[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 163 (Saturday, December 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2589-E2590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PROVIDING THAT HAMAS AND OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD NOT 
         PARTICIPATE IN ELECTIONS HELD BY PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 14, 2005

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H. Res. 575, 
expressing the sense of Congress that Hamas should not participate in 
elections held by the Palestinian Authority.
  Now, many of my colleagues might suggest that my opposition to this 
non-binding resolution means that I stand with the terrorists. I would 
argue that it means exactly the opposite.
  You see, Mr. Speaker, like many of my colleagues, I want to see peace 
between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I want a free and democratic 
Palestinian state to stand side by side with the free and democratic 
Israeli state. And most importantly, I want both states and their 
peoples to be safe and secure.
  For the first time, the Palestinians are engaging in a truly 
democratic process. I would defer to Palestinian Authority President 
Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people on how to do this. Mr. 
Speaker, I have to be honest with you, I do not want foreign leaders 
telling the United States how to conduct our elections and I think we 
owe President Abbas and the Palestinian people the same courtesy.
  In fact, this is one of the rare occasions that I actually agree with 
the Bush Administration. On September 20th, Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice said in response to a question regarding Hamas being a 
part of the election, ``. . . we understand that the Palestinian 
political system is in transition, that it is in transition toward a 
democratic system, and that has to be a Palestinian process.'' 
Secretary Rice went on to say, ``This is going to be a Palestinian 
process and I think we have to give the Palestinians some room for the 
evolution of their political system.''
  We need to vest Hamas in the democratic process.
  I want to be clear, Mr. Speaker, terrorism is wrong and it should not 
be tolerated.
  However, if Hamas is brought into the process and given the 
opportunity to run for political office and become part of the 
political establishment, they will assume responsibility for 
governance--leading to moderation.
  I would submit for the Record a statement by Debra DeLee, President 
and CEO of Americans for Peace Now. Ms. DeLee nicely lays out the 
position that Palestinian Authority President Abbas is in and why it is 
important for the elections to go forward in a way that is inclusive in 
order to moderate those who traditionally turned to terrorism.
  Mr. Speaker, I find myself in the interesting position of voting 
against this resolution and agreeing with Secretary Rice: the United 
States must let the Palestinians find their way to a democratic state.

                       The Sharonization of Hamas

                            (By Debra DeLee)

       Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent statement that 
     he would withhold Israeli cooperation from Palestinian 
     legislative elections in January if Hamas candidates take 
     part flies in the face of his own experience with the 
     moderating influence that holding public responsibility can 
     have on extremist views. In explaining his 180 degree turn 
     from being a strong advocate of Israeli settlements in Gaza 
     to the driving force behind their evacuation, Sharon has 
     repeatedly observed that, ``what you see from here [in the 
     Prime Minister's Office], you don't see from there.'' In 
     other words, it was not until he obtained a position of 
     ultimate responsibility for Israel that Sharon began to 
     recognize the burden that the Gaza settlements imposed on the 
     state.
       There is no equivalence between the horrific terrorist acts 
     that Hamas has inflicted on Israelis and Sharon's passion for 
     settlement expansion.
       Yet it's clear that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is 
     trying to rein in his Islamist opposition through the process 
     of Sharonization (i.e., co-opting the militants by 
     encouraging them to run for public office and to assume 
     responsibility for governance, in the hope that this process 
     will lead to their moderation. )
       In an ideal world, Abbas would decide to round up 
     Palestinian terrorists, place a call to his Interior 
     Minister, then sit back to watch the thugs put in prison 
     or die in attempting to evade arrest. But we do not live 
     in an ideal world. While Abbas deplores terrorism, he 
     wants to avoid a Palestinian civil war. And even if he was 
     willing to launch one, with Abbas already struggling to 
     control events on the ground, it's doubtful that the 
     troops at his disposal would win.
       Further, if defeating Palestinian terrorists with force 
     alone was so easy, Israel would have done it long ago. 
     Israel's military might has been vigorously applied to the 
     occupied territories for nearly 40 years. It's chalked up 
     some impressive tactical victories. But it has not succeeded 
     in drying out the swamp of terror. Hamas and its fellow 
     travelers are still around, which is why Sharon is busy 
     encouraging Abbas to fight them.
       Abbas deserves a chance to see if his way will work better, 
     with the caveat that he must be prepared after the 
     Palestinian legislative elections to forcefully confront 
     those individuals who continue to engage in terror. It is in 
     Israel's interest to see that Abbas is fortified with 
     development aid and encouraged to carry out internal reforms, 
     as well as to ensure that the Palestinian security forces 
     loyal to him are strengthened in order for him to be able to 
     carry out this task.
       It is also in Israel's interest to ensure that these 
     upcoming elections go as smoothly as possible. With its 
     departure from Gaza, Israel will not be able to impede the 
     contests in that region. But it could decide--as Sharon has 
     said--to make it impossible for Palestinian voters in East 
     Jerusalem to cast ballots or for candidates, campaign 
     workers, and voters to move from town to town in the West 
     Bank. If such Israeli impediments are put in place, they 
     would delegitimize any victory that secular nationalist 
     candidates might achieve over Hamas candidates, thereby 
     strengthening the hand of the very terrorists that Israel 
     seeks to weaken. They would also shatter the calm that 
     allowed Israel to withdraw quietly from Gaza.
       If the Bush Administration has been less than enthusiastic 
     about Sharon's views of the Palestinian elections, it's 
     because the White House has been pursuing the Sharonization 
     of militants operating in areas under American control. 
     Kurdish and Shiite militias have not been forced to disband 
     in Iraq, yet that hasn't stopped representatives of those 
     groups from running in elections and winning top positions in 
     the current government. If the U.S. demanded that the armed 
     supporters of these candidates lay down their weapons before 
     their leaders could assume power, it must have done so in a 
     whisper.
       Hamas candidates did well in two earlier rounds of 
     municipal elections. Lo and behold, they have found it 
     necessary to work with Israelis at the local level in order 
     to deal with mundane issues like sewage and water. And their 
     Israeli counterparts have been willing to talk to them. This 
     kind of practical contact is a long way from having 
     terrorists beat their spears into pruning hooks, but perhaps 
     it points to a way forward.
       The Bush Administration should encourage Sharon to let 
     Abbas see if he can duplicate this process at the national 
     level of Palestinian politics. If It succeeds, Israel will be 
     more secure, and Palestinian society will be more stable. If 
     it fails, Israel will still have ample military strength upon 
     which it can rely.

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