[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 45 (Monday, April 22, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3015-S3019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 247--EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL IN ITS FIGHT 
                           AGAINST TERRORISM

  Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. Daschle, Mr. 
Cleland, and Ms. Collins) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 247

       Whereas the United States and Israel are now engaged in a 
     common struggle against terrorism and are on the frontlines 
     of a conflict thrust upon them against their will;
       Whereas President George W. Bush declared on November 21, 
     2001, ``We fight the terrorists and we fight all of those who 
     give them aid. America has a message for the nations of the 
     world: If you harbor terrorists, you are terrorists. If you 
     train or arm a terrorist, you are a terrorist. If you feed a 
     terrorist or fund a terrorist, you are a terrorist, and you 
     will be held accountable by the United States and our 
     friends.''; and
       Whereas the United States has committed to provide 
     resources to states on the frontline in the war against 
     terrorism: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) stands in solidarity with Israel, a frontline state in 
     the war against terrorism, as it takes necessary steps to 
     provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist 
     infrastructure in the Palestinian areas;
       (2) remains committed to Israel's right to self-defense;
       (3) will continue to assist Israel in strengthening its 
     homeland defenses;
       (4) condemns Palestinian suicide bombings;
       (5) demands that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its 
     commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the 
     Palestinian areas;
       (6) urges all Arab states, particularly the United States' 
     allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to declare their unqualified 
     opposition to all forms of terrorism, particularly suicide 
     bombing, and to act in concert with the United States to stop 
     the violence; and
       (7) urges all parties in the region to pursue vigorously 
     efforts to establish a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace 
     in the Middle East.

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I have submitted a resolution today, 
along with Senator Smith of Oregon, Senator Daschle, our majority 
leader, and we are currently in the process of communicating with the 
Republican leader. I hope Senator Lott will become the fourth initial 
cosponsor of this resolution which expresses the solidarity of 
Congress--Senate and House--with the State of Israel in its fight 
against terrorism.
  The painful events of September 11 have taught us Americans a 
powerful lesson: When innocent people are attacked, we have no choice 
but to capture or kill those killers and dismantle their terrorist 
infrastructure. That is the first step in reducing the likelihood of 
future attacks and making clear through our actions--not just our 
words--that violence against innocents will never be tolerated.
  Now we see Israel under siege by a systematic and deliberate campaign 
of suicide-homicide attacks whose essence is identical to the attacks 
on our country on September 11. Those suicide bombers striking innocent 
Israelis in supermarkets, pizza restaurants, buses, and schools are cut 
from the same cloth of fanatical, inhumane hatred as those terrorists 
who turned airplanes into weapons of mass destruction and killed more 
than 3,000 Americans on September 11.
  God knows that we have not always been astute enough to learn from 
history, but when the history of September 11 is this fresh in our 
minds and in our hearts, and the lessons are as clear and compelling as 
the lessons of September 11 were, let us not fail to apply those 
lessons. Let us not waver, let us not blur our vision or our values, 
particularly in this case when the victims of the country are citizens 
of a fellow democracy and a great ally, which is to say the State of 
Israel.
  Instead, let us recall the principled message of President Bush in 
his address to Congress less than 7 months ago: Terrorism is evil. It 
is not an acceptable form of political action. It is a crime that runs 
contrary to our most basic human values. Nations that support it, 
condone it, or enable it are our enemies, and nations that dismantle 
its immoral, inhuman machinery and go after its perpetrators to protect 
innocent lives of their citizens are doing freedom's work and they are 
our allies.
  In laying out this doctrine, President Bush actually echoed the words 
that

[[Page S3019]]

President Franklin Roosevelt spoke in 1940 when he said:

       No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There 
     can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no 
     reasoning with an incendiary bomb.

  The United States supports a peaceful Palestine along a secure 
Israel, as, for that matter, does Israel herself. We support a two-
state solution. In other words, we support what we hope and pray is 
still the cause of the vast majority of the Palestinian people. But 
there is a danger that these suicide bombers operating out of 
Palestinian territory have hijacked the legitimate cause of Palestinian 
statehood. These homicide bombers do not represent what we hope is the 
aspiration of a majority of the Palestinian people for statehood, for a 
better life for themselves and their children.
  These homicide bombers--terrorists--insult that cause and undermine 
their own people's desire to live a better life. They represent a 
morally bankrupt and tactically suicide policy. Their militancy will 
only deepen the misery of the Palestinian people.
  Ultimately, in supporting Israel's right to protect and defend 
itself, we are also supporting our own war against terrorism because if 
we lose our bearings and muddy the moral clarity with which we began 
and are carrying out our campaign against terror, we risk undermining 
the fight against al-Qaida and other international terrorist groups 
that threaten our own people. We cannot allow that.
  The United States, acting in concert with Israel and our allies in 
the Arab world, and hopefully our allies in the rest of the world, 
including Europe and Asia, can still bring security to the region. It 
can still happen if mainstream, moderate leaders in the Arab world will 
not accommodate themselves out of fear or insecurity to the threats of 
the fanatical elements within the region but will stand up with our 
strong support and assert that the only way to achieve a better future 
for the Palestinian people and, in fact, for all the people in the 
Middle East, is to come together for the good people, to come together 
behind the rule of law against fanaticism, against solving problems 
with violence, for more human rights, for more democracy, for the kind 
of open economies that allow people to raise up their standard of 
living and deprive terrorists of the conditions they exploit for 
violent and suicidal purposes. Together, we can bring such a result to 
the region.
  This week, President Bush has two very important meetings: One with 
King Mohamed VI of Morocco, the other with Crown Prince Abdullah of 
Saudi Arabia. These are opportunities not only to develop the hopes 
expressed in the Saudi peace proposal for mutual recognition of Israel 
by the Arab world, but to make clear to our allies in the Arab world 
and countries like Saudi Arabia and Morocco how critically important 
their own moral clarity in this moment of crisis is; that we need them 
to stand with us for a peaceful path to Palestinian statehood and a 
better life for all the people of their region.
  Ultimately, that only comes with more human rights for their citizens 
and a more open economic society with more opportunity. Together we can 
create conditions for a just and lasting peace, a peaceful and 
sovereign Palestine alongside a peaceful and secure Israel. It is time 
for the humane, law-abiding forces within the Middle East and those 
outside to come together and defeat the cancer of terrorism that now 
eats away at that region and the world.
  The United States must stand with our ally, Israel, sharing values 
and hopes for peace as we do, as she attempts to defeat and protect her 
citizens from acts of terrorism. That is the message we send with the 
resolution we are submitting today. I hope an overwhelming majority of 
my colleagues will join Senator Smith and me, Senator Daschle and, I 
hope, Senator Lott, in cosponsoring this resolution.

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