PenceBlog: Foreign Affairs Middle East Subcommittee hears testimony on Israel and Palestinian Peace Process - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence : 6th District Of Indiana

Congressman Pence, Ranking Member of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia delivered an opening statement before hearing the testimony of Daniel Pipes. Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum & distinguished visiting professor from Pepperdine University, testified before the committee on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians. Excerpts appear below along with links to the full text of their comments.

Congressman Pence: Full Text

Mr. Chairman, 59 years after the birth of the modern state of Israel, and 30 years after the beginning of the first Camp David accords, the very existence of Israel still goes unrecognized by the Palestinian leadership and most of the Islamic world.

The absurdity of Israel enduring years, approaching decades, of negotiations with an entity that does not recognize its right to exist is striking. And the fact that this is still a subject for negotiation is outrageous.

Mr. Chairman, contrary to some of the testimony we are about to hear, I believe that this problem is not shrouded in great mystery or complexity. As Ronald Reagan often said, “there is a simple answer— not an easy answer— but simple.” ...

...We will hear talk of being the “honest broker,” of the “road map” and the “Quartet,” of re-starting the peace process. We will hear a lot of discussion of confidence-building measures and processes and now of a “political horizon.” But, Mr. Chairman, I plead with the Palestinians and the Arab world—if they are serious about peace, take the simple — but not easy –step of recognizing Israel and renouncing violence against it.

Daniel Pipes: Full Text

What next in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which some call the “peace process”?

I shall argue three points: that these negotiations have been so counterproductive, they could better be called the “war process”; that their failure results from an Israeli conceptual error fifteen years ago about the nature of warfare; and that the U.S. government should urge Jerusalem to forego negotiations and return instead to its earlier policy of deterrence...

...Like all outsiders to the conflict, Americans face a stark choice: endorse the Palestinian goal of eliminating Israel or endorse the Israeli goal of winning its neighbors’ acceptance.
To state the choice makes clear that there is no choice – the first is offensive in intent; the second defensive. No decent person can endorse the Palestinians’ goal of eliminating their neighbor; along with every president since Harry S Truman, and every congressional resolution and vote since then, the 110th Congress must continue to stand with Israel in its drive to win acceptance.

Not only is this an obvious moral choice, but Israel’s win is actually the Palestinians’ as well. Israel’s success in crushing the Palestinians’ will to fight would actually be the best thing that ever happened to them. Compelling Palestinians finally to give up on their foul irredentist dream would liberate them to focus on their own polity, economy, society, and culture. Palestinians need to experience the certitude of defeat to become a normal people – one where parents stop celebrating their children becoming suicide terrorists, where something matters beyond the evil obsession of anti-Zionist rejectionism. There is no shortcut.

posted by Pence Press Office # 6:12 AM