DENNIS A. CARDOZA: “Mr. Deutch, thank you for putting together this Special Order this evening. As you all know, the Palestinian Authority…”

“Mr. Deutch, thank you for putting together this Special Order this evening. As you all know, the Palestinian Authority has stated that it will submit, or it's intending to submit, to the U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon a resolution requesting recognition of Palestinian statehood. As President Obama said today in his speech before the U.N. General Assembly, the bonds between the United States and Israel are unbreakable, as our commitment is to the security of Israel. And as I and my colleagues in Congress expressed earlier this year, when there was an overwhelmingly passed House Resolution 268, the only path to a lasting peace is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that leads to a two-state solution. Lasting peace will not come by playing destabilizing and damaging political games at the United Nations. A unilateral approach to Palestinian statehood will surely fail at the United Nations. It will fail, and in failing it will harm the bilateral negotiation process that is the only way to bring about a lasting peace. A lasting peace cannot be achieved while a contingent within the Palestinian Government does not recognize Israel's right to exist. A lasting peace cannot be achieved while rockets are being fired into Israel, threatening her children and her people. I was there with Mr. Deutch just days after an anti-tank rocket was shot into a yellow school bus.…”