INTRODUCING A BIPARTISAN RESOLUTION EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR ADDRESSING THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT IN A CONCURRENT TRACK WITH THE ISRAELI- PALESTINIAN PEACE PROCESS AND COMMENDING ARAB AND MUSLIM...; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 31
(Extensions of Remarks - February 19, 2019)
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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTRODUCING A BIPARTISAN RESOLUTION EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR ADDRESSING
THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT IN A CONCURRENT TRACK WITH THE ISRAELI-
PALESTINIAN PEACE PROCESS AND COMMENDING ARAB AND MUSLIM-MAJORITY
STATES THAT HAVE IMPROVED BILATERAL RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL
______
HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS
of florida
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Mr. HASTINGS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bipartisan
resolution supporting the concurrent-track approach to the Israeli-
Palestinian peace process. I want to acknowledge and thank my
colleagues, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, and
Representatives David Schweikert and Rob Woodall, for introducing this
resolution with me today.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict presents an immensely difficult
challenge--a challenge to which there are no easy answers. Successive
United States Presidential administrations have pursued peace
agreements between the parties for over three decades, from the 1982
Reagan Plan for Middle East Peace to the 1993 Oslo Accords, Camp David
Summit, Clinton Parameters, Annapolis Conference, and efforts to
restart the peace process under the Obama Administration. President
Donald Trump has announced that he too will soon unveil a plan for
peace.
Despite a lack of progress on a formal agreement, Israel and some of
her Arab neighbors have worked quietly and behind the scenes to improve
bilateral relations in recent years. Common threats posed by Iran and
violent extremism allowed for new dialogue to take root, and today,
Israel enjoys closer relations to many of its neighbors in the region.
These efforts represent an opportunity to improve security, stability,
and prosperity in the Middle East. The concurrent-track approach--where
Arab and Muslim-majority states work to improve their bilateral
relations with Israel as Israel and the Palestinian Authority work
concurrently to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process--should
be embraced by our government as a new paradigm for the region. The
resolution I am introducing today expresses support for this approach
and commends Arab and Muslim-majority states that have already taken
steps to improve their bilateral relations with Israel.
I, like nearly all of my colleagues in Congress, continue to support
a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, negotiated
between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and
resulting in two states for two peoples, living side-by-side in peace,
security, and mutual recognition. This is the only way to ensure that
both the Israeli people and the Palestinian people can have sovereign
homelands. The inability to achieve a two-state solution threatens the
State of Israel's security and identity as the democratic homeland of
the Jewish people, just as it impedes the well-being and self-
determination of the Palestinian people.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure passage of
this resolution.
____________________