Barbara Boxer: “my heart is so heavy this morning as we learn of the increasing tensions in the Middle East. I join my friend from…”

“my heart is so heavy this morning as we learn of the increasing tensions in the Middle East. I join my friend from Arizona, Senator Kyl, in expressing our condolences to those American families who are grieving at the loss of their children by an unprovoked attack on one of our ships off the coast of Yemen. We are not exactly sure who did this. We suspect that it was terrorism. But, as Senator McCain said on one of the shows this morning as I listened to him, we will find out, and we will respond. The world should make no mistake about that. This morning I also want to call on Yasser Arafat to take control of the situation in the Middle East. There has been an incident where four Israeli soldiers were in Ramallah--the Israelis say that they had taken a wrong turn. They certainly weren't provoking anything. They were captured, and taken to the Palestinian authorities and to a detention center. Then a mob overtook the center and killed at least two of them. The reports vary. One report I heard said there was a lynching. I don't know that is accurate, but one report said that. You have now no rule of law. It is very difficult to negotiate a peace agreement when there is no rule of law on one side of the equation. I had been closely following this. I was very hopeful yesterday. Things looked as if they were going in a better direction. The word was that Yasser Arafat was, in fact, calming his people down. But it is time for him to do this now publicly.”