CONGRESSMAN BONIOR: House Resolution 392 blindly supports Israel's actions against the Palestinians..

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to House Resolution 392. 

I do so because it undermines the Administration's desire to achieve a cease-fire, it undermines our efforts to ultimately broker a lasting and just resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and it runs counter to what is in our best interest in the Middle East.

And let's be clear about what we are doing.

In supporting this resolution, we are not merely expressing our "solidarity" with Israel, as the resolution's sponsors would have us believe. 

Israel and the world know of the special relationship shared between Israel and the U.S.

However, this resolution blindly supports Israel's actions against the Palestinians and wholly denies the generations of suffering of the Palestinian people.

This would be wrong at any time, but in light of what has happened in Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Haifa, Jerusalem, Netanya - what continues to happen - this resolution is dangerous.

Like most Americans, I support Israel.  However, also just like most Americans, I do not support - and will not support - all Israeli policies.

Generations of Palestinians and Israelis have suffered in the region. But the violence of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict cannot be examined or addressed in isolation of the decades of occupation of millions of Palestinians.

Israeli suffering is something this body has understood and discusses.  But what of the suffering of the Palestinian people?

What of the history of land confiscation, water rights, torture, settlements, collective punishment, home demolitions, curfews, administrative detentions and expulsions?

Where is the language about well over a thousand Palestinians killed in the last 19 months - bodies found under the rubble?

Where is the language about the thousands made homeless by the bulldozers in Jenin alone?

Where is the language about relief agencies denied access to treat the sick and wounded?

We also know that relief agencies (including the International Committee of the Red Cross) were prevented from reaching, evacuating, and treating the sick and wounded throughout the West Bank resulting in untold deaths.

From the mother who bled to death from a normally non-fatal wound in front of her children - to the couple buried alive under the rubble for eight days - the stories are coming to light and they are horrific.

Rarely is there discussion on this floor of the nearly 420 Palestinian villages destroyed at the time of Israel's founding in 1948.

Or the 3.8 million refugees registered by the United Nations and the estimated 2 million others not registered.  

Palestinians live in 59 different recognized refugee camps in poverty and with no hope in sight for a brighter future for the next generation born in the camps.

Can we know today what 38% unemployment in the West Bank or 75% unemployment in Gaza can do to a population?

And while we clung to the hope of the peace Oslo would bring, Palestinians saw a remarkable growth in settlements.  As of February, Peace Now estimates the settler population at 230,000, having approximately doubled in the last ten years under Oslo.

We are the only country that has been able to broker peace agreements in the Middle East.  

When Palestinians are searching through the rubble of their homes and all they find are the shell casings and shrapnel bearing the "made in the USA" label, how will this resolution help them to see past that?  How will this document assist us in getting the parties back to the table?  The short answer is it won't.

We owe it to the generations of Israelis and Palestinians who want to live a life free of violence and occupation to make peace a priority again. 

As Israelis deserve to live with stability and security, so too Palestinians deserve to live with dignity and justice.

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Congressman David E. Bonior represents Michigan's 10th Congressional District. As Democratic Whip, he is the highest-ranking person from Michigan to ever serve in the House Democratic Leadership. He is also running for Governor for the State of Michigan.