| The
following speech was given on the Senate floor by Sen. Jim Inhofe of
Okalahoma dealing with peace in the middle east.
Sen. Inhofe is serving his 2nd term in the Senate from the State of
Okla. He is a Republican, a Presbyterian and a very "clear
thinker." The speech is a little long but worth reading every word.
If you wish to comment on
this speech to the Senator, you may email him at the following:
Jim_inhofe@inhofe.senate.gov
"PEACE
IN THE MIDDLE EAST"
Senate Floor Statement by U.S. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla)
http://inhofe.senate.gov
March 4, 2002
I was interested the
other day when I heard that the de facto ruler, Saudi Arabian
Crown Prince Abdullah, made a statement which was received by many in this
country as if it were a statement of fact, as if it were something new, a
concept for peace in the Middle East that no one had ever heard of before.
I was kind of
shocked that it was so well received by many people who had been down this
road before. I suggest to you that what Crown Prince Abdullah talked about
a few days ago was not new at all. He talked about the fact that under the
Abdullah plan, Arabs would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for
the Jewish state surrendering the territory it received after the 1967
Six-Day War as if that were something new. He went on to talk about other
land that had been acquired and had been taken by Israel. I remember so
well on December 4 when we covered all of this and the fact that there
isn't anything new about the prospect of giving up land that is rightfully
Israel's land in order to have peace. When it gets right down to it, the
land doesn't make that much difference because Yasser Arafat and others
don't recognize Israel's right to any of the land. They do not recognize
Israel's right to exist. I will discuss seven reasons, which I mentioned
once before, why Israel is entitled to the land they have and that it
should not be a part of the peace process. If this is something that
Israel wants to do, it is their business to do it.
But anyone who has tried to put the pressure on Israel to do this is
wrong. We are going to be hit by skeptics who are going to say we will be
attacked because of our support for Israel, and if we get out of the
Middle East--that is us--all the problems will go away. That is just not
true. If we withdraw, all of these problems will again come to our door. I
have some observations to make about that. But I would like to reemphasize
once again the seven reasons that Israel has the right to their
land.
#1: Archeological
Evidence
The first reason is that Israel has the right to the land because of all
of the
archeological evidence. That is reason # 1. All the archeological evidence
supports it. Every time there is a dig in Israel, it does nothing but
support the fact
that Israelis have had a presence there for 3,000 years. They have been
there for a long time. The coins, the cities, the pottery, the
culture--there are other people, groups that are there, but there is no
mistaking the fact that Israelis have been present in that land for 3,000
years. It predates any claims that other peoples in the regions may have.
The ancient Philistines are extinct. Many other ancient peoples are
extinct. They do not have the unbroken line to this date that the Israelis
have. Even the Egyptians of today are not racial Egyptians of 2,000,
3,000 years ago. They are primarily an Arab people. The land is called
Egypt, but they are not the same racial and ethnic stock as the old
Egyptians of the ancient world. The first Israelis are in fact descended
from the original Israelites. The first proof, then, is the archeology.
#2: The Historic Right
The second proof of Israel's right to the land is the historic right.
History supports it totally and completely. We know there has been an
Israel up until the time of the Roman Empire. The Romans conquered the
land. Israel had no homeland, although Jews were allowed to live there.
They were driven from the land in two dispersions: One was in 70 A,.D. and
the other was in 135 A.D. But there was always a Jewish presence in the
land. The Turks, who took over about 700 years ago and ruled the land up
until about World War I, had control. Then the land was conquered by the
British. The Turks entered World War I on the side of Germany. The British
knew they had to do something to punish Turkey, and also to break up that
empire that was going to be a part of the whole effort of Germany in World
War I. So the British sent troops against the Turks in the Holy Land. One
of the generals who was leading the British armies was a man named Allenby.
Allenby was a Bible-believing Christian. He carried a Bible with him
everywhere he went and he knew the significance of Jerusalem. The night
before the attack against Jerusalem to drive out the Turks, Allenby prayed
that God would allow him to capture the city without doing damage to the
holy places.
That day, Allenby sent World War I biplanes over the city of Jerusalem to
do a reconnaissance mission. You have to understand that the Turks had at
that time never seen an airplane. So there they were, flying around. They
looked in the sky and saw these fascinating inventions and did not know
what they were, and they were terrified by them. Then they were told they
were going to be opposed by a man named Allenby the next day, which means,
in their language, ``man sent from God'' or ``prophet from God.'' They
dared not fight against a prophet from God, so the next morning, when
Allenby went to take Jerusalem, he went in and captured it without firing
a single shot.
The British Government
was grateful to Jewish people around the world, particularly to one Jewish
chemist who helped them manufacture
niter. Niter is an ingredient that was used in nitroglycerin which was
sent over from the New World. But they did not have a way of getting it to
England. The German U-boats were shooting on the boats, so most of the
niter they were trying to import to make nitroglycerin was at the bottom
of the ocean. But a man named Weitzman, a Jewish chemist, discovered a way
to make it from materials that existed in England. As a result, they were
able to continue that supply. The British at that time said they were
going to give the Jewish people a homeland. That is all a part of history.
It is all written down in history.
A Jewish Homeland
They (the British) were gratified that the Jewish people, the bankers,
came through and helped finance the war. The homeland that Britain said it
would set aside consisted of all of what is now Israel and all of what was
then the nation of Jordan--the whole thing. That was what Britain promised
to give the Jews in 1917. In the beginning, there was some Arab support
for this action. There was not a huge Arab population in the land at that
time, and there is a reason for that. The land was not able to sustain a
large population of people. It just did not have the development it needed
to handle those people, and the land was not really wanted by anybody.
Nobody really wanted this land. It was considered to be worthless land. I
want the Presiding Officer to hear what Mark Twain said. And, of course,
you may have read ``Huckleberry Finn'' and ``Tom Sawyer.'' Mark
Twain--Samuel Clemens--took a tour of Palestine in 1867. This is how he
described that land. We are talking about Israel now. He (Twain) said:
"A desolate
country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A
silent, mournful expanse. We never saw a human being on the whole route.
There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the
cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the
country."
Where was this great
Palestinian nation? It did not exist. It was not there.
Palestinians were not
there. Palestine was a region named by the Romans, but at that time it was
under the control of Turkey, and there was no large mass of people there
because the land would not support them.
This is the report that
the Palestinian Royal Commission, created by the British, made. It quotes
an account of the conditions on the coastal plain along the Mediterranean
Sea in 1913. This is the Palestinian Royal Commission. They said:
"The road leading
from Gaza to the north was only a summer track, suitable for transport by
camels or carts. No orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen
until one reached the Yavnev village.
Houses were mud. Schools did not exist. The western part toward the sea
was
almost a desert. The villages in this area were few and thinly populated.
Many
villages were deserted by their inhabitants."
That was 1913.
The French author
Voltaire described Palestine as ``a hopeless, dreary place.'' In short,
under the Turks the land suffered from neglect and low population. That is
a historic fact. The nation became populated by both Jews and Arabs
because the land came to prosper when Jews came back and began to reclaim
it. Historically, they began to reclaim it. If there had never been any
archaeological evidence to support the rights of the Israelis to the
territory, it is also important to recognize that other nations in the
area have no longstanding claim to the country either. Did you know that
Saudi Arabia was not created until 1913, Lebanon until 1920? Iraq did not
exist as a nation until 1932, Syria until1941; the borders of Jordan were
established in 1946 and Kuwait in 1961. Any of these nations that would
say Israel is only a recent arrival would have to deny their own rights as
recent arrivals as well. They did not exist as countries. They were all
under the control of the Turks.
#3: The Practical Value
of the Israeli Presence
Historically, Israel gained its independence in 1948. The third reason
that land belongs to Israel is the practical value of the Israelis being
there. Israel
today is a modern marvel of agriculture. Israel is able to bring more food
out of a
desert environment than any other country in the world. The Arab nations
ought to make Israel their friend and import technology from Israel that
would allow all the Middle East, not just Israel, to become an exporter of
food. Israel has unarguable success in its agriculture.
#4: Post Holocaust
Humanitarian Concern
The fourth
reason I believe Israel has the right to the land is on the grounds of
humanitarian concern. You see, there were 6 million Jews slaughtered in
Europe in World War II. The persecution against the Jews had been very
strong in Russia since the advent of communism. It was against them even
before then under the Czars. These people have a right to their homeland.
If we are not going to allow them a homeland in the Middle East, then
where? What other
nation on Earth is going to cede territory, is going to give up land? They
are not
asking for a great deal. The whole nation of Israel would fit into my home
State of
Oklahoma seven times. It would fit into the Presiding Officer's State of
Georgia
seven times. They are not asking for a great deal. The whole nation of
Israel is
very small. It is a nation that, up until the time that claims started
coming in, was
not desired by anybody.
#5: The Only Democratic
Presence in the Middle East
The fifth reason Israel ought to have their land is that she is a
strategic ally of the United States. Whether we realize it or not, Israel
is a detriment, an impediment, to certain groups hostile to democracies
and hostile to what we believe in, hostile to that which makes us the
greatest nation in the history of the world. They have kept them from
taking complete control of the Middle East. If it were not for Israel,
they would overrun the region. They are our strategic ally. It is good to
know we have a friend in the Middle East on whom we can count. They vote
with us in the United Nations more than England, more than Canada, more
than France, more than Germany--more than any other country in the world.
#6: Israel, a Roadblock
to Terrorism
The sixth reason is that Israel is a roadblock to terrorism. The war we
(Americans) are now facing is not against a sovereign nation; it is
against a group of terrorists who are very fluid, moving from one country
to another. They are almost invisible. That is whom we are fighting
against today. We need every ally we can get. If we do not stop terrorism
in the Middle East, it will be on our shores. We have said this again and
again and again, and it is true. One of the reasons I believe the
spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of
America is that the policy of our Government has been to ask the Israelis,
and demand it with pressure, not to retaliate in a significant way against
the terrorist strikes that have been launched against them. Since its
independence in 1948, Israel has fought four wars: The war in 1948 and
1949--that was the war for independence--the war in 1956, the Sinai
campaign; the Six-Day War in 1967; and in 1973, the Yom Kippur War, the
holiest day of the year, and that was with Egypt and Syria. You have to
understand that in all four cases, Israel was attacked. They were not the
aggressor. Some people may argue that this was not true because they went
in first in 1956, but they knew at that time that Egypt was building a
huge military to become the aggressor. Israel, in fact, was not the
aggressor and has not been the aggressor in any of the four wars. Also,
they won all four wars against impossible odds. They are great warriors.
They consider a level playing field being outnumbered 2 to1. There were 39
Scud missiles that landed on Israeli soil during the gulf war. Our
President asked Israel not to respond. In order to have the Arab nations
on board, we asked Israel not to participate in the war. They showed
tremendous restraint and did not. Now we have asked them to stand back and
not do anything over these last several attacks. We have criticized them.
We have criticized them in our media. Local people in television and radio
often criticize Israel, not knowing the true facts. We need to be
informed. I was so thrilled when I heard a reporter pose a question to our
Secretary of State, Colin Powell. He said: Mr. Powell, the United States
has advocated a policy of restraint in the Middle East. We have
discouraged Israel from retaliation again and again and again because
we've said it leads to continued escalation--that it escalates the
violence. Are we going to follow that preaching ourselves? Mr. Powell
indicated we would strike back. In other words, we can tell Israel not to
do it, but when it hits us, we are going to do something.
But all that changed in
December when the Israelis went into the Gaza with gunships and into the
West Bank with F-16s. With the exception of last May, the Israelis had not
used F-16s since the 1967 6-Day War. And I am so proud of them because we
have to stop terrorism. It is not going to go away. If Israel were driven
into the sea tomorrow, if every Jew in the Middle Eastwere killed,
terrorism would not end. You know that in your heart. Terrorism would
continue. It is not just a matter of Israel in the Middle East. It is the
heart of the very people who are perpetrating this stuff. Should they be
successful in overrunning Israel--which they won't be--but should they be,
it would not be enough. They will never be satisfied.
#7: Biblical Support**(See
Editor's Note)
I believe very strongly that we ought to support Israel; that it has a
right to the land. This is the most important reason:
Because God said so. As I said a minute ago, look it up in the book of
Genesis. It is right up there on the desk. In Genesis 13:14-17, the Bible
says: The Lord
said to Abram, ``Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you
are
northward, and southward, and eastward and westward: for all the land
which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever. .....
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it;
for I will give it to thee.'' That is God talking. The Bible says that
Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is
in Hebron, and built there an altar before the Lord. Hebron is in the West
Bank. It is at this place where God appeared to Abram and said, ``I am
giving you this land,''--the West Bank. This is not a political battle at
all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true.
The seven reasons, I am
convinced, clearly establish that Israel has a right to the land. Eight
years ago on the lawn of the White House, Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with
PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. It was a historic occasion. It was a tragic
occasion. At that time, the official policy of the Government of Israel
began to be, ``Let us appease the terrorists. Let us begin to trade the
land for peace.'' This process continued unabated up until last year. Here
in our own Nation, at Camp David, in the summer of 2000, then Prime
Minister of Israel Ehud Barak offered the most generous concessions to
Yasser Arafat that had ever been laid on the table. He offered him more
than 90 percent of all the West Bank territory, sovereign control of it.
There were some parts he did not want to offer, but in exchange for that
he said he would give up land in Israel proper that the PLO had not even
asked for. And he also did the unthinkable. He even spoke of dividing
Jerusalem and allowing the Palestinians to have their capital there in the
East. Yasser Arafat stormed out of the meeting. Why did he storm out of
the meeting? Everything he had said he wanted was offered there. It was
put into his hands. Why did he storm out of the meeting?
A couple of months later, there began to be riots,
terrorism. The riots began when now Prime Minister Ariel Sharon went to
the Temple Mount. And this was used as the thing that lit the fire and
that caused the explosion. Did you know that Sharon did not go unannounced
and that he contacted the Islamic authorities before he went and secured
their permission and had permission to be there? It was no surprise. The
response was very carefully calculated. They knew the world would not pay
attention to the details. They would portray this in the Arab world as an
attack upon the holy mosque. They would portray it as an attack upon that
mosque and use it as an excuse to riot. Over the last 8 years, during this
time of the peace process, where the Israeli public has pressured its
leaders to give up land for peace because they are tired of fighting,
there has been increased terror. In fact, it has been greater in the last
8 years than any other time in Israel's history.
Showing restraint and giving in has not produced any kind of peace. It is
so much
so that today the leftist peace movement in Israel does not exist because
the
people feel they were deceived. They did offer a hand of peace, and it was
not
taken. That is why the politics of Israel have changed drastically over
the past 12
months. The Israelis have come to see that, ``No matter what we do, these
people do not want to deal with us. ..... They want to destroy us.'' That
is why even yet today the stationery of the PLO still has upon it the map
of the entire state of Israel, not just the tiny little part they call the
West Bank that they want. They want it all. We have to get out of this
mind set that somehow you can buy peace in the Middle East by giving
little plots of land. It has not worked before when it has been offered.
These seven reasons show why Israel is entitled to that land.
**Editor’s note:
The Quran (Muslim Holy Book) states that the Bible has been corrupted,
(that the promises are for Ishmael, rather than Isaac, etc.), but offers
no objective evidence to such claims. The fact is there are in existence
today copies of the Hebrew scriptures that predate the first writings of
Mohammed by nearly 1500 years, setting them closer to the time of the
actual historic events. These
copies of the Tenach (Old Testament) are virtually identical to the copies
printed around the world today. Thus
the testimony given about Creation, the nature of God, Israel, the Jewish
people, and the Person of Messiah cannot rationally be dismissed as false
or irrelevant.
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