[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4794-4801]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SUPPORTING ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Akin). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Speaker for recognizing me and 
want to immediately recognize my friend from Florida (Mr. Deutsch). We 
are doing this hour on a bipartisan basis tonight. The subject will 
continue as it did the past hour on our support for Israel's right to 
defend itself.
  With that, let me yield to me friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Deutsch).
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, again, I appreciate this. I know in the 
last hour several additional colleagues have joined us, and I look 
forward to hearing from them over the next hour.
  One colleague who has been very patient is one of the most 
knowledgeable Members in the Congress on the Mideast, again someone who 
has been active in Middle Eastern issues and concern far before he 
entered the Congress, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner).
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. Weiner).
  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida 
and the gentleman from Georgia for once again organizing this.
  There is a period of time between the commemoration of the 
anniversary of the Holocaust and this period where we commemorate this 
evening the birth of the State of Israel, and those two things, of 
course, are inextricably linked. We have heard over the course of the 
last hour an extraordinarily well-detailed, particularly by my friend 
from New Jersey, a detailed history of the last 44 years.
  I would like to spend just a moment talking about some of the ways 
we, in our rush for the 24-hour news cycle, our rush to try to 
understand things in 2-minute blurbs, have drawn many of the wrong 
conclusions about events going on today in the Middle East.
  One of the things that is frequently pointed to as a source of the 
problem that we currently face in the Middle East, people have pointed 
to the current leadership of Israel, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, 
and said it is his intransigence that has led to the explosion of 
violence.
  Well, to say that ignores the fact that in fact this intifada began 
shortly after Camp David II, on September 29, 2000, a good 4 months 
before Sharon would even take office. Prime Minister Barak, the person 
who was at Camp David who had made the extraordinary concessions that 
we have heard about this evening, it was he, perhaps the most flexible, 
some in Israel almost say too flexible, leader of Israel, that was in 
power at the time that this explosion of violence began.
  Second of all, the notion that Ariel Sharon's government and the 
people of Israel are not willing to enter into an agreement to end the 
violence is not true. The Mitchell Plan, which was a very long period 
of time headed up by former Senator Mitchell, included very difficult 
concessions for Israel, including things such as they had to withdraw 
from settlements.
  Israel has accepted it. It is the Palestinians that have said they 
will not. Why will they not? Because the first element of the Mitchell 
Plan is there has to be a cessation of violence and then a cooling off 
period, a reasonable first step toward any peace plan. It is the 
Palestinians that have rejected it.
  Then came the Tenet Plan, where the CIA Director went there to try to 
negotiate steps again to cool down the violence. It was Israel who said 
we will agree to the Tenet Plan. We will agree to loosen up the 
restrictions at the border crossings, to allow commerce to

[[Page 4795]]

move more freely, if the Palestinians agree to stop the terrorism. 
Again, it was Israel who accepted and it was the Palestinians who said 
no.
  So this idea that the present Government of Israel has been 
inflexible, intransigent, and that is what has led to the violence, is 
simply not.
  Second of all, there have been some terrible images on television 
about the events that have gone on in the Middle East and the efforts 
by the Israelis to crack down on terrorism.
  I would say at the outset, Mr. Speaker, no war is civilized. Whenever 
you are engaged in a war, it is going to produce some unwanted 
fatalities; it is going to produce some images that are most troubling, 
particularly to those of us in a peace-loving nation.
  But unlike the way other wars have been prosecuted, unlike the way 
we, for example, in Afghanistan waged the war at Tora Bora, from the 
safety of the skies, if you look at how the Russians waged war against 
Grozny, where there is not even a single building left standing in 
Grozny now, Israel made a different and arguably the most compassionate 
decision they could that they were going to go into places like 
Ramallah, go door by door, house by house, looking for people who had 
made it their business to go into discoteques and to go into Passover 
seders with human bombs laced with nails and ball bearings and blow 
innocent civilians up.
  And what has been the result? Some people say why Ramallah? What is 
it about that town that has made it the subject of these house-by-house 
searches?
  There have been 35 terrorist attacks originating from that city alone 
in the last 18 months; 417 Tanzim, all elements of the Fatah movement 
controlled by Yasser Arafat, these are the people he has on the speed 
dial of his phone, have been operating out of Ramallah.
  This is a place where two IDF reserve soldiers in October of 2000 who 
accidently took a wrong turn, and, just so you understand, these are 
reserve soldiers, these are 18- and 19-year-old boys, who were serving 
their mandatory service in the military, took a wrong turn and were 
lynched and hung from a Ramallah police station that Israeli dollars 
paid to build.
  All of these things went oncoming from Ramallah. The Jerusalem cafe 
attack that killed 11 people and wounded 50 took place in Ramallah. 
Well, door to door the Israelis have been going, trying to find those 
that would do harm to their people.
  I would read a quote from Secretary Rumsfeld talking about the 
necessity to sometimes go and get terrorists before they come and get 
your people. This is what he said on February 4, 2002:
  ``We have no choice. It is physically impossible to defend at every 
time, in every location, against every conceivable technique of 
terrorism. Therefore, if your goal is to stop terrorism, you cannot 
stop it just by defense. You can only stop it by taking the battle to 
the terrorists where they are and going after them.''
  I would argue, Mr. Speaker, that it is the Israelis that are the 
foremost practitioners today of that, the Bush Doctrine.
  Finally, there have been perhaps some very troubling images of 
violence taking place around the Church of the Nativity, the birthplace 
of Jesus Christ. I have to say something very honestly. If there were 
Israelis inside that church surrounded by Palestinian suicide bombers, 
there would not be a moment of hesitation on the part of the 
Palestinians to go in, regardless of the destruction to the church.
  Not the case with the Israelis. And if you question what I say, 
Joseph's Tomb, a historic and important monument of the Jewish people, 
destroyed in October of 2000. An ancient synagogue in Jericho, torn to 
the ground also in October of 2000. You did not hear the type of 
protestations we hear now.
  Yet what are the Israelis doing? Day in, day out, soldiers, sometimes 
in the pouring rain, encircling the Church of the Nativity, trying not 
to do any harm to that location. In the meantime, the terrorists are 
within. The Israelis are waiting, and they are going to continue to 
wait until they emerge.
  Finally, let me conclude the way I began, and I thank the gentleman 
from Georgia and the gentleman from Florida once again. There is an 
inextricable link between the history of Israel, the history of the 
Jewish people, and their birth as a state.
  On Saturday, April 13 in the New York Times, a gentleman named Daniel 
Gordis wrote about what it is like to live in Israel right now and what 
it is like to be celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut, which is the Hebrew word 
for the commemoration of the birth of Israel, and Yom HaShoah, which is 
the commemoration of the HaShoah.

                              {time}  2045

  And he concludes his article, and I would like to quote, and I will 
insert the entire article in the Record. ``On Tuesday night, my 12-
year-old son, Avi, told me about a Yom Hashoah class discussion about 
whether the Holocaust could happen again, a session he said he found 
stupid. Why, I asked? Because, we have a strong Army, he answered. 
America is our friend, and look out there now. We take care of 
ourselves.''
  ``The next morning I watched him head off on his bike to school with 
pride, security and confidence. That is a lot more than Jewish kids in 
Europe had a few decades ago, a lot more than some Jewish kids have in 
Europe this week. That is why we need this country. That is why we will 
fight to keep it.''

                [From the New York Times, Apr. 13, 2002]

                             Needing Israel

                           (By Daniel Gordis)

       Tuesday was Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, an 
     agonizing day. In the afternoon, at work, we gathered in a 
     circle while some colleagues quietly read the names of 
     relatives who had been exterminated by the Nazis. Some had 
     long lists; one even brought pictures. During the ceremony, 
     word spread that a group of Israeli Defense Force soldiers--
     13, it would turn out--had been killed in an ambush in Jenin. 
     Another, in Nablus, fell to friendly fire.
       It is hard to describe what 14 soldiers means in this small 
     country. People make frantic calls to find out where their 
     husbands and fathers are. Then the hourly news announces to 
     the entire country the location and time of each funeral. At 
     such moments it feels that living here makes one part of an 
     extended family. No one in that family wants this war. But 
     very few people here think we can do without it. Israelis 
     understand why we're fighting. We also know why our soldiers 
     are dying. There are significant pockets of armed resistance 
     in the Jenin camp, but there are also lots of civilians. So 
     we can't just bomb from the skies. We send soldiers house to 
     house, only to watch as Hamas fighters use those same 
     civilians as shields. On Tuesday we paid a heavy price.
       We had 14 funerals because we won't fight this war the way 
     the Russians fought in Grozny or the way the United States 
     fought in Afghanistan--from the safety of the skies. Hardly a 
     building in Grozny was spared in the bombing; the Russians 
     knew the price they'd pay if they tried to fight on the 
     street. If Israel hit a hospital from the skies the way that 
     the Americans did not too long ago in Afghanistan, just 
     imagine the world's reaction.
       Palestinians say we won't let their ambulances in Jenin. 
     Yet two weeks ago Israeli soldiers stopped a Palestinian 
     ambulance with a child in the back on a stretcher, and under 
     him soldiers found an explosive belt. Palestinians say that 
     we're not letting them clear their dead from the streets. The 
     Israeli Army claims that's a lie, that the Palestinians are 
     leaving the bodies there intentionally for good footage on 
     CNN. Who's telling the truth? I don't know.
       Last week, when the siege around the Church of the Nativity 
     began, many Israelis understood why we couldn't just shoot 
     our way in, but the frustration was palpable. If it had been 
     Israelis in a church, or a synagogue, and Palestinians on the 
     outside, how long would the siege have lasted? Everyone here 
     knows the answer. When the Palestinians burned down the 
     synagogue at Joseph's tomb in October 2000, the Vatican 
     didn't speak up. When they later destroyed an ancient 
     synagogue near Jericho, European liberals didn't lose sleep.
       The siege outside the church began in foul weather. 
     According to reports on Israeli radio, some soldiers stood 
     for hours in the driving rain, making sure that none of the 
     armed Palestinians inside would escape. All that afternoon, 
     the residents of Bethlehem pointed at the rain and shouted: 
     ``Get out of here. We hate you. The world hates you. And 
     look, even the heavens hate you.''
       Maybe the world does hate us for having the audacity to 
     protect ourselves, for meaning it when we say ``never 
     again.'' Maybe the world is secretly delighted that no war 
     can

[[Page 4796]]

     be made to look civilized, so the Europeans and the 
     Palestinians can point their fingers at us and say, ``See, 
     they do it, too.'' Then maybe what they did won't seem so 
     horrific, so unforgivable.
       One thing important to Jews is remembering. We won't forget 
     the 20th century and the world's complicity, and when we 
     recall this week, in which we buried 14 of our sons, 
     brothers, husbands and fathers who didn't have to die except 
     for our decision to do this fighting the hard way, we'll 
     remember the world's double standard.
       On Tuesday night, my 12-year-old son, Avi, told me about a 
     Yom Hashoah class discussion about whether the Holocaust 
     could happen again--a session he said he found ``stupid.'' 
     Why? I asked. ``Because we have a strong army,'' he answered, 
     ``America is our friend, and look out there now--we take care 
     of ourselves.''
       The next morning I watched him head off on his bike to 
     school, with pride, security and confidence. That's a lot 
     more than Jewish kids in Europe had a few decades ago. It's a 
     lot more than some Jewish kids have in Europe this week. It's 
     why we need this country. And it's why we'll fight to keep 
     it.
       ``We have no choice. . . . It is physically impossible to 
     defend at every time in every location against every 
     conceivable technique of terrorism. Therefore, if your goal 
     is to stop [terrorism], you cannot stop it just by defense. 
     You can only stop it by taking the battle to the terrorists 
     where they are and going after them.''--U.S. Secretary of 
     Defense Donald Rumsfeld, February 4, 2002.

  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, in this great House, we have always stood 
shoulder to shoulder from all parts of this country, Democrat and 
Republican alike, strongly allied with the democracy in the Middle 
East, Israel, and with God's good graces, I hope we stand with her for 
at least another 44 years.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I know I had chills up my spine as the 
gentleman was speaking, he spoke so forcefully on the issue.
  I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia, but knowing that he is 
going to introduce the gentleman from Florida, I would say of the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), I think he stands almost 
alone in this Chamber, but clearly in a unique position, as someone who 
is incredibly insightful about world events and incredibly insightful 
about the evil that exists in the world, incredibly insightful about 
what can be done to fight that evil, and, in fact, has unfortunate 
personal knowledge of it because of his background and his family's 
background. He has traveled to Israel with me on at least 1 occasion, 
and I have seen his personal involvement, his personal connection to 
the struggle of the people of Israel. I am just very proud that he is 
with us this evening on this Special Order.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with those comments. The 
gentleman from Florida has been a true human rights leader, not just 
for his part of the globe, but for the entire world.
  Before I yield the floor to him, though, I wanted to say something 
about what the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) was saying in terms 
of the little boy on the bicycle leaving with pride that Israelis could 
defend themselves and having so much more spirit than maybe generations 
before him on another continent.
  When I was in Jerusalem several years ago going through the Holocaust 
Museum, certainly, one cannot go through a Holocaust Museum without 
having some emotional twisting in your stomach, in your heart, and just 
kind of a cascade of different thoughts go through your mind, but one 
of the more optimistic things that I saw was actually at the end of the 
Museum, there were some soldiers who were going through the museum.
  It happened that most of these soldiers were Israeli soldiers who 
were women. As the gentleman from Florida knows, they are armed most of 
the time, and it is almost a militia in that everybody is in the Army 
at some point in their lives. These young women were walking around in 
the museum, very casually, very focused on the museum, yet they all had 
strapped to them M-16s. I thought, that is a very symbolic message for 
anybody going through the museum, that it is the intention of modern 
day Israel to never let that sort of thing happen to them again.
  So as we as America look at the things in the Middle East, perhaps we 
do not appreciate the fervency which the Israelis have in terms of 
fighting for their independence here on Independence Day of their 
continued statehood because they have been through so much to get 
there. They cannot retreat at this point. I wanted to make that point 
based on what the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) had said.
  Now, having taken up some of the time of the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Diaz-Balart), I wanted to ask the gentleman to do something that 
he never does here, and that is to tell us a little bit about his 
personal past. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch) has touched on 
it, but I think that it qualifies the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-
Balart) to speak on the subject based on the gentleman's family 
situation. If the gentleman does not mind revealing some of that to us, 
I think it would be very helpful.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia, and 
also my good friend from south Florida. It is a privilege for me, and I 
consider it a true honor, to be here this evening in solidarity with 
Israel.
  I have been an admirer for many years of the Jewish people. The 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) pointed out and talked a little 
bit about my background. My family had to leave the country that I was 
born in, Cuba, where I am in the fourth generation of, in this 
instance, Cuban American, fourth generation in our family of public 
service which began in Cuba when my great grandfather and his brothers 
began fighting for independence there. And then my grandfather, after 
independence, became a lawyer. He was a country lawyer in eastern Cuba 
and was the lawyer for the Jewish community in Banas, in eastern Cuba.
  There was a very vibrant Jewish community in Cuba before the arrival 
of communism, a very vibrant, growing, prosperous, hard-working, 
honorable Jewish community in Cuba. Many of them are in south Florida 
today, and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch) and I have the 
privilege of knowing them and working with them and really the honor of 
their friendship.
  What always amazed me about the Jewish people, having lost the 
country of my birth to totalitarianism, and having lived and seen my 
country of birth live through 43 years of totalitarianism, and as a 
child, having been in exile, a refugee from that totalitarianism, and 
having seen what 43 years means in the life of human beings; 43 years 
in the life of a human being, in the life of a family, are many years.
  Obviously, in the life of a people, 43 years are but a point of 
reference. But having seen that the Jewish people were forced out of 
their homeland and that somehow, due to an extraordinary and admirable 
love of their country and their nationality and their families and 
their traditions and their origins and their customs and their 
religion, and much faith and, above all else, perseverance, 
perseverance, the Jewish people managed to remain a people, to survive 
during 1,800 years of exile, and then to finally, after 1,800 years of 
exile, to be able to return to their homeland and establish a modern-
day nation state, that is something that I have always been in awe of 
and I admire deeply.
  So tonight, we stand here in this great Congress saluting the people 
of Israel on the 54th anniversary of the establishment of their 
modernization State after 1,800 years of exile. And after the 1,800 
years of exile, when the Jewish people were able to return to their 
homeland and establish the modern State of Israel, the reality of the 
matter is that there has been too much violence and war and suffering 
and pain that the Jewish people have had to suffer, and we see it to 
this day.
  So this evening, not only do I consider it an honor to be here 
saluting and a privilege to be here saluting Israel because of and in 
commemoration of her 54th anniversary as a modernization State, but 
also I stand tonight in solidarity with the Jewish people, their right 
to live freely, their right to live as an independent, sovereign, 
democratic state, and their right to live in peace. So my hopes and

[[Page 4797]]

my prayers go out to the Jewish people with a fervent wish for peace 
and also with a fervent statement of solidarity and support.
  One of the reasons why I have found it such an honor to be a Member 
of this Congress for the last 10 years is that one of the issues that 
join us, one of the issues that unite us, whether we are Republicans or 
Democrats or conservatives or liberals, is our support for that friend 
of the United States, that democracy in the Middle East that is facing 
so many challenges, perhaps more challenges now than ever before, in 
some ways. So I respect the decisions of the sovereign democratic state 
of Israel. I, as a Member of this Congress, support and will continue 
to support Israel, and that, above all else, obviously in addition to 
my expression of solidarity and admiration for the Jewish people and 
for Israel, is what I wanted to do this evening.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, we thank the gentleman for sharing that 
very personal, very, very credible testimony.
  Mr. Speaker, our next speaker is a gentleman, and we have had a good 
mix of people tonight. We have had Jewish, Christian, Democrats, 
Republicans; we have had Members that are Cuban Americans originally, 
and now we have a gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), who actually 
represents a district that does not have a single synagogue in it, and 
yet he stands 100 percent behind Israel's right to defend herself. I 
think it is just important that as we look at this, there are a lot of 
other Members in this 435-person body who have the same sentiments that 
those of us who have been here tonight have been expressing, and yet, 
for one reason or another, they are not with us tonight physically, but 
they certainly are with us in spirit. It is a great representative 
sampling.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I would point 
out that we literally, across the country, we have had Members 
throughout America today speak from the heart about what their 
connection and their hopes and their prayers are this evening.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I 
thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) and the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Deutsch) for putting this Special Order together.
  As the gentleman from Georgia shared, I am a Christian, a 
conservative, and a Republican, in that order. My faith trumps my 
philosophy, and my philosophy trumps my partisanship, and it is from my 
faith and from my philosophy, as it is I believe for many Christian 
Americans, that I believe a passion to this issue. Not just during the 
present impasse have I been an advocate for Israel, but for many, many 
years in and out of public life in central Indiana, I have, Mr. 
Speaker, been an advocate of the dream that is Israel.

                              {time}  2100

  And it is a dream. I scarcely let a day go by that I do not pray for 
the peace of Jerusalem. I pray for security within her citadels, not 
just for the Jewish people there, but for the people of every race and 
every creed who convene there.
  But when I say that Israel is a dream, I do not say that lightly, Mr. 
Speaker. Today, if I am pronouncing it right, we celebrate Israel's 
Independence Day, Yom HaAtzmaut. It is the 54th anniversary of an 
extraordinary occasion in human history.
  It was an occasion when, while it was done under the rubric of the 
United Nations and under the color of international understandings, let 
there be no mistaking it, the people of the United States of America, 
by their beneficence and good will toward a people, 6 million of whom 
had been slaughtered by the Nazis in Central Europe, chose to use their 
power in the world to replace this displaced people in their historic 
homeland.
  Never before, Mr. Speaker, does history record an occasion where a 
nation was born in a day until, in 1948, Israel, largely through the 
generosity of the people of the United States of America, was born. And 
it was in every sense a dream. It was a dream, as the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), just shared, a dream of some 1,800 years of 
a people that never gave up on a vision, that never gave up on the idea 
of returning home.
  So as we think of the reasons why the United States of America should 
stand with Israel, Mr. Speaker, it begins with the fact that America 
established Israel in 1948 in her homeland. More than any other Nation, 
she is our ally. She is our friend in so many ways. We are the mentor, 
she is the mentee.
  We entered into a partnership with Israel in 1948 which, Mr. Speaker, 
at the risk of becoming passionate and emotional, a partnership that 
could never be described as America becoming an honest broker, sliding 
to the middle of the table. From 1948 forward, America had one place at 
the table, and it was standing like a protector and a provider over the 
right shoulder of Israel.
  So we stand with her because we were there in the beginning. We stand 
with her because she is our ally. But we also stand with Israel today 
because she is in trouble. She is beleaguered. Eighteen months of 
random violence since the Intifada began in the year 2000, and 400 
citizens killed, thousands injured, millions distressed. Israel is 
ground zero in the war on terrorism. What better time to define the 
metes and bounds of our relationship and our alliance than when our 
friend is in her darkest hour?
  I have been grieved, Mr. Speaker, by the ambiguity of U.S. policy, 
particularly during recent days. It seems to me America should stand, 
as we do, astride the world as the lone superpower, with our arms 
quietly folded, with a tear in our eye for the suffering of all of the 
people of the region, but we should stand quietly while our friend does 
what needs to be done to end the murdering in their own streets.
  So America should stand with Israel because she is our ally from her 
beginning, and because she is distressed; also, because she is the only 
democracy in the Middle East. I have this idea, Mr. Speaker, that the 
people of the Middle East, as Prince Hassan of Jordan describes it, the 
people who live in the arc of crisis from India to the West Coast of 
Africa, are a people capable of democracy and self-government and civil 
liberties.
  I believe in that dream. And Israel, as she did in 1948, rose out of 
the dust of the Middle East and established that the dream of democracy 
born on our shores in 1776 is not an American dream, it is a dream of 
all peoples of the world. With this, I close and yield back to more 
eloquent colleagues.
  As I said in the beginning, Mr. Speaker, I come from a Christian and 
a conservative perspective, and I believe that our administration and 
the leaders of our government would do well to reflect, yes, on the 
passion of elected leaders from the Jewish community at all levels of 
government in America, but let them also reflect on the people of 
Christian faith in America who cherish the dream of Israel, as the 
Bible says, as the apple of God's eye.
  Because I believe it was from the hearts of people in the heartland 
of America, places like the little buckboard churches that dot the 
landscape of my eastern Indiana district, it is the people that fill up 
those churches on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night 
who give me, as I travel my district, time after time standing ovations 
when I say America must have one position, and that is to stand with 
Israel, unambiguously.
  And it is those people who believe in that simple principle, that 
part of our prosperity, part of our own destiny, is tied up in the 
belief that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, whoever curses 
Israel will be cursed. Let it ever be that our government expresses the 
love that believing Christian Americans have for Israel, that believing 
Jewish Americans have for Israel. Let this American government always 
stand for that dream and that passion.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman for those passionate, very good, 
very clear words and that good message. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch).
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. This 
has been an evening where we have tried to

[[Page 4798]]

elaborate on a couple of different themes.
  From a historical perspective, this is Israel's Independence Day, but 
also we try to share information, both with those viewing and with 
other colleagues.
  I think one of the questions which is a basic question is why are the 
Israelis presently making incursions into towns like Ramallah and 
Bethlehem and Nablus and Jenin.
  I think one of the things, and I put this map back up just, again, to 
give a perspective which many, or in fact most, Americans have, but it 
is a perspective to think about, that the entire state of Israel is 
about the size of New Jersey. In fact, my congressional district, the 
northern border of my district is the Palm Beach County of Florida; the 
southern border of my district is Key West, Florida. In fact, the 
length of my district is longer than the length of the state of Israel.
  The reason I mention that is just the size. If people have been to 
Israel, and especially for the first time, the thing that I think is so 
striking, besides the incredible sense that history is reality, that we 
can be on the steps Jesus walked on, or we can see the wall of the 
temple, or we can see the city of Jericho, and look out where Moses was 
not able to enter the promised land but actually see the mountains, 
besides the historical reality of the sites of the country is the size 
of the country.
  People talk about neighborhoods like Ilo or Pisgot sev as if they are 
far away. They are Jerusalem. Those are neighborhoods that are being 
shot at. Just the country itself, the area between Natana and the West 
Bank is 12 miles. Twelve miles in my district would be the equivalent 
of from the city of Fort Lauderdale to north Miami Beach, from Fort 
Lauderdale to Dade, distances which people of south Florida can 
appreciate how small they are.
  But again, why did Israel make those incursions? They made those 
incursions really because of the chart on the left, and also I am going 
to change charts and add an additional chart which we had showed 
earlier. What Israel's people had suffered, not just over the last 18 
months but disproportionately over the last several months, is hard for 
us to comprehend the level, again, based on the size of the country.
  One of the phenomena of 9/11, the attack on the World Trade Center, 
the Pentagon, and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, is most 
Americans in a sense were not just affected, but directly affected. 
Most of us know someone personally that had a tragedy that occurred, 
and we have seen it. We have literally felt it.
  It is hard for us to contemplate what it would mean, again, with the 
comparable numbers of seven 9/11's in America, literally seven 9/11's, 
almost on a daily basis not being able to go to the grocery store or to 
have a celebration, a bar mitzvah or a wedding without an incredible 
concern of a violent attack.
  The suffering, the direct acts of terrorism that Israel had been 
facing, were unprecedented for any nation, for any nation. And can we 
expect any nation to do nothing?
  In the previous special order, I talked about two watershed events 
that occurred as recently as 3 months ago, 12 weeks ago. One was the 
Karine-A, the ship that the Israeli commandoes commandeered, and it had 
over $20 million of sophisticated weapons from Iran that the 
Palestinian Authority bought.
  Now, originally, Chairman Arafat denied any involvement with that 
ship. His only plausible deniability, in a sense, was he was not on the 
ship. But let me be specific. It has been discussed in the public 
domain at this point.
  Both the Americans and the Israelis had direct knowledge of Chairman 
Arafat's personal involvement in the purchase of those weapons. Again, 
as has been discussed in the public domain, Colin Powell called up 
Chairman Arafat and said to him, why did you do this? These weapons 
were not rifles, they were mortars, sophisticated mortars, 
sophisticated weapons. We have seen pictures of them and a listing of 
those weapons.
  Chairman Arafat's response to Colin Powell was, what weapons? What 
ship? I had nothing to do with it. But again, as I said, in the public 
domains, the Israelis and the Americans were aware of what occurred. 
Colin Powell said to him, we are going to show you the evidence. The 
evidence was presented to him. Yet, he then still said, what 
involvement? What ship?
  If we think about that, how could we expect to have any negotiations, 
any relationship, any prospect for a final status with someone who 
outright lies to us when we know that that person is lying? That is 
number one.
  The second incident over the last 12 weeks, which was really a 
watershed incident, was a sniper attack on the Israelis at a 
checkpoint, the Israeli soldiers. About six Israel soldiers were killed 
in a matter of a couple of minutes.
  For anybody who has been in Israel, or just again, the map of the 
small size of Israel, once that occurred, those sniper attacks, those 
sniper rifles could shoot several miles, so with a line of sight in the 
building we are in now, if someone was on the roof of this building 
with a sniper rifle, they could shoot literally, God forbid, someone 
standing in the driveway of the White House over a mile away.
  Now, once that occurred and no one was trying to prevent that, after 
those incidents occurred, the Israeli government decided to go into 
some of these communities and literally go house to house and wall-to-
wall to do what no one else was trying to do: to stop the terrorism 
that was affecting their people and killing their people on almost a 
daily basis. That is exactly what the Israelis were doing; no less, no 
more than America did and America must do in response to the attack on 
us on 9/11.
  I think that is what the previous speaker talked about, the ambiguity 
issue. There is united 100 percent support in the United States of 
America for President Bush's efforts on the war on terrorism, for the 
efforts of the American men and women who are fighting that war in 
Afghanistan. And we are 100 percent, there is no daylight between any 
of the 435 Members of this Chamber on that issue, because we understand 
and we agree completely with the President's assessment of that threat 
to America, and we agree with the assessment of the threat to America 
from Iraq and from Syria, from North Korea, in terms of terrorism and 
weapons of mass destruction.
  We will do everything we can as a society and as a nation to prevent 
those things from happening. We will do anything. I think those people 
understand that, because we have shown that we will do anything.

                              {time}  2115

  There is no question that what is happening in Israel is a level of 
terrorism unprecedented for a country. Can we expect the Israelis to do 
anything less than us? Can we expect them to do anything? Can we ask 
them to do anything less than us? If anything, what we should be doing 
is praising them for those efforts, supporting them for those efforts 
because those acts of terrorism must end.
  Those acts of terrorism, again, I think as has been pointed out by my 
colleagues, are not just acts of terrorism against Israel. Make no 
mistake about it. Those acts of terrorism are not just acts of 
terrorism against Israel. They are acts of terrorism against the United 
States of America, and when a bomb goes off in an Israeli pizzeria, an 
Israeli cafe, an Israeli banquet hall, the perpetrators of that action 
are as much trying to kill civilians in Israel as they are trying to 
destroy the United States of America, and what our actions should be as 
a society and as a country should be to prevent that from happening 
because if we do not prevent it there, I think unfortunately it is only 
a matter of time till it comes here.
  So we are brothers and sisters with the people of Israel in this 
area. We are fighting together this war of terrorism, and we should not 
be trying to stop it. We should be trying to help it for it to come to 
a successful conclusion.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Rothman).
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

[[Page 4799]]

  I want to build on what my colleagues have been talking about for the 
last several minutes. When the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch) 
mentioned that there were the equivalent of seven September 11's in 
Israel in the last 18 months, that is true, but it would be seven 
September 11's, not in a country as big as America, but in a land and a 
State the size of New Jersey, seven September 11's, God forbid, within 
the size of the State of New Jersey.
  By the way, just to remind everybody, look at how the sliver that 
Israel is along the Mediterranean. When we compare it with Egypt and 
Jordan and Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Iran, all over here, Israel's 
infinitesimal. Syria, Turkey, a sliver.
  For the last 54 years, Israel has been America's number one ally in a 
very hostile region. More importantly, Israel has been America's number 
one ally in an extraordinarily strategic region for the United States. 
As I said and as has been referred to before, Israel is America's 
battleship of democracy in a sea of totalitarians, dictators and 
murderous thugs. Saddam Hussein, Syrian dictator, the mullahs, the 
religious councils in Iran who overrule their own democracy, the 
slaughter that goes on by Lebanon which is now occupied by 45,000 
Syrian troops. The world does not say a peep.
  Does America's best friend for the last 54 years, Israel, by the way, 
who has the best voting record at the United Nations in support of the 
United States than any country in the Middle East and all of Europe, 
America's best friend, state of Israel, do they ask America to go fight 
Israel's battle? Have they asked for a single American soldier? No, 
they never have.
  They did not in 1948 when all the surrounding armies invaded Israel. 
They did not in 1967 when all the surrounding Arab armies invaded 
Israel, saying to their people we are going to drive the Jews into the 
sea. They did not in 1973 when all the surrounding armies invaded 
Israel, and they have not asked for it now, despite the seven 9/11s of 
terrorism in the last 18 months alone.
  Israel does not want special treatment. Israel wants to be considered 
like all the other Nations of the world which it is. It certainly has 
all the legitimacy of any other nation in the Middle East. Israel, 
recognized by the United Nations in 1948, all the major countries of 
the world agreeing, the Jewish state shall live. As they agreed Saudi 
Arabia should live in 1932, as Jordan should be created in 1946, as 
they said that Egypt should be recognized in 1922, as Syria recognized 
in 1946, as Iraq recognized in 1923, Iran recognized in 1925 and 
Lebanon recognized in 1943, so too Israel should be and was recognized 
in 1948.
  So Israel's no youngster. It is celebrating its 54th birthday. What 
is left? Why is there still violence?
  Well, the Palestinian people and their leaders, ever since 1947, when 
they were offered half of the State of Israel, with the Jews having the 
other half in 1947, a two-state solution offered by the United Nations 
under U.N. Resolution 181, in 1947, they were offered half of Israel. 
They rejected it, as they rejected Israel's offer of a two-state 
solution in 1967, as they rejected the offer of Israel for a two-state 
solution in the year 2000 at Camp David.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I have Mr. Deutsch's 
chart of some time, and what I thought I would do since it ties in with 
what my colleague is saying, I was going to go down some of these 
dates.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. That would be great, if I could finish my line of 
thought.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, what I would like the gentleman to do is 
as I call these out, maybe underscore and give some of his knowledge.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. That is kind of the gentleman to say. I am going to 
finish my point, which is it breaks my heart, breaks the Israeli's 
people's heart. It would break any person's heart who has any shred of 
decency that the Palestinian leadership has turned down statehood for 
themselves and their people since 1947, offered it in 1947, 1967, and 
2000. Does not it break my colleague's heart, that they condemn their 
own men, women and children to live in statelessness because they do 
not want to live next to the Jewish state recognized by the U.N., 
albeit the tiny little Jewish state in a sea of Arab Nations, Muslim 
Nations and Persian Nations?
  Breaks my heart and so we plead for the Palestinians to get 
themselves a leadership that will, as Egypt did and as Jordan did, say 
they will live in peace with the Israelis for good, as their neighbor 
and they will have their own state and peace, accept as their own state 
that has been offered since 1947, as we say take yes for an answer. The 
Palestinians will never drive America's best friend Israel, will never 
drive the Jewish state into the sea, never.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and I wanted to, 
having grabbed the gentleman from Florida's (Mr. Deutsch) chart a 
second ago, I wanted to go ahead and resubmit this for the Record. As 
maybe as I will read some of these key dates, anything the gentleman 
wants to add, I will go slowly, but I thought it would be good if we 
had it on the comments the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman) was 
making.
  The history of Israel, 1917, the Balfour declaration.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, that is when England said after World War 
I, we want to, just as we are giving Arabia to the Saud family and we 
are giving Jordan to the Hussein family and creating all these 
countries, we think there should be a Jewish homeland in this area of 
the world, which the British owned by virtue of getting it as in the 
spoils of war after World War I, taking it from the Turks.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. If I can just add, I think one of the important things 
to note from an historical basis is that at no time during that 1,800-
year exodus was there not a Jewish presence in the area of Palestine or 
what has become the modern state of Israel.
  Mr. KINGSTON. That is good to point out. 1922, the British divide the 
mandate of Palestine.
  1947, the U.N. passes Resolution 181, the partition plan.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, that is what we were just talking about, 
the 1947 partition plan that the Palestinians and the Arab world 
rejected when Israel would have been divided in half, half Palestinian, 
half Jewish, with Jerusalem as an international city. They rejected it. 
They thought they would just drive the Jews in the sea and have it all.
  Mr. KINGSTON. The 1948, Ben Gurion declares Israeli independence, 
five surrounding Arab nations attack.
  1956, the Sinai campaign.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, by the way, the Sinai campaign refers to 
the fact that in 1967, the surrounding Arab nations went to war with 
Israel again.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I would 
appreciate it.
  This is a copy of a letter that the Israeli troops in some of the 
locations the Palestinian Authority uncovered arjons. These are people 
who are saying these are not accurate documents. I think that is hard 
to believe and not credible at all in terms of where they have been 
found and the authenticity of them. In fact, this particular one I do 
not think is even being challenged at this point in time.
  The reason I think it is significant, tied directly into the comments 
just being made about 1947 is what is Chairman Arafat's goal or the 
goal of the Palestinian authority. Is it peace with Israel or the 
eradication of Israel? I think why this particular letter is so 
significant is that it is a letter to the Arabs who live in Israel.
  Israel is a Jewish state but has a significant population of nonJews 
who are treated as equal citizens with equal rights, but what is 
significant is that this is a letter to the Arabs who live in Israel 
that was circulated amongst the group in Israel, literally calling for 
a war, a violent war within Israel proper today, not in the West Bank, 
not in Gaza.
  So I think that from the perspective of the Israelis and I think the 
real question, this is concrete specific, in

[[Page 4800]]

Arabic to Arabs, what Chairman Arafat's goals are, not an independent 
Palestinian state living side by side with Israel, but literally the 
eradication of the state of Israel.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I think that is a wonderful document that 
demonstrates why for 55 years now, ever since 1947, the Palestinians 
still believe they will destroy Israel and not have to share this with 
Israel, but imagine if it was 55 years after the American revolution 
and people came to war against us for four times. We would say do you 
not get it.
  One last thing, the Church of Nativity is being surrounded by 
Israelis because there are 200 terrorists in there. They have offered 
the Palestinian terrorists in the Church of the Nativity either 
surrender and come to trial with international observers of the trial 
or we will let you go into exile in another country. These Palestinian 
terrorist extremists are so radical they want to rather die or kill 
Israelis or destroy the Church of the Nativity rather than go into 
exile or to seek to go before an international trial.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to also submit for the record an 
editorial written by William Daugherty, who is actually a former CIA 
employee who was one of the Iranian captives in 1979. He lives in 
Savannah, Georgia, works for Armstrong Atlantic State University, but 
he had this letter in the Savannah Morning News, and I thought it was 
very good to remind Americans, and I am going to read a lot of this.
  It is going to take a few minutes, but he was just saying that we are 
focusing on the PLO as anti-Israeli force only and what Dr. Daugherty 
says is, yet they have killed Americans. The first American to be 
killed by a PLO-sponsored group was Shirley Anderson June 17, 1969. 
Since then the PLO groups have murdered more than 60 Americans and 
wounded at least as many. Among the dead were two ambassadors, an 
Olympic athlete, tourists, business persons and students.
  PLO groups under the control of Arafat or his subordinates were the 
Black September, Force 17 and the Palestine Liberation Front. Black 
September was especially close to Arafat, existing as a front for 
Arafat's own mainstream Fatah, led by one of his closest lieutenants.
  Then in this letter, I will not read all the umbrella groups that the 
PLO, as an umbrella group for a number of different so-called 
liberation groups, but the Palestinians on one occasion resorted to 
contracting out terrorists attacks, notably when three members of the 
Japanese Red Army under the auspices of the PFLP carried out a deadly 
assault in the arrival area of Lod Airport outside Tel Aviv; 26 were 
killed and 78 wounded, the citizens of America being the majority.

                              {time}  2130

  ``Americans were murdered in numerous other ways by PLO members. 
Eight were killed when their Swissair jet was blown up en route to Tel 
Aviv; others died in bus and car bombings or were shot. Especially 
shocking were the ax-murder of a student (1975) and the brutal murder 
of Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound elderly tourist on the hijacked 
Achille Lauro (1985). But despite knowing the identities of at least 
some of the perpetrators, and almost always the organization that they 
belonged to, few have ever been arrested and none extradited to the 
United States.''
  The reason that I thought Mr. Daugherty's letter is important is that 
this group, led by Arafat, has been around terrorizing lots of people 
for a long time, and it has not been confined to Israelis.

  Remembering the Many American Victims of Arafat's Terrorist Network

       It is worthwhile to remember that the Palestinian 
     Liberation Organization, under Yasser Arafat, has been a 
     terrorist organization for nearly 35 years, and that it and 
     its subordinate groups have murdered a significant number of 
     Americans during that time.
       Yet not only have the tragedies been forgotten and the 
     perpetrators mostly unpunished, Arafat, has been accorded 
     head of state status by many ``civilized'' nations, admitted 
     as an Observer to the United Nations, and permitted an office 
     down the street from the White House. Leaving aside for now 
     any ``blame'' for contemporary Middle East history, a review 
     of terrorism against Americans by the PLO will help Americans 
     at least partially to understand why Arafat has not been and 
     cannot be a partner for peace.
       The first American to be murdered by a PLO-sponsored group 
     was Shirley Anderson on June 17, 1969. Since then, PLO groups 
     have murdered more than 60 American citizens and wounded at 
     least as many. Among the dead were two ambassadors, an 
     Olympic athlete, tourists, business persons and students.
       PLO terrorist groups, under the control of Arafat or his 
     chief subordinates were Black September, Force 17, and the 
     Palestine Liberation Front. Black September was especially 
     close to Arafat, existing as a front for Arafat's own 
     ``mainstream'' Fatah, and led by Salah Khalaf (Abu Lyad), his 
     closest lieutenant. Other groups existing under the PLO 
     umbrella with responsibility for American casualties were the 
     Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, The Democratic 
     Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front 
     for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Command.
       The Palestinians upon occasion further resorted to 
     ``contracting out'' terrorist attacks, notably when three 
     members of the Japanese Red Army, under the auspices of the 
     PFLP, carried out a deadly assault in the arrival area of Lod 
     Airport outside of Tel Aviv; 26 were killed and 78 wounded, 
     the majority American citizens.
       Americans were murdered in numerous ways by PLO members. 
     Eight were killed when their Swissair jet was blown up 
     enroute to Tel Aviv, others died in bus and car bombings or 
     were shot. Especially shocking were the ax-murder of a 
     student (1975) and the brutal murder of Leon Klinghoffer, a 
     wheelchair-bound elderly tourist on the hijacked Achille 
     Lauro (1985). But despite knowing the identities of at least 
     some of the perpetrators, and almost always the organization 
     they belonged to, few have ever been arrested and none 
     extradited to the United States.
       Perhaps if European countries had fought Palestinian 
     terrorism in its early days as strenuously as they did their 
     own domestic terrorism, the Middle East might be different 
     today, with the PLO a legitimate organization headed by a 
     Palestinian willing to live in peace with Israel. A few 
     countries did fight the terrorists, particularly Great 
     Britain and Germany. But others--France, Austria, Italy, 
     Greece--not only did not pursue Palestinian terrorists, they 
     either made deals to avoid acts of terrorism on their own 
     soil or simply caved in without pressure, afraid of 
     retaliation.
       Rather than treat deaths caused by Palestinian terrorists 
     as criminal murder, they viewed these abominations merely as 
     ``political acts'' by ``freedom fighters,'' and therefore 
     excusable.
       Best known is the Achille Lauro event and the murder of 
     passenger Klinghoffer. The terrorists, led by Arafat protege 
     Abu Abbas, surrendered to the Egyptians who, rather than 
     prosecute them as required by the international law, sent 
     them on their way to Tunis--headquarters of the PLO at the 
     time--in an Egyptian jet.
       U.S. Navy aircraft intercepted the jet and forced it to 
     land in Italy. Immediately behind was a transport with 
     America's elite Delta Force, to take custody of these 
     terrorists. Surrounding the jet with the terrorists, Delta 
     then discovered that it was surrounded by Italian military 
     forces. A firefight between allies seemed imminent, as the 
     Italians refused to turn over the murderers.
       Eventually, four lesser terrorists were indicted by Italy 
     (and treated with leniency), while Abbas and his second in 
     command were spirited away to Yugoslavia and thence to Tunis.
       Elsewhere, France made deals with the deadly Abu Nidal 
     Organization (not a PLO group, to be sure) to avoid terrorism 
     on its territory; and when the ANO set off car bombs in Paris 
     that killed and maimed several hundred French citizens, the 
     Socialist government of Francois Mitterrand still kept its 
     end of the bargain.
       There are numerous other examples of Europeans aiding 
     Palestinian terrorists, many almost beyond comprehension 
     (France refused to arrest the mastermind of the Munich 
     massacres and instead provided him protection). But had a 
     Europe, united by revulsion at foreign-inspired terrorism, 
     viewed murder for what it was--a criminal vice political 
     act--and proceeded to work to eradicate it (while 
     concurrently working with legitimate Palestinian groups to 
     achieve a peace with Israel), the past 30 years might have 
     been much different.
       Instead, the leader of the PLO continues to kill and maim 
     while hiding behind the facade of statesmanship. It is time 
     to remember the Americans who became victims of this 
     terrorist and the dancing in the streets.

  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I think that is an incredibly important 
statement because what we have acknowledged today is that Chairman 
Arafat not only was a terrorist in the incidents the gentleman was 
describing in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but literally into the 21st 
century. And one of the things that has been uncovered, again,

[[Page 4801]]

are internal documents of the Palestinian Authority off of hard drives 
of computers so it is not credible that this is not authenticated, real 
information. These are copies which literally have Chairman Arafat's 
signature. These are two that are available, and these are specific 
requests of payments for terrorists, for people who are engaged in 
specific acts of terrorism. From the bar mitzvah ceremony, there are 
specific names of people and specific amounts that Arafat personally 
signed and approved, $600 per person.
  The other chart is a list of 10 people, specific terrorists; and what 
is interesting, the gentleman that sent the letter was just captured by 
Israelis, and he viewed himself as working directly for Chairman 
Arafat. So the terrorism that is described is not terrorism of 5 years 
ago or 5 months ago. The dates are interesting, September 19, 2001, and 
this is January of 2002.
  The Arafat era is over, and I think there has to be an acknowledgment 
by the United States that that era is over. We have said repeatedly we 
cannot negotiate with terrorists, and that in fact is what Mr. Arafat 
is. We cannot negotiate with him. He cannot be a leader. He cannot be a 
partner. The Palestinian people have a right to choose their leader, 
but that leader cannot be a terrorist if they expect to be a state.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, it breaks our hearts for the Palestinian 
people that they have refused to elect leaders who will deliver them a 
Palestinian state.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, it is not that they have not, but they have 
not been given a choice. One of the things that has been pointed out on 
this floor is that Chairman Arafat was supposed to be the leader, and 
he was elected in 1996, but that term expired in 2000. In 2000, there 
was supposed to be an election that he did not allow to take place.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, the question is what should Israel be doing 
now. Israel is doing now what the United States is doing now: 
protecting its people from terrorists, and bringing justice to them or 
bringing them to justice, until these people either will say we will 
live in peace with you, or they will be so disabled by our military 
that they no longer threaten our men, women and children. That is what 
Israel is doing.
  Israel, which has tremendous military intelligence-sharing with the 
United States for 50 years, and provides us with great military 
advantage in the Middle East, only one of many reasons they have been 
our best friend and remain our most important strategic ally in the 
whole Middle East for the last 55 years.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow evening I am going to have the 
opportunity to have an interactive town meeting that will be available 
for people not just in Florida, but through satellite coordinants 
throughout the country. If people have questions, the former American 
ambassador, Martin Indyk, will be there. The e-mail address to ask 
questions is FL[email protected]. The 800 number is 1-800-931-
1303. The satellite coordinants can be acquired through our Web site. I 
welcome those comments.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, in closing, while the background of this 
conflict is somewhat complicated, the moral dimensions are very, very 
clear-cut. We have one side that sends soldiers to wipe out suicide 
bombers; the other side that sends suicide bombers to wipe out guests 
at bar mitzvahs. We have one side that publishes maps showing how an 
Israel and Palestinian state can co-exist; the other side publishes a 
map which says Israel does not even exist now. One side apologizes when 
its explosives kill wives and children of killers it targeted; the 
other side targets wives and children. One side was grief-stricken on 
September 11 and declared a national day of mourning; and the other 
side danced in the streets and distributed candies in celebration. One 
side has never deployed a suicide bomber in its 54 years of existence; 
the other side has deployed more than 40 in the past 12 months alone.

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