•HRES 392 IH
Whereas the number of Israelis killed during that time by
suicide terrorist attacks alone, on a basis proportional to
the United States population, is approximately 9,000,
three times the number killed in the terrorist attacks on
New York and Washington on September 11, 2001;
Whereas Yasir Arafat and members of the Palestinian leader-
ship have failed to abide by their commitments to non-
violence made in the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles
(the ‘‘Oslo accord’’) of September 1993, including their
pledges (1) to adhere strictly to ‘‘a peaceful resolution of
the conflict,’’ (2) to resolve ‘‘all outstanding issues relat-
ing to permanent status through negotiations,’’ (3) to re-
nounce ‘‘the use of terrorism and other acts of violence,’’
and (4) to ‘‘assume responsibility over all PLO elements
and personnel in order to assure their compliance [with
the commitment to nonviolence], prevent violence, and
discipline violators’’;
Whereas the continued terrorism and incitement committed,
supported, and coordinated by official arms of the Pales-
tinian Authority are a direct violation of these commit-
ments;
Whereas forces directly under Yasir Arafat’s control—par-
ticularly, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of
Arafat’s Fatah organization and has been designated a
‘‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’’ by the United States
government—have murdered scores of innocent Israelis;
Whereas Yasir Arafat was directly involved in the Palestinian
Authority’s thwarted attempt to obtain 50 tons of offen-
sive weapons shipped from Iran in the Karine-A, an ef-
fort that irrefutably proved Arafat’s embrace of the use
and escalation of violence;
•HRES 392 IH
Whereas documents seized by Israel from offices of the Pales-
tinian Authority demonstrate the crucial financial sup-
port the Palestinian Authority continues to provide for
terrorist acts, including suicide bombers;
Whereas the recent escalation of Palestinian attacks, killing
46 Israelis during the week of Passover, included a hei-
nous suicide-bombing at a religious ceremony which killed
27 and wounded more than a hundred, many critically,
and was perpetrated by a known terrorist whom Israel
had previously asked Yasir Arafat to arrest;
Whereas this suicide attack occurred at the very time United
States envoy General Anthony Zinni was attempting to
negotiate a cease-fire that would lead to the resumption
of Israeli-Palestinians political negotiations;
Whereas, just before the Passover attack, Israel had agreed
to General Zinni’s cease-fire proposals, whereas Yasir
Arafat rejected them;
Whereas Yasir Arafat continues to incite terror by, for exam-
ple, saying of the Passover suicide bomber, ‘‘Oh God,
give me a martyrdom like this’’;
Whereas Yasir Arafat and the PLO have a long history of
making and breaking anti-terrorism pledges;
Whereas President George W. Bush declared at a joint ses-
sion of Congress on September 20, 2001, that ‘‘[f]rom
this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or
support terrorism will be regarded by the United States
as a hostile regime’’;
Whereas President Bush recently stated that he ‘‘fully under-
stands Israel’s need to defend herself’’ and that he ‘‘re-
spect(s)’’ the fact that Israelis have ‘‘seen a wave of sui-
•HRES 392 IH
cide bombers coming to the heart of their cities and kill-
ing innocent people’’;
Whereas President Bush, in his speech of April 4, 2002, stat-
ed that ‘‘the situation in which he [Arafat] finds himself
today is largely of his own making’’; that Arafat ‘‘missed
his opportunities, and thereby betrayed the hopes of the
people he’s supposed to lead’’; and that, ‘‘[g]iven his
[Arafat’s] failure, the Israeli government feels it must
strike at terrorist networks that are killing its citizens’’;
Whereas Israel’s military operations are an effort to defend
itself against the unspeakable horrors of ongoing ter-
rorism and are aimed only at dismantling the terrorist in-
frastructure in the Palestinian areas, an obligation
Arafat himself undertook but failed to carry out; and
Whereas Israel has made clear its intention to withdraw from
Palestinian areas and has already begun to do so: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) stands in solidarity with Israel as it takes
necessary steps to provide security to its people by
dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Pales-
tinian areas;
(2) remains committed to Israel’s right to self-
defense and supports additional United States as-
sistance to help Israel defend itself;
(3) condemns the recent wave of Palestinian
suicide bombings;
•HRES 392 IH
(4) condemns the ongoing support and coordi-
nation of terror by Yasir Arafat and other members
of the Palestinian leadership;
(5) demands that the Palestinian Authority at
last fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist
infrastructure in the Palestinian areas, including
any such infrastructure associated with PLO and
Palestinian Authority entities tied directly to Yasir
Arafat;
(6) is gravely concerned that Arafat’s actions
are not those of a viable partner for peace;
(7) urges all Arab states to declare their un-
qualified opposition to all forms of terrorism, par-
ticularly suicide bombing;
(8) commends the President for his leadership
in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, par-
ticularly the efforts of the Administration to engage
countries throughout the region to condemn and pre-
vent terrorism and to prevent a widening of the con-
flict; and
(9) urges all parties in the region to pursue vig-
orously efforts to establish a just, lasting, and com-
prehensive peace in the Middle East.
Æ