[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 12, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1295-E1296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REAFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT OF ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN 
                                CONFLICT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 6, 2011

  Mr. MARKEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to express my support for House 
Resolution 268, which reaffirms the United States' longstanding policy 
of support for Israel and a fair, negotiated conclusion to the ongoing 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This resolution clearly describes the 
final outcome that the United States has envisioned for so long: two 
democratic states--one Israeli, one Palestinian--living side-by-side in 
peace, security, and mutual recognition.
  Attempts by the Palestinians to circumvent direct negotiations 
between the two nations, most recently through attempts to hold a U.N. 
vote on Palestinian statehood, have greatly undermined the peace 
process. The United States must continue to oppose such one-sided 
attempts and work to ensure that the final peace settlement is reached 
through fair negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
  The resolution also confirms the United States' refusal to recognize 
any Palestinian government that has not publicly and formally renounced 
terrorism. This declaration is especially important in the wake of the 
recent union of the Fatah and Hamas factions, the latter of which the 
United States and the European Union deem a terrorist organization. 
Peace talks cannot continue until Palestinian leaders dismantle all 
terrorist infrastructure embodied within Hamas, take all necessary 
steps to counter incitements to violence, and accept

[[Page E1296]]

Israel's right to exist. This position is in keeping with current 
American policy, including statutory requirements for U.S. funding to 
the Palestinian Authority.
  I believe strongly in the need to protect the lives of innocent 
civilians on both sides of the conflict, including the need to 
recognize and promptly address the dire humanitarian needs of 
Palestinians living in the Gaza strip. I strongly condemn the actions 
of Hamas, which has embedded its fighters and leaders in private homes 
and mosques as they use Palestinian civilians as human shields, target 
Israeli civilians, and force Israel to take decisive action in the Gaza 
Strip to protect its population living under the daily threat of rocket 
attacks. The United States should continue to pressure Hamas to abandon 
its reckless endangerment of both the Palestinian and the Israeli 
people, and to fully renounce violence so that humanitarian aid to Gaza 
can continue and true peace talks can proceed. It is only through such 
peace talks that the two countries will be able to reach a negotiated 
settlement that will bring peace, security, and stability to the 
Israelis and Palestinians.

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