[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 94 (Tuesday, July 18, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, today, again, the newspapers of our country 
tell the story of more organized killings, more death, more carnage, 
more bombings, more escalating violence in the Middle East.
  There are photos in this newspaper of fathers and relatives crying in 
Lebanon, and below it, young people crying in Haifa, in Israel. We all 
read these stories and we say, why cannot the killing stop? I as just 
one Member of this Congress am very proud to represent a community that 
knows what it will take for the killing to stop.
  Toledo, Ohio, in fact, was the first community in the United States 
of America to elect a mayor who was of American Lebanese heritage, 
Michael Damas, who is no longer living. You know, I am so proud of the 
people of my community.
  Today they came to our office in Toledo and they said, Congresswoman, 
we have a statement that we would like you to consider. And I thought 
it was so thoughtful and even-handed that I wanted to read it to the 
American people tonight. They asked, of course, that Americans who are 
in Lebanon be removed safely, and they asked us to urge the President 
of our country to move them out quickly.
  But then they wrote, ``We the American Lebanese Descent Community of 
Toledo request that the war and the bombing be suspended and our U.S. 
Government pursue peace and save lives in the region: Americans, 
Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese and others. It is a simple statement. 
But I think it is a much more judicious statement than the President of 
our country made as part of the G-8 summit the other day when using a 
vulgarity. The President said at one point that Syria should get 
Hezbollah to stop its attacks on Israel.
  His statement was not even-handed, it was not comprehensive, it did 
not talk about peace, it did not recognize the legitimate interests of 
the people of this country, the people of Israel, the people of 
Lebanon, the people of a future Palestinian.
  His statement did not talk about limiting carnage, and the 
retribution that characterizes the deteriorating situation in Lebanon 
and in adjoining countries. I am very proud of the people of the 
greater Toledo area for understanding what it is going to take to 
create peace and to initiate peace.
  I am very proud to sponsor today as well, a resolution submitted by 
Congressman Kucinich of Cleveland that reads as follows. It calls upon 
our President to appeal to all sides in the current crisis in the 
Middle East for an immediate cessation of violence and to commit the 
United States and our diplomats to multiparty negotiations with no 
preconditions.
  And it calls upon the President to appeal to all of those sides, as 
the people in my community have done, for an immediate cessation of 
violence. Would it have not been great if President Bush, like 
President Reagan had done with Menachem Began when he served as Prime 
Minister of Israel, and asked for an immediate cessation of violence? 
That did not happen with President Bush.
  This resolution of Mr. Kucinich would commit the United States and 
our diplomatic efforts to multiparty negotiations without precondition. 
It would send high-level diplomatic missions to the region to 
facilitate such multiparty negotiations, and would include 
representatives from the Governments of Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, 
Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and it would support an 
international peacekeeping mission to southern Lebanon to prevent 
cross-border skirmishes during such multiparty negotiations.
  Does that not sound like a much healthier way for the world to move? 
There will be many resolutions offered here this week. And I ask 
myself, will they be as judicious as the people of our community? Will 
they be as full-bodied? Will they be as even-handed? Will they have a 
peace process envisioned at the end of this horrible, horrible road?
  Will they recognize the legitimate interests of all parties 
concerned? And will they seek to limit carnage, or will those 
resolutions continue to engender hate and further retribution?
  Mr. Speaker, this is a critical time for the world, not just for our 
country, but for so many fragile nations who really need the time to 
heal and the time to let democracy develop.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope, with those peace-loving people of our community 
that peace is just ahead.

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