Tom Lantos: “I commend the President's speech on the Middle East, and I strongly support his vision. In calling for new Palestinian…”

“I commend the President's speech on the Middle East, and I strongly support his vision. In calling for new Palestinian leadership and democratic reforms, the President has announced the end of the Arafat era. Never has an end been so richly deserved. Having been handed an opportunity after an opportunity, Yasser Arafat has led the Palestinians to death, murder and destruction. Now, as President Bush made clear, it is time for the Palestinians to choose a new leader, a new type of leader, nonviolent, democratic and noncorrupt, if there is to be hope for peace. Every American agrees that the nations committed to peace must oppose regimes that support terror, nations such as Iraq and Iran, and that the dictatorship in Syria, whose foreign minister last week defended suicide bombers by saying 'they have a right to their opinion,' must once and for all close all terrorist camps and expel all terrorist organizations not only from Syria but from Lebanon it illegally occupies. As for the Palestinians, Mr. Speaker, if they reject the culture of death and embrace the President's prerequisites for peace by electing new leaders, building democracy, ending anti-Israel incitement, committing to nonviolence, and destroying their terrorist infrastructure, I shall fight as hard as I can for the President's program, including humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people.”