Relating to the 40th Anniversary of the Reunification of Jerusalem
Floor Speech
RELATING TO THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REUNIFICATION OF JERUSALEM -- (House of Representatives - June 05, 2007)
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 152) relating to the 40th anniversary of the reunification of the City of Jerusalem, as amended.
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Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself such time as I might consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to join my good friend from Florida, the distinguished ranking member of our committee, in recognizing the 40th anniversary of one of the great military triumphs of the 20th century, the so-called Six Day War. Some of us remember and everybody has read about the attempt of the neighboring Arab countries to annihilate the State of Israel 40 years ago. In a brilliant preemptive move, the Israeli military moved ahead and destroyed the air forces and much of the military of the neighboring countries which were ready to destroy it.
The Six Day War transformed the shape of the Middle East and brought about the unification of the city of Jerusalem. Prior to the Six Day War, Jerusalem was closed to Israelis. Following the Six Day War, members of all faiths have had full and free access to the city of Jerusalem, and places of worship, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, are available to all individuals who seek an opportunity for peaceful prayer.
This body and the other body some years back called for the proper placement of the United States embassy in Israel's capital in Jerusalem. My good friend, the late Senator Patrick Moynihan, and I introduced this legislation which was strongly supported with significant majorities in both the House and the Senate. But administrations since that time have seen fit to postpone the move of our embassy to Jerusalem.
I earnestly hope that with this commemorative resolution we again call the attention of this administration to its promise, clear and unequivocal, to move the embassy to Israel's capital, Jerusalem. Our embassy is in the capital of every single country with which we maintain diplomatic relations and the capital is designated by the country concerned. It is long overdue that this administration honor the President's personal commitment to move the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, before yielding back my time, I would like to make a couple of observations. As my colleagues pointed out, two of Israel's neighbors, Jordan and Egypt, have signed historic peace agreements with the State of Israel. And while this peace is not a full-fledged, blossoming, all-encompassing peace agreement, it certainly has meant the end of hostilities and the beginning of commercial, cultural, educational, touristic and diplomatic relations.
The time is long overdue for Israel to be able to reach an agreement with both Lebanon and Syria, as well as the Palestinian people, so this long-suffering area, where all of the people have suffered for far too long and far too severely, at long last can be a region of peace and reconciliation.
For this to come about, terrorism must end. You cannot make peace with people who are plotting daily to destroy your very existence. When Israel evacuated Gaza, it expected peace from that area. But, under Hamas, daily rocket attacks are unleashed on peaceful civilian Israeli border communities. Two women were killed just in recent weeks as a result of these monstrousattacks. Hezbollah in the north similarly is sworn to terrorism.
This must be put to an end if this important region is to join much of the rest of the world in moving ahead with economic progress, social progress, and the reconciliation of people.
I honestly hope that our resolution paying tribute to the victory 40 years ago and reminding ourselves of our formal commitment to move the U.S. Embassy to its proper location in Jerusalem will serve as a reminder that the time is long overdue for normalizing the situation in this region.
The end of terrorism, the move of our Embassy, will bring about a long prayed for and hoped for period of peace.
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