[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15052]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  PALESTINIAN BID FOR U.N. RECOGNITION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2011

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, to those who question the United States' 
expression of solidarity with Israel in the face of the recent 
Palestinian bid for U.N. recognition, the answer is that it is in 
America's interest to stand strong with its friend and ally.
  There is a chorus of political interests arguing that U.N. 
recognition is precisely the game-changing move needed to push forward 
stalled Mid-East talks. But completely up-ending the long agreed-upon 
structure of direct negotiations would defeat all interests. For those 
Palestinians who desire peace, it would unfairly heighten expectations 
that the United Nations offers some new path to an independent state 
with defined territorial borders. Most alarmingly, U.N. recognition of 
Palestinian statehood would encourage Israel's traditional foes, as 
well as emerging new ones, to abandon their grudging acceptance of the 
direct negotiation paradigm in favor of a coordinated assault on 
Israel's interests and security. That, in turn, will put America's 
interests at risk.
  U.S. support for Israel has never been more important than it is now. 
The winds of the Arab Spring blowing from Tunisia to Syria are 
dramatically altering the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
and the wider region. Our ally's familiar antagonists are seizing on 
the region's new populism to stir up anti-Israel sentiment. In recent 
days, Israeli diplomats had to be rescued (with U.S. help) from their 
embassy in Cairo when angry protesters breached the grounds. Iran is as 
bellicose as ever and its potential to pose an existential threat to 
Israel cannot be underestimated.
  It is expected that countries like Iran would seek to hijack the 
sentiment of the Arab Spring, but who would have predicted that NATO 
member Turkey, a country that long enjoyed a strong military and 
economic relationship with Israel, would turn against its erstwhile 
ally with such ferocity? Turkish hostility towards Israel goes well 
beyond the purported settling of a score over the Gaza Flotilla 
incident. It appears calculated to establish Turkey's strategic 
dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean by putting pressure on the 
Israeli-American alliance. One important way for the United States to 
discourage this kind of adventurism in the region is to continue to 
affirm its unbreakable bond with the State of Israel.

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