Middle East
Keeping U.S.-Israel Relations Strong

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No foreign policy challenges have been more difficult to resolve peacefully than those in the Middle East. The violence and destruction there are intolerable, and must be addressed with the full resolve of the United States government.

The bedrock of our nation’s Middle East policy must remain a strong relationship between the U.S. and Israel. As a Member of Congress, I have worked with my colleagues - Republicans and Democrats alike - to further strengthen the special relationship we have with the Israeli people and their government.

In 2001, I traveled to Israel twice to show solidarity with the people of Israel in the face of terrorism. In May 2002, I led the bipartisan congressional delegation with Congressman Jim Saxton of New Jersey. We were the first U.S. congressional delegation to visit Israel after the Passover Massacre and six days after the Israeli response. On that visit, I presented Prime Minister Arial Sharon with a Congressional Resolution condemning Palestinian terrorism and supporting Israel's right to defend itself.

My meetings with Israeli leaders, including the Prime Minister and his foreign and defense ministers, reinforced my view that Israel must root out terrorists to protect its citizens, and that Yasser Arafat is unwilling to thwart terrorist activities in the territories he controls.

In the Senate, I will continue to work with my colleagues to maintain pressure on the White House to hold Arafat accountable for his support of terrorism and failure to put an end to it. I will use the floor of the Senate, as I have done repeatedly in the House, to inform my colleagues and the public of Arafat's personal culpability for bankrolling terrorists. If the peace process is to work, Yasser Arafat cannot be part of it.

I will press for a lasting plan for peace that ensures that Israeli borders will be safe and secure for generations to come. While many were quick to praise last year’s Saudi peace plan as a step forward, I authored an analysis in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel finding the Saudi plan neither new nor specific, and in reality an attempt to divert attention away from Arafat's failure to combat terrorism.

A lasting peace must be built on US-Israel solidarity throughout the process. With the U.S. as the mediator, many Middle Eastern countries engage in an honest and open dialogue with Israel, and Israel can be confident that the U.S. will continue to safeguard its security and well being. That is the foundation for peace that I will fight for in the United States Senate.

I also believe that any permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be rooted in mutual understanding achieved through teaching tolerance instead of hatred to future generations.

In Congress, I have spearheaded several initiatives now working to guarantee that American tax dollars are not used to fund textbooks of intolerance. During the appropriations process, I worked to ensure that the State Department had the funds necessary to monitor Palestinian textbooks. I then worked directly with State Department officials to make certain that we placed a liaison abroad to work with the United Nations Relief Works Agency and the Palestinian Authority to ensure that anti-Semitic material would not be included in textbooks. As your Senator, I will continue to press for programs that teach young people in the Middle East that peace is possible if we first respect each other and our right to live as we choose.

Our support for Israel must never waver. Nor should our commitment to finding a lasting peace so that future generations of children do not grow up believing that the ravages of terrorism and war are a way of life. As your Senator, I’ll work tirelessly for both.