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“UNITED STATES-ISRAEL RELATIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S4523-S4524 on May 7, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UNITED STATES-ISRAEL RELATIONS
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to discuss a matter that is triggered by something I read in the newspaper this morning. I saw it in the Washington Post and I saw it in the New York Times, a statement that House Speaker Gingrich made when he held a press conference in which he criticized the Clinton administration's handling of the peace process.
Now, he, like any one of us in the Congress, has a right to disagree with the administration on policy, but I think it is dangerous, destructive, certainly demagogic, to say that ``America's strong-arm tactics would send a clear signal to the supporters of terrorism that their murderous actions are an effective tool in forcing concessions from Israel.''
That is an outrageous statement to make because it accuses President Clinton. Further in his statement, and I quote him here:
Now it's become the Clinton administration and Arafat against Israel, Gingrich said at a Capitol news conference. He also released a letter he sent to President Clinton saying that ``Israel must be able to decide her own security needs and set her own conditions for negotiations without facing coercion from the United States.'' As Israel celebrates its 50th anniversary, Speaker Gingrich said the Clinton administration says, ``Happy birthday. Let us blackmail you on behalf of Arafat.''
In his letter he gave the quote that I just read about America's strong-arm tactics, sending ``a clear message that terrorism was an acceptable tool in forcing concessions from Israel.''
Mr. President, I know Israel very well. I had the good fortune over a 3-year period to serve as chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. That is the fundraising arm that helps local institutions within the Jewish community, as well as Israel. This was over 20 years ago when Israel was getting on its feet. I know lots of people there. I know many people who have lost a son, lost a daughter. I know many people who visit in the hospitals regularly where their children or their friends or their loved ones are in a condition that keeps them hospitalized because of wounds they received during the wars.
I was able to visit Israel within a couple of days after the 1973 war was concluded while they were still searching for bodies on both sides, Egypt and Israel, in the Sinai desert, and I talked to people who regret so much that they are forced at times to inflict pain on their neighbors to protect themselves.
The Israelis have lost some 20,000 soldiers in wars since that country was founded--50 years. That is a short period of time. In the whole of the 20th century, the United States will have lost less than 400,000 soldiers in combat. I was in Europe during the war. I served in the Army in World War II. Mr. President, 20,000 Israelis is the equivalent of 1 million soldiers, 1 million fighters lost in the United States on a comparative basis--1 million. Could you imagine the heartbreak in this country that would exist if we lost a million soldiers in a period of 50 years? It would tear us apart.
Mr. President, I make this point. I served here under President Reagan, I served here under President Bush, and I knew President Carter very well because I had tried to help them at times when I was running a company in the computer business. They have been good friends to Israel because Israel and the United States have many common interests--the strength of a democracy, the ability to withstand adversity and come up providing freedom at all times for their citizens. But there has never been a better friend in the White House among the four Presidents I just mentioned than President Clinton. President Clinton has approached Israel from the mind as well as the heart. He understands what the relationship of Israel to the civilized world, to the democratic world, means. And he insists that they be permitted to negotiate on their own.
But as the President and the administration and the State Department tried to permit the Israelis and the Palestinians to negotiate their own terms, we were called back; we were called in to act as a go-
between. I don't even want to use the term ``as a negotiator'' because it is up to the parties to negotiate. But we have been called on to try to facilitate the negotiations. And that has been the mission.
And so, Mr. President, I think it is outrageous that President Clinton, that this administration be declared as someone alongside terrorists, encouraging Arafat, encouraging those who would destroy Israelis. It is an outrage, it is demagoguery at its worst, and I don't think that kind of debate ought to be used, whether it is to gain votes or whatever else one can gain from those kinds of statements. It doesn't further the cause of peace, and it doesn't help our friendship with any of the countries in the area. It is the wrong way to go.
Mr. President, I believe--and I know that people in Israel believe--
they have to have peace because it is unlike some other parts of the world where the absence of peace doesn't necessarily mean violence or war. There are tense relations in many parts of the world with one country alongside the other where there is no killing between them. It doesn't mean that there is affection. It doesn't mean that there is necessarily diplomatic or economic pursuits between these places. But in that area, I think most people are convinced that if it is not peace, it is violence, it is war. That is a condition that every one of us wants to see avoided. And so I hope we can take some comfort in the fact that we, the United States, are trying to be helpful to all parties there. We have worked very hard to make sure that Israel has the ability to call upon us when she needs a friend in world forums.
We are friendly and supportive of Egypt and Jordan and even attempt to try to get the Palestinian Authority to renounce parts of their covenant that says they want to destroy Israel. Yes, we don't like that. But to suggest, on the other hand, that President Clinton is someone who wants to send Israel a threatening message that comes from the terrorist side of the equation is unfair and, again I say, outrageous.
So I hope the Israelis and the Palestinians will be able to pursue a peaceful discourse. No one--no one--knows what Israel needs by way of its security better than the people of Israel. They have to make that decision. It is not going to be made in Washington, it is going to be made in Jerusalem. It is going to be made between the parties, and we have to let them do that, but recognize that they want us to play a role.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
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