured by 
     the resiliency of the human spirit coupled by Israeli 
     resolve. The bond with America's own pain became most 
     evident. In the deadly stalemate caused by the absence of a 
     negotiated settlement, there is the option of a unilateral 
     separation by Israel with a demilitarized Palestinian entity. 
     The venerated vision of genuine peace will follow, some day, 
     with both sides prayerfully seeking and creating sacred 
     windows of opportunity. Meanwhile, will Chairman Arafat who 
     has inflicted profound anguish on Israelis and Palestinians 
     alike, betraying the precious though fragile essence of 
     transforming and uniting hope of so many, kindly return the 
     Nobel Peace Prize he no longer deserves?

     

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