E594 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks April 22, 2002 PALESTINIANS DESERVE BETTER a justification for the murder of innocent ci- Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in LEADERS vilians? The philosopher Michael Walzer re- Pottstown, Pennsylvania. As the oldest African cently argued that those who claim to have American congregation in the Pottstown com- tried everything before resorting to terror HON. TOM LANTOS are lying to us and to themselves. He asks, munity, the church has had a long commit- OF CALIFORNIA ‘‘What exactly did they try when they were ment to serving the spiritual needs of the com- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES trying everything?’’ There’s always some- munity. thing else you can do short of killing. The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Monday, April 22, 2002 But many of the most vocal supporters of Church was formally established in 1871. Over Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, today, Israel is the Palestinian cause would rather not ad- the course of its long history, the church has dress these moral issues. Instead they want engaged in a struggle against violence and grown and expanded as the number of mem- terror. Suicide bombings promoted and abet- only to criticize Ariel Sharon. Even if you cringe, as I do, at reports of mass arrests and bers increased. ted by Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Au- the bulldozing of Palestinian homes, Mr. On May 20, 2001, the Reverend Vernon thority have ravaged Israeli cities and towns Sharon is right about one thing: There is no Ross, Jr. was officially appointed pastor of the killing scores of innocent Israeli men, women difference between the murder-suicides per- church. Under his leadership, the church has and children. Arafat’s refusal to denounce— petrated in the name of Palestinian state- continued to strengthen spiritually and finan- persistently, convincingly and in Arabic—these hood and Osama bin Laden’s attacks on cially. The church membership and Sunday atrocious suicide bombings is indicative of a American civilians. You cannot, as many pro Palestinian groups in this country have School have continued to grow and an after man who has no interest in a cease-fire, much done, denounce the latter and justify the school tutorial program has been initiated. less a lasting peace settlement. Palestinians former. Those who do invite us to question Throughout its history, Bethel African Meth- are sadly ill-served by irresponsible leaders either the sincerity of their denunciations of odist Episcopal Church has served the needs who advocate violence and homicide instead Sept. 11 or their capacity for moral consist- of many members. It has been successful in of peace. ency. bringing many people together in Christian I’m not sure where any of this leaves us. I would like to call to your attention an arti- brotherhood. As one of the oldest churches in cle that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Even if the supporters of the Palestinian cause denounced suicide bombing just as ve- Montgomery County, it stands as a pillar of April 11, 2002 by Tarek E. Masoud, a grad- hemently as they do Mr. Sharon, we might strength and prosperity in the Pottstown com- uate student at Yale University. His points are be satisfied, but this would not stop the munity. It is a privilege to recognize Bethel Af- accurate and relevant to the current crisis. steady stream of volunteers for the grim rican Methodist Episcopal Church on their Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to read work of Hamas and the al Aqsa Martyrs Bri- 131st anniversary. Tarek E. Masoud’s thought-provoking article, gade. f and I ask that the text be placed in the This is why I think President Bush has the right idea when he demands that Arafat con- RECORD. demn suicide bombing, and in Arabic. There BUSH ADMINISTRATION FAILS TO [From the Wall Street Journal, Apr. 11, 2001] may be little the isolated Palestinian PREVENT ERGONOMIC INJURIES PALESTINIANS DESERVE BETTER LEADERS strongman can do now to control the groups (By Tarek E. Masoud) that carry out acts of terrorism. But he can HON. GEORGE MILLER tell his people that the path of murder is the Those of us who watched Palestinian kids path of doom, that it has only brought OF CALIFORNIA throw stones at Israeli soldiers and tanks shame to the people of Palestine and done IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES during the intifada of the late 1980s find it nothing to further their cause. Of course, we Monday, April 22, 2002 hard to reconcile those images of bravery may be indulging in some wishful thinking. and daring with the current wave of atroc- ‘‘General Yasser Arafat,’’ as he called him- Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. ities carried out in the name of Palestine. self recently on CNN, is not likely to become Speaker, the Bush Administration’s failure to The stone-throwing youths of the first a moral force. If he had any inclination to do promulgate rules to protect America’s working intifada made it easy for reasonable people the right thing, he would have reined in the men and women from the leading cause of (who always saw Yasser Arafat for the ter- terrorists long before Mr. Sharon was even workplace injury—musculoskeletal disorders— rorist that he was) to get behind the Pales- elected. tinian cause. Today, when Palestine has be- It is by now the received wisdom that Pal- is disgraceful. The Congress last year un- come synonymous with the murder of inno- estinians deserve better leaders. We are of- wisely repealed the ergonomics safety stand- cents, supporting the cause is not so easy. fered an example of the kind of leadership ard developed by the Clinton Administration One constantly has to separate the justness they need by the esteemed British historian after years of study by the leading medical re- of the cause from the injustice of the acts Martin Gilbert. In 1948, the U.N. mediator in searchers in the country. At that time, Labor carried out in its name. It is a near impos- Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, was as- Secretary Chao pledged to develop a scientif- sible feat of mental acrobatics. sassinated by members of the Stern Gang, a ically sound standard expeditiously. What disturbs me is the degree to which Jewish militant group that included a future many supporters of Palestinian statehood do prime minister of Israel named Yitzhak Now, more than a year later, with the find- not even attempt it. They issue pro forma Shamir. In the half century since then, ings of three major studies confirming the denunciations of suicide bombing, and then Arabs have often pointed to the episode to need for an ergonomics standard, the Bush go on to offer justifications. The Palestin- justify their own acts of terror. Administration has proposed a replacement ians, they tell us, are frustrated by their But what Arabs seem to forget—and what ergonomics policy that provides for no rule, lack of freedom, by the erosion of the dignity Palestinians would do well to remember—is but asks for voluntary compliance instead and, by an Israel that places settlers on their land how David Ben-Gurion, the father of modern so far, targets only a single industry. Israel, responded to that murder carried out and soldiers outside their homes. They are a As a result of the Administration’s dilatory people with their backs against the wall. in the name of the Jewish state. According After 50 years of occupation, we are told, the to Mr. Gilbert, when Ben-Gurion learned of and simplistic approach, millions of workers Palestinians have thrown their hands in the the assassination of Count Bernadotte, he will suffer preventable injuries and disabilities, air and declared, quite literally, Give me lib- thundered: ‘‘Arrest all Stern gang leaders. and costly lawsuits will be used to resolve in- erty or give me death. Surround all Stern bases. Confiscate all dividual cases of injury. But of course, as Thomas Friedman and arms. Kill any who resist.’’ Yes, the Pal- The Bush Administration’s serious failure to others have pointed out, the choice before estinians deserve better leaders. What they protect our neighbors and friends who live with deserve is a David Ben-Gurion. the Palestinians is not between liberty and the pain of preventable ergonomic injuries has death. Israel’s leaders long ago accepted the f been the subject of extensive and justified crit- logic of a Palestinian state; they put forward proposals for what that state would look 131ST ANNIVERSARY OF BETHEL icism. I want to share the views of the Contra like, and they haggled with the Palestinians AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL Costa Times (April 12, 2002) on the need for over these proposals. Whatever one wants to CHURCH IN POTTSTOWN, PENN- a sound ergonomics standard, and the failure say about the quality of Israeli proposals or SYLVANIA of the Bush Administration to address the haz- the personal commitment of Ariel Sharon to ards that injure nearly 2 million Americans a Palestinian state—and I happen to think every year. (Excerpts from the editorial follow:) both were fairly low—surely the Palestinians HON. JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL were not in a hopeless situation, the kind of OF PENNSYLVANIA SAFE JOB NOT A LOT TO ASK situation which, we are told, causes sane IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The Bush Administration has let the work- men and women to fall into murder and sui- Monday, April 22, 2002 ing person down by allowing workplace cide? rules, such as those regarding ergonomics, to And, even if the situation were hopeless, if Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in become voluntary. It would be going too far all the options were exhausted, is there ever celebration of the 131st anniversary of the for the government to mandate the brand of
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