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“VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S2243-S2245 on March 21, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my concern and dismay at the news of yet another suicide bombing in Jerusalem. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.
Israel, a democratic state and a staunch friend and ally of the United States, has a simple desire that all sovereign nations share: that it may live in peace within secure and stable borders, free from the terror and senseless acts of violence.
I condemn this terrorism and those who carry it out. How many more innocent lives must be lost before Chairman Arafat takes decisive and concerted action to reign in the terrorists and put an end to their brutal campaign? He made a commitment at Oslo to settle the differences between Palestinians and Israelis peacefully and he must live up to that pledge.
I am pleased that President Bush has sent General Zinni back to the Middle East to broker a cease-fire and get both sides to adhere to the Tenet Plan. To put it mildly, he has a long road ahead of him and there is a lot of work to be done.
Three articles discuss the situation in the Middle East: one by Washington Times columnist Mona Charon, another by Libby Werthan from the Nashville Jewish paper, the Observer, and finally an article by Naomi Regan called ``Living in Parallel Universe.''
Each article in its own way describes some of the pain, anguish, and despair that Israelis feel over the continuing acts of violence and the collapse of the peace process. I urge my colleagues to read these articles and take their message to heart. Israel wants peace. Israel needs peace. Israel deserves peace.
I hope the day will come when I will not have to come to the Senate floor to condemn yet another bombing. Enough is enough. I urge General Zinni and the administration to do all that they can to help bring about an end the violence and the resumption of peace talks.
I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the articles I cited.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Flawed Saudi Peace Plan Exposed
(By Mona Charen)
Imagine for a moment that all reporting about the U.S. war on terrorism was presented without reference to Sept. 11. American attacks from the air using B-52s and F-16s against fighters armed with small weapons would seem quite disproportionate. Our stated intention to kill as many members of al Qaida as possible might be condemned, by our own Department of State, as ``excessive'' and ``contributing to the cycle of violence.''
But U.S. actions are never presented that way, because everyone acknowledges that we have the perfect right to defend ourselves against those who have done us grave harm. Nor are we asked to sit by and wait for our enemies to do us even more catastrophic damage if they get the chance. But when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the context is removed. Bleeding Israel is daily exhorted to stop contributing the cycle of violence. Her teen-agers are blown to bits at discotheques. Her babies are approached outside a synagogue by a suicide bomber who waits until he is next to the strollers before blowing himself apart. Her adolescent boys who wander off in the desert and get lost are torn to pieces. And all of this is applauded and celebrated by Yasser Arafat and most of the Arab governments in the region.
Some Arabs (those among the minority who acknowledge that Arabs are responsible) condemned the bombing of the World Trade Center. But not a single Islamic scholar or cleric has condemned the systemic policy of blowing up Israeli civilians. Israelis are demoralized and terrified. Restaurants and shops are nearly empty. And, alone among nations apparently, Israel is not permitted to engage in simple self-defense.
Nearly every dispatch from the Middle East lacks basic context. Here are some of the facts to keep in mind when reading these flawed reports.
The PLO was not formed in order to secure a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza. It was created in 1964, when both territories were under Arab sovereignty. Jordan and Egypt did not create a state for the Palestinians because they preferred to keep the refugees angry and homeless.
It is not ``Palestinian land.'' There has never been an independent Palestinian state on the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. The area--which always contained Arabs and Jews--was under Ottoman control for several hundred years until World War I, then British control under the League of Nations Mandate and finally under United Nations control.
The United Nations approved a partition plan in 1947 that would have created two states, on Jewish and one Arab. The Jews accepted this arrangement. The Arabs refused. Five Arab armies invaded the new state of Israel. In the ensuing war, thousands of refugees fled. Jews fled Arab nations for Israel, and Arabs fled Israel for Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. The Jewish refugees became full citizens of Israel. the Palestinian refugees became pawns. Israel came into possession of the West Bank and Gaza only because she was attacked again by five Arab armies in 1967.
If the Palestinians are fighting for a state on the West Bank and Gaza, why do their maps show Palestine as filling the entire territory that is now Israel? Why do they marinate their people in Hitlerian anti-Semitism and anti-Anercianism? Further, why--when Ehud Barak offered just such a state, or 95 percent of it--did Arafat walk away and start this latest round of violence? Palestinian spokesman say it wasn't everything they wanted. But if they truly want a separate state on so-called ``occupied territory,'' why did Barak's offer not form the basis for further talks?
The Palestinians are said to be chafing under the
``occupation.'' But in obedience to the Oslo process, Israel has given administrative authority over 98 percent of the Palestinians in the disputed territories to Arafat. Israel has further permitted the Palestinian Authority to arm 40,000
``police.''
If the Saudi ``peace plan'' were serious--and not an attempt to divert attention from the Saudi role in Sept. 11 and its sponsorship of Islamic extremism worldwide--why didn't Saudi Arabia offer it before?
Why is it impossible for the Palestinian Authority to give Israel what Sharon has demanded--just three days of respite from terror attacks?
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Living in a Parallel Universe
(By Naomi Ragen)
As an Israeli, I don't always feel I'm living in the same universe as the rest of the world. We seem to be in parallel universes.
In my universe, Yasir Arafat has violated the Geneva Convention on Human Rights--which calls the murder of noncombatants a crime against humanity--in 11,326 terrorist attacks over the last 18 months that has left hundreds of Israelis dead and thousands injured. In my universe, that makes him a war criminal.
But in the parallel universe, it makes him a great freedom fighter who deserves visits from diplomats, sympathy, and the offer to head his own state where he can conceivably continue his activities with a formal cache of even more deadly weapons. In the parallel universe, the people who think this way consider themselves liberals and humanists.
In my universe, Saudi Arabia, is a totalitarian state which cuts off the limbs of thieves and stones women suspected of adultery, and drowns young daughters in swimming pools to preserve family honor. In my universe, it is a place where women are nonpersons who cannot work, or drive, or go out unaccompanied by men. In my universe, its exhibited medieval antisemitism: In Saudi Arabias government daily, Al-Riyadh, columnist Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma of King Faysal University in Al-Dammam, wrote on 13/3/02 that the special ingredient in Jewish Purim holiday cake is human blood from non-Jewish youth.
In the parallel universe, this same Saudi Arabia has suggested that Israel withdraw to its 67 borders for more empty promises of peace and this is considered a serious peace initiative which is soberly discussed by reporters, politicians, talk show hosts, and editorial writers.
In my universe, following ten years of talking peace, signing agreements in which the Palestinians agreed to renounce the use of terror in exchange for Israel turning over 95% of the West Bank and all of Gaza to Yasir Arafats Palestinian Authority, giving the Authority millions of dollars and thousands of guns to control the terrorists, Israelis were rewarded by having their children blown up in pizza parlors, discos, bar mitzvahs, and cafes; being shot in their cars, having rockets destroy their homes and watching Palestinians, who were our peace partners, celebrate these deaths in their streets. In my universe, after wringing its hands, and risking our lives, and making useless appeals to Arafat to reign in his terrorists, our government finally sent in soldiers to gather up the weapons. These terrorists, who are ready to make ``brave'' forays into Israel in order to shoot nine month-old babies and grandmothers, engaged in a short gun battle until forced to surrender when confronted by armed combatants.
In the parallel universe, Israelis are condemned for
``humiliating'' Palestinians, and calls go out for international observers to protect Palestinians.
In my universe, the United States, which has always seen itself as Israel's greatest ally, and which has itself suffered thousands of casualties from terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists, calls on Yasir Arafat to stop the terror on Israelis, and is ignored.
In the parallel universe, Israel's greatest ally reacts by calling for the establishment of a Palestinian State, in which Mr. Arafat, like any other head of State, can establish his own army, airforce, and police force and import unlimited amounts of arms. Where he can continue his present educational system, encouraging toddlers to view themselves as future Shahids, where present educational system, encouraging toddlers to view themselves as future Shahids; where his television and radio broadcasts can continue to show blood libels, and revel in nonstop incitement. Where instead of terrorist attacks, he can prepare himself to launch all-out war.
I invite all those who are convinced they know what Israel should do, to visit my universe before giving advice.
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(By Libby Werthan)
Last night as I lay in my comfortable bed in my lovely home planning a pleasant night's sleep I could hear the guns in Gilo. And I couldn't sleep; not because I was fearful for my safety but because I couldn't help but think of all those people living in Gilo (two neighborhoods away from us) and how terrified they must be--especially the children. Thank G-d only three people were injured but fifty-two apartments were damaged by terrorist machine gun fire.
I would like to try to convey to you what life is like here right now. I have told you long before that I thought the Peace Process was just that a process that it wouldn't lead to peace. And unfortunately, it has turned out that way. At best, it was a holding period, a badly needed respite. In the years following Oslo, we had a kind of freedom--a green light, if you will; we could travel almost anywhere, enjoy the country in relative safety.
After Arafat rejected the best deal he would ever get and the Peace process came to a halt we found ourselves under constant attack--suicide bombers (whom one expert said was a misnomer, that they should be called Islamakazes), mortar attacks knifings, murders and drive-by shootings. Every morning, we open our newspapers and tally up how many people were killed (about 350 to date) and how many more people were permanently damaged--losing limbs, being burned so badly that they will never leave home, seeing loved ones murdered--they are their families will never be the same. I am talking about thousands of people in the last 16 months, mostly children and young people under the age of thirty.
What happened in America on 9/11 was horrifying. Over 3000 people lost their lives in the World Trade Center. America has a population of 278 million. Israel has a population of 6 million. If you were to compare deaths per capita, Israel has experienced almost 5 World Trade Centers in the last year and a half. And that's only the deaths not the thousands permanently injured. The majority have been civilians going about their lives--mostly women and children. It's pretty devastating when you think about it. You can imagine what this has done to the psyche of our country.
But what I find even more incredible is the response of Israel to this assault. The Israeli Army, has the power and ability to go in and take over the whole Palestinian entity in a matter of days. But they haven't done it. Instead they have targeted the ringleaders, the bomb makers and their installations (and been criticized for it). They have isolated Arafat, the Father of Terrorism, (and been criticized for it). They have bombed the installations of the Palestinian Authority but not without first telling them that they are going to do it. So when they do bomb buildings, they are empty. They make every attempt to avoid injuring any civilians. When the army entered the two refugee camps (which by the way are so vicious and independent that the Palestinian police won't enter them), they gave the civilians three hours to leave the camp to get out of harm's way. In view of the horrors perpetrated against us ours is the most measured of responses. And yet the media doesn't report it that way--they can't if they want to continue to have access to the Palestinians. So they talk about Israel's heavy-handedness, they talk about occupation, when 98% of the territories are under Palestinian control, they highlight the Palestinian deaths and over look many of ours. The media, when being even-handed, will interview both a Palestinian and an Israeli. But the Israelis they pick are either to the far Left or the far Right and are clearly not representative of main stream Israel. Last week they ran a story about a Palestinian women coming into Israel to give birth and being wounded in the shoulder when her car ran a roadblock. The don't follow it up with the fact that she was taken quickly taken to hospital where she gave birth to a healthy baby and recovered from her wound. Nor do they tell you that the very next day a pregnant Israeli woman was ambushed on the highway and shot in the abdomen as a gift to the Palestinian woman. We go after those who are killing us. We do not respond by targeting civilians.
I said earlier that for ten years we had a green light. We no longer have that green light. It has been replaced by a flashing yellow light. We still live our normal lives--go to work--go to the mall--go to the movies--make gourmet dinners--have weddings and bar mizvahs--work out--plant gardens--go to lectures, concerts, and plays--all the normal things one does. Except that flashing yellow light makes us more aware of where we are and who's around us. When we hear more than one siren, as we did last night, we run and turn on the news--another suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded religious neighborhood. When we hear an explosion, it could be something on a construction site or a car backfire, but we think bomb. You might expect us to go around with long faces and sometimes we do, but mostly not. Nevertheless we are always hurting inside. We know so many are grieving. We see the pictures of the beautiful young people who have been killed and our hearts are breaking. The hardest part for me and, I think, others is that there is no end in sight. How long can this go on? What will happen next?
The talk is always, let's achieve calm let's get back to the negotiating table. But with whom are we going to negotiate? Arafat? Arafat, the inventor of terrorism; the consummate liar! A man who prays for the peace of the brave on the New York Times Op Ed page and at the very same time shouts Jihad, a million martyrs on to Jerusalem to his own people in Arabic. A man who has not only abused the opportunity offered him for peace but has brutally abused his own people by manipulation and lies. he is every bit as vicious as Ben Laden. Would America negotiate with Ben Laden? With whom then are we going to negotiate? And if we do find someone how meaningful will a signed piece of paper be? There are three generations of Palestinians here who have learned to hate Jews from birth; who's greatest mitzvah is to kill a Jew. How can that change with a piece of paper?
We are at a terrible impasse her. How do we protect ourselves and at the same time create a Palestinian entity that is self-sufficient and independent of us. This is it. This is what every Israeli wants.
And what about you? Where do you fit into this Jewish world of ours? I have told you about Israel, but what about Argentina where over half of the Jews there are not living under the poverty line, or France where Jews are experiencing a huge upsurge of anti-Semitism.
And what about America? I don't know that much about America; but what I do know disturbs me. I hear very little raised in the way of protests against the biased media and little rallying in support of Israel coming from the Jewish communities in America. What I do know is that the Arab propaganda is so strong and effective in the US that on the college campuses your children and grandchildren have never been more distanced from Israel and are in fact ashamed of her. American Jewish visitors are so few here that we can practically thank each one personally for coming. Our hotels and restaurants are closing. Our tour guides and bus companies are out of work.
Where are you when we need you? Are you writing to the Congress to thank them for their support? Are you writing to the President? What about letters to the editor? Are you countering Palestinian propaganda on the college campuses? Are you writing to CNN and NPR when their reporting is clearly biased? Are you letting people here know that you care? Have you contributed to a victim relief fund? What's happening, folks?
When I was in America last month, I saw a lot of hand wringing and got a lot of sympathetic comments. Mostly, people wanted to know why I didn't come back and live there.
And what did I answer? I told them that we have had the most fabulous twelve years of our lives here. Grant you the last months have been painful. But when I think about why I am here, what is boils down to is that living her is the most important statement that I can make with my life.
Since I began this letter, the situation has become increasing worse. While we apprehend and thwart countless attackers, we cannot catch them all. Some slip through. On Thursday, I sent Moshe down to the grocery (here the grocery is so close you can walk) to pick up a few things I had forgotten. When he arrived, the whole areas had been blocked off, all traffic stopped. And police everywhere. Just minutes before, a suicide bomber had entered a very popular outdoor cafe but had been noticed by a customer who alerted a waiter and together they pushed him out of the cafe and at the same time ripped out the wires of the bomb--and saved the lives of scores of people. These were just ordinary people, but they performed an extraordinary task. On Friday the cafe was again packed. Saturday night a bomber entering another packed cafe in the center of town was not detected in time--13 were killed and over 50 wounded.
In about an hour, Moshe and I and many of our neighbors are going to take a walk in the Jerusalem Peace Forest--a part of the Promenade that looks out over Jerusalem. Perhaps you have been there. It is a popular tourist spot. Some weeks ago in this place, a young Israeli college student, a girl, was attacked by a gang of Arab teenagers and stabbed to death. Our walk is symbolic. It's our way of saying you can't take our favorite places away from us. We won't give in to your terror.
I could tell you many, many stories but I think you get the picture. This is a war that is difficult to win; if you defeat your enemy, you wind up with a captive hostile population and territories that you must occupy; if you make an accommodation with the enemy, it won't assure you of safety or that attitudes will change. It will only put you in an even less secure situation.
If you believe in prayer, please pray for us. Both the Israeli and the Palestinian populations are victimized. We are going through a living Hell.
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