IV

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 149

Condemning terror attacks in Israel.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 7, 1996

Mr. GILMAN (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BARRETT of

Wisconsin, Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. BEILENSON, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BORSKI, Mr.

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. COYNE, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr.

DOYLE, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. DORNAN, Ms. DUNN of Washington, Mr.

DURBIN, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. FORBES, Mr.

FOX of Pennsylvania, Mr. FRANKS of Connecticut, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN,

Mr. FRISA, Mr. FROST, Mr. GORDON, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. GUNDERSON, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr.

HOSTETTLER, Mr. HOYER, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mrs. KENNELLY, Mr.

KING, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. KLUG, Mr. LAZIO of New York, Mr.

LOBIONDO, Mr. LONGLEY, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. MCCOLLUM,

Mr. MCDADE, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. METCALF, Mrs. MEYERS

of Kansas, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr.

NETHERCUTT, Mr. OLVER, Mr. ORTON, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Ms.

PRYCE, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. SALMON, Mr. SANFORD, Mr.

SAXTON, Mr. SAWYER, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. SHAW, Mr.

SMITH of Texas, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. TEJEDA, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr.

CHABOT, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BUNN of Oregon,

Mr. KIM, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. TORKILDSEN, and Mr. TORRICELLI)

submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Condemning terror attacks in Israel.
2

HCON 149 IH

Whereas, on February 25, 1996, two vicious terror attacks in

Jerusalem and Ashkelon killed two American citizens and

25 Israelis, and wounded over 75 more;

Whereas, on February 26, 1996, an Israeli citizen was killed

and 22 Israelis were injured when a terrorist drove a

rental car into a Jerusalem bus stop;

Whereas, on March 3, 1996, a suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem took the lives of 18 innocent Israelis and other individuals and injured 10 more;

Whereas, on March 4, 1996, yet another heinous explosion by

a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv murdered at least 13 and

wounded 130 more;

Whereas the Gaza-based Hamas terror group claimed responsibility for the most recent bombings, and the Damascusbased Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Popular Front for

the Liberation of Palestine terror groups have claimed responsibility for the majority of terror attacks since the

signing of the Declaration of Principles;

Whereas these successive incidents represent an unprecedented escalation by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic

Jihad of their terrorist campaign designed to cause maximum carnage against the peaceful civilian population of

Israel, including children, women and the elderly;

Whereas these terrorist attacks are aimed not only at innocent Israeli civilians but also at destroying the Middle

East peace process;

Whereas, since the signing of the Declaration of Principles

between Israel and the PLO on September 13, 1993,

nearly 200 people, including 5 American citizens, have

been killed in terrorist acts;
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HCON 149 IH

Whereas the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat have been ineffective

and unsuccessful in completely rooting out the vicious

terrorist elements from Palestinian controlled areas, calling into question their commitment to the peace process;

Whereas the vast majority of Palestinian terror suspects have

not been apprehended, or if apprehended, not tried or

punished, and no terror suspects requested for transfer

have been transferred to Israeli authorities by Palestinian

authorities in direct contravention of agreements signed

between the PLO and Israel;

Whereas the hateful language calling for Israel’s destruction,

that remains an integral part of the Palestinian National

Covenant only serves to incite those opposed to the peace

process;

Whereas the Palestinian National Covenant has not yet been

amended, despite commitments by the PLO to do so;

Whereas these failures undermine and threaten the peace

process as well as continued U.S. financial assistance;

Whereas the Governments of Iran and Syria continue to provide safe haven, financial support, and arms to terror

groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Hizbollah

among others, and have in no way acted to restrain these

groups from committing acts of terrorism; and

Whereas failure to act against terrorists by the Palestinian

Authority, Iran, Syria, and others only undermines the

credibility of the peace process: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—
4

HCON 149 IH

1 (1) condemns and reviles in the strongest terms

2 the attacks in Jerusalem, Ashkelon and Tel Aviv;

3 (2) extends condolences to the families of all

4 those killed, and to the Government and all the peo5 ple of the State of Israel;

6 (3) expresses its support and solidarity with the

7 people and Government of the State of Israel;

8 (4) reaffirms its full support for Israel in its ef9 forts to combat terrorism as it attempts to pursue

10 peace with its neighbors in the region;

11 (5) calls upon the Palestinian Authority, the

12 elected Palestinian Council and Chairman Arafat to

13 act swiftly and decisively to apprehend and effec14 tively punish the perpetrators of terror attacks, to

15 prevent such acts of terror in the future, to con16 fiscate all unauthorized weapons and to avoid and

17 condemn all statements and gestures which signal

18 tolerance for such acts and their perpetrators;

19 (6) calls upon Chairman Arafat, the Palestinian

20 Authority and the elected representatives of the Pal21 estinian Council to eliminate the terrorist structure

22 and terrorist activities of Hamas, Palestinian Is23 lamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of

24 Palestine, and all other terror groups;
5

HCON 149 IH

1 (7) calls upon Chairman Arafat, the Palestinian

2 Authority and the elected representatives of the Pal3 estinian Council to adopt legislative and executive

4 measures to ban the existence and operations of all

5 terrorist organizations resident in the Palestinian

6 autonomous areas;

7 (8) insists that Chairman Arafat ensure the

8 timely inauguration of the Palestinian Council, so

9 that the Palestinian National Covenant will be

10 amended of its vile references to Israel within sixty

11 days of the Council’s inauguration;

12 (9) reaffirms its belief that the Palestinian Na13 tional Covenant must be amended in order for the

14 peace process to succeed;

15 (10) calls upon the Palestinian people to sup16 port the deletion of anti-Israel language from the

17 Palestinian National Covenant;

18 (11) calls upon the Palestinian people to ex19 press their revulsion for terrorism against Israel,

20 and condemn and isolate those elements of Palestin21 ian society that employ and support such terrorist

22 acts;

23 (12) urges all parties to the peace process, in

24 order to retain the credibility of their commitment to

25 peace, to bring to justice the perpetrators of acts of
6

HCON 149 IH

1 terrorism, and to cease harboring, financing, and

2 arming terror groups in all territories under their

3 control; and

4 (13) calls upon those Arab states that have

5 failed to condemn these acts of terrorism to do so

6 immediately and forthrightly, and to support all ef7 forts in the region to combat terrorism;

8 (14) calls upon the international community to

9 cooperate with the United States in isolating states

10 which engage in international terrorism;

11 (15) insists that Iran and Syria case all support

12 for all terrorist groups operating in areas under

13 their control and refrain from all activities in opposi14 tion to the Middle East peace process;

15 (16) expresses its intent to reconsider United

16 States assistance to the Palestinian Authority, in

17 consultation with the Administration, in light of the

18 steps that must be taken by the Palestinian Author19 ity against terrorist infrastructures and operations;

20 (17) urges the Clinton administration to act de21 cisively and swiftly against those who continue to

22 harbor, arm, or finance terror groups seeking to un23 dermine the peace process; and
7

HCON 149 IH

1 (18) praises efforts to provide Israel with all

2 appropriate antiterrorism resources to eliminate the

3 tide of terrorist incidents against Israel.

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