[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 43 (Wednesday, April 17, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2762-S2763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SECRETARY POWELL'S MIDEAST TRIP

  Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I have sought recognition to comment 
briefly on the trip to the Mideast by Secretary of State Colin Powell.
  At the outset, I compliment President Bush for his initiative in 
sending Secretary Powell to the region, and I compliment Secretary 
Powell for his strenuous efforts, even though they have not achieved a 
cease-fire. As I listened to Secretary Powell on his live newscast this 
morning at about 7 a.m. eastern standard time, it seemed to me that his 
trip was worthwhile and progress had been made, although it is 
difficult to quantify progress in the Mideast because of the difficult 
and complex problems that are faced there.
  I believe Israel has acted in self-defense in moving into Palestinian 
territories. It is the fundamental duty of a nation to protect its 
citizens. When Israel has been faced by almost daily suicide bombings, 
that action is necessary, as viewed by the Israeli authorities.
  The President did call upon Israel to withdraw several days ago--
almost 2 weeks ago--and Israel has to make its judgments and decisions 
as a sovereign nation. I do not think it should be viewed as a rebuke 
to President Bush that Prime Minister Sharon and the Israeli Cabinet 
saw it differently. President Bush made the judgment call he did as he 
saw the interests of the United States and the interests of the world 
community. I am sure he was considering Israel's interests in that mix. 
However, the judgment is up to Israel as a sovereign nation. It is 
understandable that when they have virtually daily suicide bombings, 
they see it differently so as to protect their citizens.
  This morning, Secretary Powell referred to an international 
conference, and it is my hope that such a conference would be convened 
at an early time. It is my view that the so-called moderate Arab States 
have to become involved, representing Palestinian interests, because of 
the difficulties of relying upon anything Chairman Yasser Arafat has to 
say.
  On March 26, 2002, I visited Israel and talked to General Zinni, 
Prime Minister Sharon, and Chairman Arafat. On that day, the three were 
in agreement that they were very close to coming to terms on the so-
called Tenet plan on security arrangements. The very next day there was 
a suicide bombing in Netanya at the Passover seder killing 27 Jews at 
prayer and wounding approximately 200 others. The whole situation has 
deteriorated.
  In the intervening three weeks, evidence has come to light, 
purportedly bearing the handwriting of Chairman Arafat, that he 
personally was involved in paying terrorists. I have asked the State 
Department for an analysis and the verification that, in fact, it was 
Arafat's handwriting, but on this state of the record, it appears that 
was the case.
  It is no surprise that Yasser Arafat is a terrorist. He was involved 
in the murder of the United States charge d'affaires in the Sudan in 
1974. He was involved with the murders of Israeli athletes. He was 
involved with the murder of Leon Klinghoffer who was pushed off the 
Achille Lauro. It was hoped that a new page had been turned with the 
Oslo agreements.
  I was present on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993, when 
Arafat was honored at the White House. I had grave reservations about 
seeing this known terrorist honored at that time, but I watched as 
President Clinton put his left arm around Arafat and his right arm 
around Prime Minister Rabin, and the two shook hands. Then, Foreign 
Minister Peres shook hands with Arafat. It seemed to me that if the 
Israeli leaders were prepared to shake Arafat's hand, where Israel had 
been the principal victim of the terrorism, that was something we might 
move ahead with and try to deal with Arafat.

  I have had occasion to talk to Chairman Arafat on a number of 
occasions over the years. Again, when I met with him on Tuesday, March 
26, I urged him to make a clear-cut, definitive statement denouncing 
terrorism and denouncing suicide bombings. Chairman Arafat said he 
would, but of course he has never done so.
  It is a very difficult call to have U.S. negotiators or the Secretary 
of State or anyone meet with Arafat because of the outstanding evidence 
that he is still involved in terrorism, but that is a call the 
Secretary of State had to make, and I respect that. It seems to me that 
if the peace process is to go forward, it is very difficult for Arafat 
to be a major player or a major participant because he is, simply 
stated, untrustworthy.

[[Page S2763]]

  When Prime Minister Rabin made the famous statement that we have to 
negotiate with our enemies, we have to make peace with our enemies 
because we do not need to make peace with our friends, that set a 
parameter in a statesmanlike way for the necessity for Prime Minister 
Rabin to deal with Chairman Arafat and for us and others to have had 
talks with him. However, on this state of the record, where it appears 
that Arafat has been paying terrorists recently, it seems to me very 
hard to conduct negotiations with Arafat on the expectation that his 
commitments will be observed.
  We do have moderate Arab leaders. We have King Abdullah of Jordan, a 
man in his late thirties, heir to King Hussein's good work. We have 
King Mohamed of Morocco, another able young man in his late thirties 
who has the potential for leadership. We have President Mubarak of 
Egypt. It seems to me that those are the leaders who ought to be 
convened.
  It would be my hope that Saudi Arabia would play a constructive role 
in a peace conference. The Saudis came forward with a proposal which 
had merit because it was the first time the Saudis have said they would 
normalize relations with Israel if Israel would recede to the pre-1967 
borders. I do not think it is possible to recede to those borders, but 
there had been negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on 
borders, and I think an accommodation would be worked out. However, 
when the Saudis agreed to normalize and the Syrians agreed with that, 
that was a significant step forward.
  Candidly, it was a major disappointment to see Saudi Arabia have a 
telethon for the Palestinians and raise, according to press reports, 
some $92 million. Where was their telethon for the American victims 
from September 11th? We know that of the 19 terrorists involved, 15 
were from Saudi Arabia, and then Osama bin Laden is a Saudi. It would 
be my hope that we could expect something more from Saudi Arabia.
  As we look forward, I was pleased to see Secretary of State Powell 
say today that Assistant Secretary Burns will remain in the region, 
that General Zinni will be there to carry on his role, and that CIA 
Director George Tenet may be going in the near future to work out 
security arrangements so that there is an active role by the United 
States.
  I urge the administration to move forward on a conference which would 
be at the ministerial level, in a sense making the move for Foreign 
Minister Peres to be the negotiator for Israel; a conference which 
hopefully would omit Arafat; a conference which hopefully would have 
Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia as principal participants to 
be guarantors representing the Palestinian efforts and making 
arrangements which could be relied upon and could be carried out.
  It is very important, in conclusion, that the process be continued. 
When Secretary Powell went to the Mideast, he undertook very 
substantial risks. Everyone cannot hit a home run every time they go to 
bat, but I think the Secretary did a good job and made a constructive 
step. Now it should be carried forward with a peace conference attended 
by other Arab leaders.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.

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