H. Res. 951 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
March 5, 2008. 
Whereas more than 4,000 rockets and mortar shells have 
been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip by Hamas and 
other terrorist organizations since Israeli forces withdrew 
from there in 2005; 
Whereas, since January 1, 2008, terrorists have fired nearly 
a thousand rockets and mortar shells into Israel; 
Whereas the near-daily rocket fire has been targeted pri-
marily and intentionally at civilian communities in Israel, 
such as Sderot and Ashkelon, making life in such areas 
agonizing; 
Whereas the terrorist rockets have hit homes, schools, build-
ings, roads, power lines, and other such infrastructure in 
Israel; 
Whereas these unprovoked rocket and mortar attacks have 
murdered over a dozen Israelis, inflicted hundreds of cas-
ualties, produced thousands of cases of shock and post- 
traumatic stress, especially among children, and caused 
severe disruption of daily life; 
Whereas these deliberate cross-border rocket and mortar at-
tacks on civilian populations constitute a blatant violation 
of human rights and international law;
•HRES 951 EH 
Whereas those responsible for launching rocket attacks 
against Israel routinely embed their production facilities 
and launch sites amongst the Palestinian civilian popu-
lation, utilizing them as human shields; 
Whereas intentionally targeting civilian populations and the 
use of human shields violates international humanitarian 
and human rights law; 
Whereas numerous reports have cited the copious amounts of 
sophisticated weapons, small arms, and weapons manu-
facturing materials that have been smuggled into Gaza 
through Egypt; 
Whereas public reports have cited the role of Iran and Syria 
in providing material support and training to those car-
rying out rocket and other terrorist attacks from Gaza; 
Whereas public reports have referenced the increased flow of 
ammunition, explosives, and higher-grade weapons into 
the Gaza Strip as a result of Hamas’ breach of the 12- 
kilometer security fence separating Gaza from Egyptian 
Sinai on January 23, 2008; 
Whereas it was reported that after the breach of the Egyp-
tian-Gaza border, many Palestinian terrorists who had 
trained in Syria and Iran returned to Gaza; 
Whereas the fielding and use of longer-range rockets by 
Hamas and other terrorist organizations to reach larger 
Israeli cities represents a dangerous expansion of the or-
ganizations’ offensive capabilities and an escalation of the 
terrorist attacks on Israel; 
Whereas the Government of Israel’s military operations in 
Gaza only target Hamas and other terrorist organiza-
tions;
•HRES 951 EH 
Whereas the inadvertent inflicting of civilian casualties as a 
result of defensive military operations aimed at military 
targets, while deeply regrettable, is not at all morally 
equivalent to the deliberate targeting of civilian popu-
lations as practiced by Hamas and other Gaza-based ter-
rorist groups; and 
Whereas the situation in the Gaza Strip remains a threat to 
international security and regional stability: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) strongly condemns— 
(A) Hamas, which controls Gaza, and other 
Palestinian terrorist organizations for the ongoing 
rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and continued 
human rights violations; 
(B) state sponsors of terror, such as Iran and 
Syria, for enabling Palestinian terrorist organiza-
tions to carry out attacks against innocent Israeli 
civilians; and 
(C) the use of innocent Palestinian civilians as 
human shields by those who carry out rocket and 
other attacks; 
(2) expresses condolences to the families of the in-
nocent victims on both sides of the conflict; 
(3) supports the sovereign right of the Government 
of Israel to defend its territory against attacks;
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(4) expresses sympathy and support for innocent 
Palestinian civilians who reject all forms of terrorism 
and desire to live in peace with their Israeli neighbors 
but who continue to be utilized as human shields by ter-
rorist organizations; 
(5) considers rocket attacks against Israel and the 
fostering of terrorism in the Palestinian territories as di-
rect and serious impediments to the achievement of 
Israeli-Palestinian peace; 
(6) calls on the President to— 
(A) direct the United States Permanent Rep-
resentative to the United Nations to introduce a 
resolution within the United Nations Security Coun-
cil condemning Palestinian rocket and other attacks 
against innocent Israeli civilians; and 
(B) direct the Secretary of State to raise this 
issue in all applicable bilateral and international 
fora; 
(7) calls on responsible countries and United States 
allies in the Middle East to officially and publicly con-
demn Palestinian rocket attacks and other terrorist ac-
tions against Israel; and
•HRES 951 EH 
(8) reaffirms the strong and unyielding friendship 
between the Governments and the people of Israel and 
the United States. 
Attest: 
Clerk.