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“SENATE RESOLUTION 121--RELATIVE TO THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S9087-S9088 on Sept. 10, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SENATE RESOLUTION 121--RELATIVE TO THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Mr. Specter submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 121
Whereas United States law requires the Palestinian Authority to exert a maximum 100-percent effort to fight terrorism in order to continue to receive United States foreign assistance;
Whereas the Palestinian Authority has failed to make that 100-percent maximum effort as evidenced by Chairman Yassir Arafat's open embrace of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi on August 20, 1997;
Whereas a Palestinian terrorist bombed a Tel Aviv restaurant on March 21, 1997, killing 3 Israelis and wounding 12 others;
Whereas 2 Hamas suicide bombers attacked a crowded outdoor market in Jerusalem on July 30, 1997, killing 13 Israelis and wounding over 150 others;
Whereas 3 Hamas suicide bombers detonated their bombs in a popular pedestrian mall in Jerusalem on September 4, 1997, killing 5 Israelis and wounding approximately 170 others;
Whereas Secretary of State Madeleine Albright conceded in testimony before the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations on May 22, 1997 that Chairman Arafat had not given a red light to stop Palestinian terrorism;
Whereas in fact the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority are at war with Israel;
Whereas the PLO has built up a police force of more than 30,000 men and armed it with sophisticated weapons; and
Whereas continued United States assistance and assistance from allies of the United States will only strengthen the ability of the PLO to continue terrorism and ultimately wage an all-out war: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the United States should discontinue all financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority, and the United States should urge allies of the United States to do the same, unless and until the Palestinian Authority demonstrates a 100-percent maximum effort to curtail terrorism.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, in the 7 minutes intervening, I will utilize this time to submit a resolution which I had discussed extensively yesterday calling for the United States to cease any financial aid to the Palestinian Authority and for the United States to use its best efforts to persuade all of our allies to do the same thing.
I believe that that course of action is necessary to change our policy in the Mideast, because there is no peace process. There is a great deal of talk about a peace process, but the reality, the brutal fact of life is that there is no peace process. But there is a war of terrorism, a one-sided war being waged by the Palestinians against Israel.
The brutal fact of life, Mr. President, is that terrorism has replaced open warfare as a way of gaining military advantage. The wars which have been fought against Israel, the open warfare, has been unsuccessful, so this practice of terrorism is being pursued. The financial aid which has come from the United States and our allies has been used to build up the Palestinian Authority in many ways, including a 30,000-person police force, armed with highly sophisticated weapons.
When Prime Minister Netanyahu made the accusation, after the March 21 bombing of the Tel Aviv cafe, that Chairman Arafat had given a green light, I sought a response from the Secretary of State. In her testimony a few weeks ago before the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, Secretary of State Albright said there had not been a green light, but also there had not been a red light.
Mr. President, United States law requires that the Palestinian Authority make the maximum effort to stop terrorism. The Palestinian Authority is not a guarantor, but they have an obligation to make a maximum effort to stop terrorism. And since the March 21 terrorist attack, we have seen the July 30 terrorist attack, we have seen the embrace by Chairman Arafat of the Hamas leader, the picture seen around the world, comparable to the shot heard around the world, where in no uncertain terms Chairman Arafat is saying that he condones what Hamas has done and even encourages Hamas to do more. Then, on September 4, we had the most recent terrorist attack.
These three terrorist attacks in the course of the past 6 months have killed 21 Israelis and wounded 330 other Israelis. So where is the peace process? There is none. The emperor has no clothes. It is time we recognized that fact.
We have had, in addition, a report from an Israeli cabinet officer, Deputy Education Minister Moshe Peled, that Chairman Arafat knew in advance of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that it was going to occur. If that is in fact true, Chairman Arafat is an accessory before the fact, and that is a form of conspiracy and, under our statutes, subject to trial in a United States court.
When I saw that charge I asked the Department of Justice to investigate. And we do have information that Mr. Peled was questioned by the FBI for some 2 hours but we do not know the results of that inquiry.
I have discussed with the distinguished majority leader the issue about the necessity for bringing this matter to a head to provide some leadership on foreign policy where our Senate has the standing to do so.
You just heard a lengthy distinguished speech by Senator Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. The leadership has been taken by Senator Helms and others, and we have constitutional authority to act.
Where the administration continues to supply funds to the Palestinian Authority, and those funds directly and indirectly go to build up the Palestinian Army, that is a practice which should be stopped.
The administration had further talked about going to final settlement discussions between Israel and the Palestinians. Of course, that is a matter for the Israelis and the Palestinians to decide. But, I believe that it is an unwise policy for the United States to push that approach because the principles of the Camp David accord and the Oslo accord were to build up confidence, to have relationships which would build up and lead to final status negotiations when there was a basis for the Israelis and the Palestinians living side by side. Regrettably, that is not possible.
We have repeated statements by Chairman Arafat and others of a belligerent nature spewing hatred. We have hatred being talked about in the schools. We have an atmosphere which hardly is conducive to final negotiation status. There had been talk after the Oslo accord of deferring the issue of a Palestinian State. The concern had been that there would be a Trojan horse, a secret Palestinian State inside of Israel.
Well, that has not happened. It has not been secret. It has been open. You have a 30,000-person police force, military operation with sophisticated weapons. You have the chief of police who has been charged by the Israeli authorities with being involved in terrorist attacks and information from the United States.
I spoke at some length about this yesterday, Mr. President. My comments are necessarily abbreviated today because there has only been a period of 7 minutes from the time I started until the 5 o'clock vote which is due to start soon.
Today, I talked to our distinguished chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee about hearings on this subject, as I had discussed with Senator Lott. I believe that when Secretary of State Albright returns from the Mideast, it would be a good opportunity to hear from her about administration policy and to hear from the Attorney General and the FBI Director about what is happening with the investigation as to Chairman Arafat's possible complicity in the World Trade Center bombing.
So I file the resolution, Mr. President. We are in the process of getting cosponsors.
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