[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 9, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MADNESS WITHOUT END?

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 9, 2002

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following article. The growing 
wave of Palestinian suicide bombings, followed inevitably by fierce 
Israeli military counter-attacks, ought to be proof for anyone that 
Middle East violence has degenerated beyond the bounds of any possible 
moral justification and into the realm of cultural psychosis.
  Each side in this conflict continues to point a finger at the other, 
claiming, ``You started it,'' as if the childish refrain were reason 
enough to continue down what looks more and more like a path to 
Armageddon.
  This is a regrettable characteristic of the Middle East mayhem, one 
not easily understood in the West. Any inclination to turn the other 
cheek is almost always overcome by religious and cultural injunctions 
to crush and grind the enemy into the dust. Charity toward an 
adversary, it seems, is a sign of weakness.
  Arabs and Jews contesting the Holy Land are never going to make peace 
with each other until both sides have had their fill of the bloodbath. 
The question facing a horrified, uncomprehending world is ``when will 
enough be enough?''
  The relentless procession of young Palestinians willing, even eager, 
to don explosives and give their lives to kill Jews and regain their 
historic homeland provides no indication of an early peace.
  The so-called ``spiritual leaders'' of Hamas and other Palestinian 
movements point to such self-serving verses in the Qu'ran as, ``And 
slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence 
they drove you out, for persecution is worse then slaughter.''
  The Islamic militants who nurture, cultivate, and train the suicide 
bombers boast that they will send ``a million martyrs to Jerusalem,'' 
and who can doubt them?
  The Israelis, who also claim this territory as a religious and 
historic right, fall back on the self-perpetuating justification of 
self-defense. Memories of the Holocaust (``Never again'') warn them of 
annihilation. The shock of the continued bombings neutralizes the 
nation's calmer voices and nascent peace movement. And violence begets 
violence.
  The question of who is to blame no longer matters to a good bit of 
the outside world, but in the Middle East it remains pretty much the 
only issue. Until one side or the other takes responsibility, this 
burgeoning threat to humanity will continue to monopolize the world's 
resources and attention.
  As much as we in the United States wish it were otherwise, what is 
happening in Israel and the West Bank cannot be separated from our war 
on terrorism. The same ancient fears and frustrations fuel both 
conflicts.
  President Bush at first tried to distance the United States from the 
turmoil, but even he realizes now that inattention for several months 
last year was a mistake.
  An end to the madness that has engulfed the region could be reached 
in several ways. The preferable one would be through the services of a 
negotiator of uncommon skill and forbearance, possibly someone who is 
not yet apparent on the diplomatic stage. Another more horrifying 
possibility: a cataclysm of bloodshed that would make the current 
suicide bombings seem tame by comparison.
  World leaders, even those without a direct stake in the Middle East, 
have a responsibility to apply pressure on all the parties involved to 
see that the path of least violence is the one taken.

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