[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 27, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H4666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HAMAS-LED PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

  (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, more and more information is emerging that 
this week's kidnapping of an Israeli soldier and the killing of two 
others was a Hamas plot from day one. Several newspapers are reporting 
that the attack and kidnapping were carried out by Ahmed Jaabari, the 
commander of the Hamas military wing who takes his orders from Khaled 
Mashal, the senior Hamas leader based in Damascus, Syria.
  According to the Associated Press, two senior aids to Palestinian 
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that Mashal gave the green light 
for the operation. This is a stinging indictment of the Syrian regime's 
participation in global terror and a brutal reminder about Hamas.
  I and others have called the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority a 
terrorist organization. Congress recently passed a bill banning any 
assistance to the Palestinian Authority until it ends terror, 
recognizes Israel, and abides by all agreements signed by the 
Palestinian Authority. But most of all, with this terrorist attack, 
Hamas has once again shown its true stripes. It remains the murderous 
terrorist group which carried out scores of suicide bombings in the 
1990s.
  Our U.S. Ambassador Jones said yesterday, ``The problem is in 
Damascus and that is where we should focus the world's attention.'' 
This is the key point. The Syrian Government continues to play host to 
a range of terrorist groups, including Hamas. And now, one of the 
outlaws in Damascus has kidnapped an Israeli soldier.
  As the author of the Syria Accountability Act and Lebanese 
Sovereignty Restoration Act, I demand that the government of Syria 
close the terrorist bases in its country and bring the murderer Khaled 
Mashal to justice. And I ask President Bush to impose the remaining 
sanctions of the Syria Accountability Act which it has not yet imposed.

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