Commending Palestinian People for Holding Free and Fair
COMMENDING PALESTINIAN PEOPLE FOR HOLDING FREE AND FAIR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION -- (Extensions of Remarks - February 08, 2005)
SPEECH OF
HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I would like to join my colleagues in offering my congratulations to the Palestinian people on the recent election of Mahmoud Abbas as the second president of the Palestinian Authority.
After 4 long years of terror and bloodshed, the hope for peace that has spread through Israel and the Palestinian Territories in the last two-and-a-half months has been welcomed by Israelis and Palestinians. Not since the heady days following the signing of the Oslo Accords in September 1993, has there been this much optimism for better relations between Israel and the Palestinians.
I have been encouraged by the deepening contacts between Israelis and Palestinians following the death of Yasser Arafat and I am hopeful that next week's summit in Egypt between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Abbas will lay the groundwork for cooperative planning as Israel prepares to pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank later this year. Planning and coordination between Israeli and Palestinian security forces would improve the chance for a peaceful transition to Palestinian control in Gaza.
I also hope that the election of President Abbas will finally mark a clear rejection of terrorism by the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. For too long, Yasser Arafat would say one thing to Israelis and Americans and another to his own people about the centrality of renouncing violence. President Abbas appears to understand that terrorism has brought only suffering to his people and that the only path to statehood for the Palestinian people is the path of negotiation.
Although President Abbas won the presidency by a healthy margin in last month's election, he has no real base of political support with the PA, nor does he enjoy great popular support among the Palestinian electorate. Thus, he will need to build support by demonstrating to the Palestinians that he can negotiate effectively with Israel and by securing U.S. political and economic assistance.
I know that the Israeli government understands the tenuousness of President Abbas's situation and has both sought to build confidence in him by easing up on security clampdowns in the territories and by showing restraint in not responding to a series of inflammatory statements by Abbas during the recent campaign.
President Bush's request for $350 million in assistance to the Palestinians is an important signal that the United States also sees President Abbas as a serious partner in the search for peace between Israel and Palestinians. I share the President's vision of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and I am glad to see that he has backed up that vision with a substantial request for U.S. assistance.
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