Tom Lantos

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am honored to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the Democratic leader. (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume, before yielding to our closing speaker, to just say, if my colleagues wish to see the terrorist organization Hezbollah control an international border and provide the opportunity for further bloodshed in the region, vote against this amendment. If my colleagues want peace in the Middle East and a stable border, vote for my amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel).

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor).

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley).

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, first let me say my amendment has the intent of not withdrawing one single dime of economic and technical assistance to Lebanon. As a matter of fact, I earlier offered to cosponsor with some of the opponents a measure that would increase economic and technical assistance to Lebanon. My amendment is designed to stop the aid to Hezbollah-controlled communities. It is absurd that American taxpayer funds are used to support Hezbollah activities, which is, in fact, what is taking place as of today. If American taxpayers would know that their funds are used to enhance Hezbollah goals, they would be in revolt against that. Every dime currently appropriated for economic and technical assistance to Lebanon, I support; and I am ready to increase that amount. But I want to be sure that those funds go to communities, organizations and institutions that are not under the control of Hezbollah. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am delighted to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Ackerman).

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is a very simple but a very important amendment. The amendment, Mr. Chairman, has two aspects. The first aspect is by far the most important, and I offered my colleagues on the other side to drop the second aspect because that is not the thrust of the amendment. So let me deal with the first aspect which is critical for preserving peace and stability along the Israeli-Lebanese border. The amendment does not intend to take one thin dime in economic aid going to Lebanon as long as it does not go to the Hezbollah terrorists. Last summer, Israel withdrew all of its forces from the territory of Lebanon. Lebanon was obligated under U.N. Resolution 425 to deploy its robust army of some 60,000 people on the Lebanese-Israeli border to prevent the recurrence of another war in the area. As Members will recall, Mr. Chairman, in 1982, terrorists controlled that border, a war ensued, and 17,000 innocent people were killed. A portion of the Lebanese-Israeli border today is controlled by Hezbollah terrorists. This is a well-known fact and the Lebanese Ambassador a few days ago confirmed it to me personally. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, made the following statement concerning Lebanon's responsibilities with respect to the deployment of their forces on the border: ``I believe that the time has come to establish the state of affairs envisaged in Resolution 425. This requires first and foremost that the government of Lebanon take effective control of the whole area vacated by Israel last spring and assume its full international responsibilities, including putting an end to the dangerous provocations that have continued across the line.'' Our own Secretary of State last summer made the following statement: ``Those with authority in Lebanon now have a clear responsibility to ensure that the area bordering Israel is not used to launch attacks.'' Attacks, Mr. Chairman, are being launched daily, most recently yesterday. And attacks invite retaliation. The most recent Israeli retaliation resulted in the death of three Syrian soldiers, which indicates the direction in which we are going. There will be more terrorist attacks by Hezbollah, there will be stronger retaliation, and we may be on the verge of yet another military confrontation, a bloodbath in the Middle East, which is the last thing U.S. national interests would call for. Let me spend a minute or two, Mr. Chairman, on the question of the nature of Hezbollah, the terrorist group which clearly controls a portion of an international border because the Lebanese Army is not deployed there. It is this group, in conjunction with similar terrorist groups, which in recent years was responsible for the murder of 241 American Marines at the Marine barracks in Lebanon, 19 of our military at Khobar Towers, and 17 in the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, 277 military who have been forced to give up their lives because of this interlocking, complex web of extremist terrorism. We are now allowing them, unless we pass this amendment, to control a portion of an international border. Now, no people have suffered more in the last few decades than the Lebanese people as a result of war being waged on their territory. My resolution would secure that border, would eliminate the terrorist presence from that border, and would see to it that just as the Egyptian-Israeli border is now secure, the Jordanian-Israeli border is now secure, even the Syrian-Israeli border is secure, the final border between Lebanon and Israel would be secured on the one side by the Israeli military and on the other side by Lebanon's 60,000-strong military. It is difficult to fathom who would benefit from allowing a border, an international border in a volatile and fragile and explosive area, being controlled by terrorists who openly and clearly desire no return to the peace process. They want the bloodbath to continue. They would like nothing more but yet another explosion of military hostilities. I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LANTOS. I think doubling the original amount is reasonable.

Mr. LANTOS. Twenty minutes. Each side would have 10 minutes.

Mr. LANTOS. If the gentleman will yield, let me be sure that I understand my friend. I am asking for an additional 10 minutes equally divided between the proponents and the opponents, which I believe is fair.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the time allotted for the discussion of this amendment be extended by an additional 10 minutes equally divided between the proponents and the opponents. I have discussed it with the distinguished chairman who had no objection.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) have 2 minutes to explain his amendment we just adopted.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's offer, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LANTOS. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the amendment we are discussing was introduced by our colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner), calling for a State Department travel warning to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. I commend him for his leadership on this important issue.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner), I offer an amendment on his behalf. He will arrive momentarily.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call the attention of my colleagues to a poignant and powerful article about the increasing violence we are witnessing in Israel. The author of the article, Sherri Lederman Mandell, is the mother of one of the two teenage boys who was found stoned to death in a cave last week. Her words provide us with an insightful look into the lives of Israelis living on the front lines of the violence in Israel. We must not lose sight of the human element of the issues which we debate. The decisions we are trusted to make impact the lives of real people, a fact too often forgotten. This is especially true for the current violence in Israel, where personal testimonies are often drowned out by pools of rhetoric and propaganda. The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that innocent Israelis are forced to live lives full of fear of violence and terror. Confined to their homes by the violence that surrounds them, these brave people hold out hope that peace will occur one day. Mr. Speaker, I ask that this entire article ``No Escape, No More to Give'' by Sherri Lederman Mandell, and published in the May 14th edition of the Washington Post be placed in the Congressional Record. I urge my colleagues to carefully consider the tragic human suffering that persists in the Middle East and which the author describes so vividly in this excellent article. [From the Washington Post, May 14, 2001] No Escape, No More to Give (By Sherri Lederman Mandell) We want to stop listening to the news and watching TV. It is so unbearable that we have reached the point of saturation; no more--no more listening to reports about our children, our soldiers, our husbands, our mothers, our fathers dead, maimed, dying, lost, suffering. My friend Leah this morning had to pay a mourning visit to a friend whose husband died on Friday. He was on his way from Neve Yaakov, home to Beit Shemesh, and was found in the trunk of his car, dead. It's not clear whether the killing was criminal or terrorist. The astonishing thing is that we talk about this story and feel as though the world is lost. Then, 10 minutes later we're talking about our diets. Everyone I know is on a diet. Why? Because our weight is all we can control. I am cleaning house, something I generally don't do. Each corner has to be swept, each bed needs to be made. It is a way of feeling that I can cope. My house is clean and in order, so the world is good. My friend Shira who is a former SDS member, a feminist and now a therapeutic masseuse, has been reading romance novels-- for the first time in her life. She also is decorating the walls of her house with shell sculptures that she fastens with concrete glue. She is busy designing waves and a sun. She is building a life of freedom within the confines of her four walls, the only place she feels safe nowadays. Suddenly, everyone is home for Independence Day. The only picnic is one that is close by, one that we don't have to drive to with our whole family in the car. We say a special prayer in the synagogue on Friday for Linda and Bobby who were shot at on the tunnel road--shots were fired over their car, the road was closed and they turned around and went back, unhurt. This is our freedom and independence in our own country. During Holocaust Day, you could hear the sounds of gunfire and tank fire from Gilo and Bethlehem as the prime minister made his speech at Yad Vashem praising Israel as the land where the Jews are free to defend themselves. On Independence Day, my daughter read the names of 12 people from our area who were killed in the most recent battles. This is not Holocaust Day; this is not some distant battle. This is the battle of today. We can try to deny it, but we can't escape it--a battle is raging around us. No matter how much we don't want to listen, we lie in bed and hear the shooting. There is no way not to listen. But what is the message we are supposed to hear? It's not clear anymore. We want peace, but peace is a word that is not the absence of war. Peace has to have value in itself. We have been dreaming about peace. But we have been dreaming with our eyes closed. Now our eyes are open. We can't escape the sounds of battle. And what is most alarming is this: The battle is a result of giving everything we could. To give more, makes no sense. The writer's 13-year-old son, Koby, was stoned to death in a cave in Israel last week; she wrote this piece before her son's death, and it is published now with her permission.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez). (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume to mention to my good friend from Virginia that not one dime of American taxpayer funds are devoted to abortion purposes abroad. Mr. Chairman, I am delighted to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega), my good friend and colleague. (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)