House Resolution Condemning Palestinian Rocket Attacks (January 29, 2008)

With rocket fire from the Gaza Strip escalating, already 68 members of Congress are co-sponsoring House Resolution 951, condemning the more than 4,000 rockets that have been fired at Sderot and other Israeli towns since Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza. The rocket fire continues to escalate and to represent the greatest obstacle to Israel’s ongoing attempts to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinians.

Condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and for other purposes.

January 29, 2008

Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. HENSARLING, and Ms. BERKLEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

Condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and for other purposes.

Whereas more than 4,000 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other terrorist organizations since Israeli forces withdrew from there in 2005;

Whereas, since January 1, 2008, terrorists have fired more than 420 rockets and mortar shells into Israel;

Whereas the near-daily rocket fire has been targeted primarily and intentionally at civilian communities in Israel, such as Sderot and Ashkelon, making life in such areas agonizing;

Whereas the terrorist rockets have hit homes, buildings, roads, power lines, and other such infrastructure in Israel;

Whereas these rocket attacks have forced Israel to suffer dozens of casualties, hundreds of shock victims, thousands of traumatized children, and severe disruption of daily life;

Whereas military intelligence reports indicate that the rockets used in the attacks on Israel are made in Iran and often smuggled into Gaza through Egypt;

Whereas Haaretz has reported that no fewer than 1,650 rockets and 6,000 bombs, as well as millions of bullets for light weapons and tons of potassium for manufacturing bombs, were smuggled into Gaza through Egypt in 2007 alone; and

Whereas the launching of the rockets by Hamas is made possible largely by technical expertise provided by the Iranian and Syrian Governments: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved,

(1) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the ongoing Iranian-enabled rocket attacks on Israeli civilians;

(2) supports the sovereign right of the Government of Israel to defend its territory and stop the rocket attacks on its citizens;

(3) recognizes the difficult balance Israel faces as the competing pressures of being the primary supplier of numerous necessities for Palestinian civilians, such as fuel, electricity, and medicine, even while rockets are being fired at Israel from Palestinian areas;

(4) supports Palestinian civilians who reject Hamas and all forms of terrorism, desiring to live in peace with their Israeli neighbors;

(5) places responsibility for launching the rocket attacks on Hamas and other terrorist organizations, such as Islamic Jihad, in Gaza;

(6) regards these rocket attacks and the fostering of terrorism in the Palestinian territories as direct hindrances to the peace process in the region;

(7) recognizes that the rocket attacks against Israel would not be possible without the material support of the Governments of Iran and Syria;

(8) calls on all nations, including Egypt, to take affirmative, transparent, verifiable steps to stop the flow of rockets and other terrorism-enabling materials (including human resources) to the Palestinian territories; and

(9) reaffirms the strong and unyielding friendship between the governments and the people of Israel and the United States.