CAPITOL HILL UPDATE: House Considers Resolution on Mideast

A House of Representatives resolution (H. Res. 294 Condemning Terrorism in Israel) is being voted on today in the US Congress.  The resolution expresses solidarity with the State of Israel in the struggle against terrorism. (Click to read the text of this resolution.)

Unfortunately the resolution, while rightly condemning terrorism without qualification, does not go far enough in support of the US effort to end it.  It lacks a specific and unqualified endorsement of the administration's moves to implement the roadmap, which represents Israel's best hope of achieving an end to terror.

It is more helpful for congress to couple expressions of solidarity with Israel with support for the President's efforts.  Israel cannot end terrorism without the cooperation of the Palestinians -- as was demonstrated during the last three years of Oslo.  That was the period when Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation reduced the number of terror victims in Israel to three (3), as compared to the more than 800 deaths in the three years since Oslo-mandated security cooperation collapsed. Thus it is vital to support the President's moves to create a reformed Palestinian Authority, one which will be strong enough and reliable enough to take sustained action against terrorism and provide the necessary security cooperation.

Opposition to the roadmap rewards terrorism.

Congressional support for the roadmap sends a message to terrorists across the globe.  It states clearly that their murderous attempts to sabotage the peace process will not be allowed to succeed.
 
To abandon the roadmap in the face of the terror that has killed 29 Israelis and 47 Palestinians since the Aqaba summit is to reward the terrorists themselves. Since they oppose the roadmap and the President's efforts, ceasing or even muting our backing of the President gives terrorists exactly what they want.   Instead, support for the roadmap recognizes that terrorism will only be permanently defeated by a political agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Security cooperation must be restored and the roadmap is the means to do it.

The roadmap provides the means to re-establish security cooperation. The demands on Palestinians are strict, comprehensive, and detailed:  They MUST consolidate security forces into one accountable entity, destroy terror's infrastructure, confiscate illegal weapons, and end official incitement against Jews.  Israel MUST dismantle illegal outposts and implement a settlements freeze. (Israeli obligations go unmentioned in this resolution, and therefore there is also no mention of the performance-based nature of the roadmap.)

Both sides are required to take simultaneous actions, with the onus weighted on the Palestinians.  But if either side--especially the Palestinians--do not do their part, then the process reverses.  No longer will lack of compliance go unnoticed and unpunished.  John Wolf is in the region leading a team that will monitor compliance by both sides, ensuring that the roadmap mechanisms will work.

Opposing the roadmap's implementation and discouraging American efforts to secure a diplomatic victory in the Israeli-Palestinian arena, is against both American and Israeli interests.
 
The events of September 11, 2001 demonstrate the necessity of defeating terror in all its forms.  That will only be achieved by coupling efforts to eradicate terror groups with support for those who are committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The election of Abu Mazen was a victory for the United States' anti-terror strategy. But it was only one battle in a war that combines stepped up efforts to eradicate terror threats -- preferably by the Abu Mazen administration itself -- with intensified diplomatic activity the administration is pursuing.  Both efforts deserve our enthusiastic support.