Gingrich

(Continued from p.4)

Pakistan and Iran." Where is our strategy to say to Russia, "Our goodwill depends on your being serious about stopping proliferation." Where is the strategy that says it's not just enough to have a local area defense system. If Iran gets intermediate-range missiles, they're going to threaten Paris, they're going to threaten Berlin. Now, the Europeans, when unthreatened, are not very reliable.

And the truth is there are missiles today in China aimed at the United States, and we today have no defense at a continental level, which we should have, which should be in space. And the idea that an ABM treaty with a Soviet Union which no longer exists, should stop us from defending against Iranian, North Korean, Libyan and Chinese missiles that do existthat is a nightmare to come back to haunt us.

And I say this not to pick a fight with anyone, but to say don't just go to the Holocaust museum and remember how tough you would have been 70 years ago against Adolf Hitler; let's look at the potential acts of genocide today. If an atomic weapon goes off over Tel Aviv, that will be as decisive an act of genocide as anything Adolf Hitler contemplated and it will have a devastating consequence.

And if we're going to talk about a peace process, let's start with a simple act of parity. Now this is not a hard actI just reread again in English, to remind myself, what the Palestinian covenant says. Now, they still have failed to repeal the covenant which basically talks about extinguishing Israel. And this is not a complicated document; it's a document of hatred and extermination. And I would think that if Yasser Arafat can't get the political will to suggest that Israel's survival is an acceptable part of a peace process, you have to ask, what do we mean by peace process?

And if all a peace process is, is a propaganda game by which week after week and month after month Arafat makes new demands while never locking up terrorists, never repealing the covenant that calls for Israel's destruction, never accepting the permanent need for
security, then that is in the long run a certain loser for the people of Israel.

And finally, can you imagine the American reaction if an Israeli diplomat showed up and said, "You know,we've thought about it and we have a better way to defend Texas than you do? And we've thought about it and we've decided how to redefine the Canadian-American border because we know it better than you do." When I see an American diplomat suggest to Israeli generals that our understanding of their security needs on the West Bank is better than their understanding, I'm looking at somebody who's been in fancy hotels too long and out of touch with reality.

As Dick Gephardt suggested, we are going to lead an unprecedented delegation. I believe it's the first speaker delegation ever to go to the State of Israel. We are going to be there to celebrate the last 50 years, but I hope we're also going to be there to help launch the next 50 years.

And I think there are two simple principles: the right of self-determination is what makes the state of Israel unique in the last 2,000 years of Jewish history. And

Can you imagine the American reaction if an Israeli diplomat showed up and said, "You know, we've thought about it and we have a better way to defend Texas than you do"...?

And self-determination begins with self-defense and the ability of Israel to survive in the worst case, under the worst circumstance. And only prudent planning, given the history of the last 50 years, would assume that survival has to be predicated on the worst circumstance. Great, powerful nations, that dominate and stand astride the planet, can take large risks because they have huge reservoirs of distance and time to fall back on. Small nations, surrounded by countries with a history of breaking their word, need to be vigilant and strong in their determination to defend themselves.

We will next week go to the site of the embassy in Jerusalem. And we will declare that, not just in honor of the first 50 years, but in preparation for the next 50 years, the time has come to break the ground, build the building, and accept that self-determination means "the people of Israel get to define where their government sits, and the people of Israel get to ask where our ambassador should be." And they have chosen Jerusalem, and we should be appropriately responsive.

June 1998               - 5 -               Outpost