Congressman heads to Gaza Strip

08/24/2005
Congressman heads to Gaza Strip
By: JEFF WERNER



Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick is in Israel this week meeting with high-ranking officials from both Israel and the Palestinian Authority as one of the most emotional moments in history plays out in the nearby Gaza Strip. "This is a very delicate time, a very tough time for Israelis everywhere," said Fitzpatrick, as he prepared to depart on a weeklong visit to the Jewish State.
"And it's an historic time. I want to talk to their leaders while I'm over there, but also to the ordinary citizens who are torn between what they believe is right and what they are being told they have to do."
His trip comes as the Jewish State prepares to transfer the Gaza Strip, a sliver of land located between Egypt and Israel and bordering the Mediterranean Sea, to Palestinian control.
Progress, said Fitzpatrick, requires change. "These are very difficult changes that are being made and you have to appreciate the leadership and the sacrifices that are going into it. I think I'm going to see that in a very significant way."
Fitzpatrick, along with a ten-member Congressional delegation, left August 20 on the fact-finding mission arranged by A-PAC, a policy organization based in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the trip is to gain a better understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. They are scheduled to return home on Friday, August 29.
While in Israel, the delegation was scheduled to meet with high-ranking Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to discuss a wide range of issues, including the status of the Middle East Peace process.
"Israel is the focal point for peace in the Middle East," said Fitzpatrick, prior to his departure. "There must be a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue in order to secure greater stability in the region. Both sides - Israel and the Palestinian Authority - have major challenges ahead of them in this regard and having a chance to discuss those issues face-to-face will enable Congress to gain a better picture of the situation in the region."
Fitzpatrick, a member of the House Financial Services Committee which has jurisdiction over issues relating to terrorist financing, also planned to meet with finance officials to discuss programs to interdict terrorist organizations and the individuals and groups that support them.
"One of the purposes of my visit is to acquaint myself with the peace issues of the Middle East, but more specifically with the issues that we deal with surrounding terrorism and financing," said Fitzpatrick. "On September 11th we learned that terrorists used our own systems against us. They pointed the planes directly at the financial center of New York. They used financing from within the institutions of America. We have had many discussions and hearings about how to track that financing, recognizing that if you can take the financing from the terrorists you can take away their ability to terrorize."
But, Fitzpatrick said, the terrorists are becoming more difficult to track because "they are starting to trade in things like gold and diamonds rather than hard currency."
By going to Israel, meeting with their financial officials and visiting the stock exchange, Fitzpatrick said he hopes to gain a deeper understanding about how the Israelis track terrorism and financing.
"The State of Israel has been dealing with the issue of terrorism much longer than we have," said Fitzpatrick. "Although we have made great strides in shutting down domestic financiers of terrorism, more must be done to address the flow of money to these groups in the Middle East. I am hopeful to learn exactly what is being done on this issue."
Prior to his trip, the congressman met privately with a group of Bucks County Jewish leaders at the Abrams Hebrew Academy in Yardley. Among them were Scott Feigelstein, Philadelphia Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition; Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov, executive director of Lubavitch of Bucks County; Jay-Paul Podolosky, director of the Bucks County Region of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia; Rabbi Maurice Novoseller, formerly of Beth Chaim synagogue in Feasterville; and Jewish businessman Jeffrey A. Gross, president of Nozak Enterprises, Inc.
Fitzpatrick said he reached out to the Jewish leaders to tap into "their many, many years of experiences and visits over there and here. I've asked them who I should see, what I should read before I go, what I should see when I go as well as the kinds of questions I should ask the leadership. They gave me great advice on how my visit and my work leading up to the visit should be all inclusive and include all points of view."
Fitzpatrick said he also hoped to meet with members of the Bucks County Muslim community prior to his departure.
The Jewish leaders presented Fitzpatrick with token monetary gifts as a customary gesture to insure the safety of his mission.
"By taking this money to give to a charity over there it will help insure your personal safety," said Gross.
"The reason being is that you are now a messenger of charity to give charity," said Novoseller. "If you are a messenger for a good deed, God is not permitted to let anything happen to you since you are on a holy mission."
The leaders asked Fitzpatrick to deliver the money to anyone in need in Israel, whether they are old or young, Muslim or Jewish.
"I will certainly add my resources to those you've given me and I will bring Bucks County charity and Jewish charity to Israel while I'm there," said Fitzpatrick. "I'll go to the Western Wall and you will be in my thoughts and prayers while I am there."
Feigelstein commended the congressman for arranging the meeting. "I think this will be very beneficial for his constituents, for him as a public servant and for the people of Israel to see and to know the person representing Bucks County."
Feigelstein said among the chief issues confronting both Israel and the United States is terrorism. "One issue that we didn't get to discuss, but is the 800 pound gorilla that's lurking, is Iran. Clearly Israel is deeply concerned because they're on the front line of the Iranian threat that they are posing with their development of nuclear capability...They are vehemently anti-Semitic and has made no bones if given the means and the capability they would like to wipe Israel out."
In addition, Feigelstein said financial aid to Israel is an important issue, especially given the withdrawal from Gaza, which he said is causing tremendous economic dislocation in the country.
Gross encouraged Fitzpatrick not only to meet with the leadership, but also "to get a feel for the street and the pain I feel as a Jew. Get a feel for the torment that this (the Gaze pullout) is causing. That's what I hope he gets."
Gross, who returned from a two-week trip to Israel the day before the meeting with Fitzpatrick, called the situation in Gaza "tragic. The Prime Minister is gambling with Jewish lives and I pray that he's right. I think history shows that the decisions he's making are the wrong ones. It's tough when you see Jews expelling Jews."
Gross said he was particularly touched by a photo that appeared in an Israeli newspaper that showed the Golani Brigade, the Green Berets of the Israeli defense force. "A senior officer was there to remove a former junior officer who was in tears. These guys in this brigade chew nails like they chew pretzels. They're the toughest of the tough. To see this man in tears was an emotional thing."
"Also so touching was in the middle of all this turmoil, when it came time for prayer, they all stopped and prayed together - and cried together," said Rabbi Novoseller, his voice cracking with emotion.
"It's very raw," said Shemtov, of the Gaza situation. "It's a challenging time." But he said it shows the true character of the Jewish nation. "Whether you agree with the Jewish nation or not, the manner, the love is a very powerful story about how this is taking place beyond politics. It's both troubling and fascinating."
Novoseller said he hopes handing over the Gaza Strip to the Arabs will bring a better life for everyone involved. "I hope the Arabs, the Muslims that will now inherit Gaza will do better than the Jews and make it such a place of great productivity, manufacturing and vegetation that it will be an example to the whole Arab world that you can do better by doing this than by shooting and killing. That will be something for the world," he said.