[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 23]
[House]
[Pages 32137-32138]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         A WORTHWHILE PROPOSAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, much has been written lately about several 
attempts to craft an alternative peace plan in the decades-old Israeli-
Palestinian dispute. The best-known of these recent plans, the Geneva 
Initiative, was conceived and written by representatives of both sides 
of the conflict but without the involvement of governments or 
politicians. As such, it is a fresh approach that should provide a 
lesson to those who continue to believe that peace is something that 
can only be crafted by government officials or bribed or bullied by the 
international community.
  We do know this: After decades of conflict and tens of billions of 
U.S. tax dollars spent, U.S. Government involvement in the Israeli-
Palestinian peace process has led nowhere. The latest U.S. Government-
initiated plan for peace, the road map, appears to be a map to nowhere. 
This does not surprise me much. With a seemingly endless amount of 
money to bribe the two leaders of the two opposing sides to remain 
engaged in the process, is it any wonder why the two parties never 
arrive at peace?
  But people on both sides are becoming more and more frustrated at the 
endless impasse and endless government and bureaucrat-written peace 
agreements that go nowhere.

                              {time}  1815

  That is why plans like this should be of such interest. Initially 
conceived by an obscure Swiss professor, the project was joined by 
former Israeli Justice Minister, Yossi Beilin, former Palestinian 
Authority Information Minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, and by other 
prominent officials like former President Jimmy Carter. The 
negotiations led to the creation of a 50-page detailed accord.
  I do not know whether the product is perfect. I have not studied the 
minute details of the proposal. But what I do know is that politicians, 
governments, and special interests promote war at the expense of those 
who have to fight them. Wars end when the victims finally demand peace, 
and that is what we are beginning to see. According to one recent 
survey, a majority among both the Israeli and Palestinian populations 
support this new initiative. That is encouraging. To his credit, 
President Bush has demonstrated an open mind toward this alternative 
approach. He declared the Geneva Initiative ``productive'' and added 
that the United States ``appreciates people discussing peace.'' 
Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed the President when he resisted 
hard-line pressure to ignore the proposed accord stating, ``I have an 
obligation to listen to individuals who have interesting ideas.'' This 
is also encouraging.
  Predictably, though, this new approach is not as welcomed by those 
governments, politicians, and special interests who have a stake in 
dragging out the process indefinitely. Palestinian Authority President 
Yasser Arafat has been lukewarm at best. Extremist Arab organizations 
who have a special interest in continuing the violence have also 
rejected the Geneva Initiative. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has 
rejected the initiative out of hand. Said Mr. Sharon, ``Geneva is an 
attempt to do something only a government can do.''
  But the point is that governments have little incentive to finally 
end conflicts such as these. The United States is in places like Kosovo 
and Bosnia indefinitely in the name of peacekeeping and peace 
processes. The same will be true of our involvement in Afghanistan and 
Iraq. It is not until foreign involvement ceases, that means our 
continued meddling in the Middle East, and the people directly involved 
demand peace, do real working solutions begin to emerge. The Geneva 
Initiative is therefore a positive step toward peace in the

[[Page 32138]]

Middle East. Let us step back and get out of the way.

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