[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 9, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1145-H1147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REQUIREMENTS FOR PEACE WITH ISRAEL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Flake). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Rothman), to let him finish his comments.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend, the gentleman from 
Georgia, for yielding.
  All is not lost. We should not lose hope. As heartbreaking as it is 
to see these terrible images on our television, and we wonder what is 
going to happen, some things take time. But we have to do them right.
  Sometimes our friends are put in very dangerous, difficult positions. 
We do not abandon our friends. To have a friend, as my dad used to say, 
you must be a friend. If we step away from our friend, Israel, after a 
friendship of an unparalleled kind for 50 years, what does that say 
about us? What does that say when we go looking to the world for our 
friends to help us?
  We cannot abandon Israel. Stand with Israel. Let Israel carry the day 
and rout out these terrorists. Let us get a just peace between the 
Israelis and Palestinians.
  If the Palestinians ever put together a leadership, because the other 
Arab nations force them, or they on their own demand it of their own 
leaders, if they put together a leadership that is committed to living 
in peace next to the Jewish state of Israel in their own state of 
Palestine, then but only then will the Palestinians have what they 
want, which is their own state.
  It is up to the Palestinians, and it is up to their Arab brothers and 
sisters to make them realize that they cannot continue to reject the 
offer of peace and statehood that Israel and the world has been making 
to them since 1947.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. If the gentleman would yield, I think one of the 
interesting things also, as we enter a dialogue stage this evening, it 
is important to note that the gentleman's comments were so much on 
point regarding the leadership of the Palestinians.
  I think there has been a misplaced emphasis in many ways by this 
administration on calling Chairman Arafat the leader of the 
Palestinians. Let us be very specific. I think most Americans need to 
really understand this, that Chairman Arafat was elected, but what he 
did was he refused to have a reelection. His term of office ended in 
2000.
  All of us who are elected officials, we stand for election every 2 
years, and in the Senate every 6 years, and the President every 4 
years. I was an election observer. Some of us have participated in 
international election observation teams. I was an election observer 
this past year in Belarus, where the president of the country reelected 
himself. We do not recognize their government. Yet, our government says 
that Chairman Arafat is the chosen leader, when he chose not to have an 
election.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. If I may, as far as I am concerned, the Palestinians 
need to take responsibility for choosing their own leaders. If they 
choose to call Yasser Arafat their leader, so be it. But that does not 
change what we as Americans must do.
  We must say to the Palestinians, they have to put forth a leadership 
that announces in English and Arabic and to the world that they are 
ready to live in peace next to the Jewish state of Israel, something 
the Palestinians regrettably have refused to do, believing that they 
would intimidate, terrorize, or in other ways use the leverage of 
middle eastern oil to force America or Europe to make Israel weak 
enough so that they could finally, after 5 attempts to destroy Israel 
in five wars, they could finally destroy Israel.
  What they are learning now is that Israel will not be defeated 
militarily or

[[Page H1146]]

morally, since they have the legal right recognized by the U.N., and 
were established at the same time as all those other nations in the 
middle of the 20th century, and that they, the Palestinians, are the 
only ones. They must look in the mirror if they are looking for the 
culprit as to who has deprived them of statehood.
  The Palestinians were offered statehood in 1947 by the U.N. They 
rejected it. They were offered it again in 1967, after they invaded 
Israel, along with all the other Arab armies. They rejected it. In the 
year 2000 at Camp David, they rejected a proposal for 97 percent of 
what they wanted, even though they were the defeated entity. They did 
not even come back with a counter offer.
  It is time for the Palestinians to say to themselves, do you know 
what, it has been 55 years since 1947, since we turned down a 
Palestinian state because we did not want to live next to a Jewish 
state of Israel. We hoped this Jewish state, as tiny as it is in the 
huge Middle East, that the Jewish state would no longer exist.
  They made a big mistake. It is time to give their children, their own 
Palestinian people, the blessings of a state and liberty next to the 
Jewish state of Israel.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. If the gentleman could yield, I have a blow-up of a 
letter which has been in the press, and unfortunately, I think it is 
something which has not gotten enough press attention at this point. I 
think it is a very significant letter. It is a letter that was found in 
the Ramallah headquarters by Israeli defense forces troops. It is 
there, it is real. There is other information that I will present, as 
well, but it is disturbing, to say the least, in terms of the whole 
concept of interacting with Chairman Arafat as a leader in terms of his 
direct personal involvement in terrorism.
  I started this evening talking about his direct, personal involvement 
with the Karine-A incident, which was a direct violation of Oslo, 
sending weapons to the Palestinian Authority, which was documented, 
which the Americans completely understand.
  I think that is what is probably most troubling to the President of 
the United States, because I do not believe that he wants to deal with 
this gentleman at all, because he understands who he is.
  If I can just read some of the specifics, this is a letter to 
Chairman Arafat from assan al Ashid, who is a senior Fatah activist in 
the West bank, specifically asking for sums of $2,500 for the following 
brethren: three gentlemen who are specifically terrorists, they are 
known terrorists. And in Arafat's personal handwriting, with his 
signature, he says, ``I will allocate $600 to each of them'' on 
September 19 of 2001. I do not think we need anymore proof.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I would like to see the gentleman's other chart, as 
well, because he has actually broken down Arafat's connection to 
terrorism in a particular region or city, has he not?
  Mr. DEUTSCH. This is really the question on what has occurred, and 
the Israelis and the Americans, Israel wants a peace partner. Israel 
wants to have peace. Israel offered what we have discussed previously. 
They have negotiated with Chairman Arafat.
  But I think what has occurred in the present time is not that Arafat 
might or might not be, is trying or is not trying, but I think the 
facts are there: Arafat has direct personal involvement in terrorism. 
He is a terrorist.
  The President got a little squeamish when the press asked him, is he 
a terrorist. He refused to answer. Not only does he have blood on his 
hands yesterday, he has blood on his hands today. That is the person 
that the United States is requesting and demanding that Israel 
negotiate with, at the same time saying that we refuse to negotiate 
with terrorists.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Further than that, if we do not call Arafat a 
terrorist, could we say that the PLO harbors terrorism? And certainly I 
think we would say yes to that, as well.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. And let me go through the chart, which I think is 
interesting.
  Chairman Arafat is part of the Fatah organization. Actually, I 
believe the gentleman has a chart, as well, which is very interesting 
and relevant to this. The Fatah organization is an organization that, 
in a particular region, many of us have heard of the city, the occupied 
and the non-occupied Tulkarm. It is a city with a leadership structure 
in Fatah, an organizational structure. There was a gentleman, Marwan 
Barghouti, Nasser Awis, Ra'ed Karmi, whose name was one of the names on 
the previous list as getting direct payment.
  Mr. KINGSTON. These men, they all lead directly to Arafat?
  Mr. DEUTSCH. They have said if Chairman Arafat requests, they will no 
longer engage in terrorist activities. Again, what the gentleman's 
chart points out is this organization, Fatah, which is directly tied to 
Arafat, in which the people themselves have said they report to Arafat, 
they have publicly stated if Arafat says to stop violence, they will 
stop violence.
  The chart there is very illuminating, the gentleman's chart, which 
points out that in September to December of last year there were nine 
terrorist incidents and 66 Israelis were killed, the equivalent of more 
than one 9/11 for the state of Israel, that Fatah itself, Arafat's 
organization, claimed responsibility for nine incidents.
  In January to April, when 99 Israelis were killed, several 9/11s, 67 
were claimed by Fatah. Sixty-eight percent of this is suicide bombers 
were directly claimed by an organizational structure that reports to 
Arafat, that the members of that structure report to Arafat, and yet 
Arafat says he has no relationship with that structure. It is not 
credible. It is not believable are. It is not the truth.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. If I can offer my agreement, Yasser Arafat is a 
terrorist. He is no Boy Scout. But that does not mean that he cannot 
make peace and be a partner in peace if he chooses. The problem is, so 
far, since 1948, since Israel was recognized by the United Nations, 
America, all the major nations of the world as an independent state and 
an independent country, since the Palestinians rejected their own state 
offered by the U.N. in 1947, Arafat has never said, never, we are 
prepared to live in peace next to the state of Israel, the Jewish 
state; never once.
  The interesting point would be, what if Arafat said that in English 
and Arabic? What if all the other leaders of the Arab world were to 
say, you know, that is all that Israel has been asking for for the last 
55 years of its existence, notwithstanding the fact that we in the Arab 
world have tried to drive these Jews into the sea for the last 55 
years, without success. All the Israelis have ever said they want is to 
live in peace with their Arab neighbors. All they want from their Arab 
neighbors is a pledge to live in peace with them.
  When Egypt made that offer, there is now a peace between Egypt and 
Israel, and Lebanon and Israel, and Jordan and Israel, albeit there are 
still some radical terrorists in Lebanon, fomented by Syria to try to 
stir things up.
  But what we really need to do is to put the pressure on the Arab 
world, our friends, the Saudis, who we have done so much for, saved 
their necks countless times so they could charge us whatever they 
wanted at the oil pumps, but nevertheless, we did it, we saved their 
necks, say to the Saudis, tell Arafat his dreams of driving the Jews 
into the sea are over. If he wants to help the Palestinian people, tell 
him to live in peace with Israel, the Jewish state, and they will have 
negotiations and they will have a Palestinian state.
  Why do not the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, 
Lebanon, and all the Arab countries, make that demand to Arafat if they 
really are concerned about the Palestinian people? And I say to my 
friends, the Palestinian people, rise up and overthrow Arafat.

                              {time}  2245

  Get yourself leaders who will make peace for your children's sake.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield on a specific 
point which he brought up again which is very much relevant to what is 
going on.
  The gentleman mentioned Lebanon. For the last several days every day 
there have been artillery attacks from Lebanon to northern Israel. When 
Colin Powell and the President are calling for a cease fire, that is a 
cease fire they should be calling for. That is a border that has been 
peaceful, and there is absolutely no reason at all for

[[Page H1147]]

artillery to be shot at. We have mentioned this and many of us who have 
spoken this evening have talked about the analogy to the United States. 
Could you imagine how we would respond if there was artillery fire over 
the Canadian border or the Mexican border? There was a point in time 
when that happened many years ago, and we invaded both Canada and 
Mexico.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I wanted to 
pull out the gentleman from New Jersey's (Mr. Rothman) map again, 
because we cannot emphasize this enough. Here is little Israel 
surrounded by Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan on the other 
side of it, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Somalia, Eritrea. It is not exactly 
the kind of neighborhood that is very pristine and peaceful and stable 
to begin with. Israel would not go out aggressively and start a 
conflict, as the gentleman pointed out, and I want to do it again. 
Statehood for these countries: Syria, 1946; Iraq, 1932; Iran, 1935; 
Saudi Arabia, 1932; Jordan, 1946; Lebanon, 1943; Egypt, 1952. To say 
Israel is the interloper because of 1948 is absurd, particularly given 
the fact that this is such a sliver of land here.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. My colleague makes such a wonderful point. The Israelis 
are outnumbered 39 to one, some extraordinary number like 325 million 
Arabs and close to 6 million Israelis, most of them Jews, some 
Christians, some Israeli Arabs, outnumbered 39 to one. There is no oil 
in tiny little Israel. None. Tiny little Israel in a sea of other 
nations. Why do they focus so much attention on Israel? Why do they not 
just give their own people in Saudi Arabia, it is a monarchy, a 
kingdom, why do they not give their people democracy?
  How about in Iraq? We know they are a dictatorship under Saddam 
Hussein. Why does he not give his people democracy and freedom? In Iran 
they have the mullahs, the religious council who are dictators 
themselves. Even over an elected Iranian president, the religious 
council overrules the elected officials. Why do they not give their 
people freedom?
  The same as Syria with a totalitarian regime. Syria, who by the way 
has 45,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon. They are occupying Lebanon, Syria 
is. But why does the world focus attention on the tiny little only 
democracy in the entire Middle East, Israel?
  Well, you know that saying when you have trouble at home you try to 
distract the locals by creating a bogeyman somewhere else. Rather than 
have the people living in these oppressive totalitarian countries fight 
against their totalitarian dictatorial rulers, they say all of your 
problems are caused by the tiny little Jewish state all these miles 
away who we outnumber 39 to one. It would be laughable if it were not 
such a horrible terrible tragedy.
  America needs to talk to the Arab world and tell them, if you think 
the lynch pin to peace in the Middle East is settling the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, then tell the Palestinians to accept statehood, 
the statehood that has been offered to them for 55 years, or at least 
to sit down at the negotiating table after having said, yes, we are 
prepared to live in peace next to the Jewish State of Israel. Then the 
Arab world can get the peace it says it needs before they then can free 
their own people. Of course, that is ridiculous.

  These Arab dictatorships, monarchies, totalitarian regimes throughout 
the Middle East they can free their people right now, but they will 
not. They would rather distract them with the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict. If there needs to be pressure, it needs to be put on the Arab 
regimes to force the Palestinians to give their own people a state by 
agreeing to live next to Israel.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman. I want to yield to the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Deutsch) for closing remarks and also I am ready to 
close.
  I think that in my final words that we need to stand with our ally, 
Israel. We need to understand that they have the right to defend 
themselves, and we need to have that message heard in the Middle East 
that we believe that Israel does have this right and is acting 
accordingly.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  I think by definition every day we wake up we live in historical 
times. In this Chamber where we speak, it is the oldest. We are as 
America the oldest democracy literally in the history of the world. 
Many people do not know, but the law givers of the world, the law 
givers of the world watch us in this Chamber. In fact, the greatest law 
giver in the history of the world is the gentleman in the center of the 
Chamber, Moses.
  We are part of history as we speak here tonight and as we take action 
as Americans, as a Congress and our ally, Israel, takes action this 
evening. And I think the purpose of different Members from throughout 
the country getting together this evening to speak about this issue is 
to talk about our concern. That as much as we hope and we pray and we 
work towards Colin Powell's efforts for a cease fire, which again we 
were completely united in and support for, at that same time we urge 
Colin Powell and particularly, obviously, the President who Colin 
Powell works for, that the President understand that we are listening 
to him. We are supportive of him in the efforts against terrorism. But 
to stop Israel, to attempt to stop Israel from rooting out terrorism is 
sending a wrong message to terrorists.
  It is saying that terrorism succeeds, that terrorist actions will get 
the United States to do things against its allies; that you can bomb 
us; you can suicide bomb us; you can sniper attack bomb us; you can 
kill our children, our women at sacred events in the most inhumane 
conceivable things and force us to do things. And that is not the 
message that I believe President Bush has sent to the world nor can we 
send to the world.
  We need to be supportive of Israel and its efforts to eliminate 
terrorism as they were of us, as the rest of the world was of us, as 
all Americans are with us. And I urge the President to continue in 
those efforts in the coming days.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen for their leadership 
on this issue.

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