Mr. Speaker, let me begin by paying special tribute to Chairman Hyde. This may be his last year of service in this House, but his legacy of trying to bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians will live on for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I must rise in opposition to this bill.

Let there be no mistake. Hamas is a ruthless terrorist organization. Unless Hamas recognizes Israel’s right to exist and renounces terror, the Palestinian Authority should receive no direct U.S. assistance.

Direct aid to the Hamas-controlled P.A. has been cut off. The basic goal of this bill has already been accomplished. But H.R. 4681 goes well beyond this objective. It is a punitive measure aimed at punishing the Palestinian people. It will undermine U.S. national interests and do nothing to strengthen Israel’s security.

I have two main objections with this bill.

First, it places nearly insurmountable barriers to future U.S. efforts to engage Palestinians and Israel in peacemaking. It lacks the normal Presidential national security waiver. And, unbelievably, it would limit U.S. diplomatic contact with moderate, non-Hamas Palestinian officials. These are the very leaders who recognize Israel and support peace, and it makes absolutely no sense for us to undercut them at this critical time.

Second, except for very limited circumstances, this bill will cut off humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people at the very moment when a horrendous humanitarian disaster is looming.

The United States, our Quartet partners, and Israel are all hard at work devising mechanisms to avoid catastrophe and deliver assistance around Hamas to credible and transparent NGOs. H.R. 4681 goes in the opposite direction. I simply cannot see how denying chemotherapy treatment for Palestinian children increases Israel’s security or advances U.S. national interests.

Mr. Speaker, there is significant opposition to this bill in the pro-Israel community. Respected national groups like Americans for Peace Now, Israel Policy Forum and Brit Tzedek strongly oppose it. They tell us voting no on this bill is a pro-Israel vote. And groups like Churches for Middle East Peace and the Conference of Catholic Bishops, with decades of experience providing humanitarian relief, oppose it as well.

The State Department also opposes this bill, calling it unnecessary and criticizing many of its provisions as objectionable.

On Wednesday, we will welcome Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to this chamber. Yesterday he told his cabinet, “We have no intention of helping the Palestinian government…But I say we will render such assistance as may be necessary for humanitarian needs.” He also dispatched his top two ministers for a substantive meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

If this policy of shutting the door on Hamas but opening it to Palestinian moderates and the Palestinian people themselves is good enough for the Prime Minister of Israel, it should be good enough for the U.S. House of Representatives.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on H.R. 4681. Thank you.