U.S. Capitol building

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Connecticut’s entire five-member Congressional delegation were among those signing on to a resolution passed last week by the House of Representatives that threatens to restrict U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if its leaders continue to evade direct negotiation with Israel and seek statehood at the United Nations.
Passed on Thursday, July 7, House Resolution 268 also calls on President Obama to consider suspending American financial assistance to the PA as a result of its reconciliation with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization sworn to Israel’s destruction.
The resolution comes on the heels of a companion resolution that passed by unanimous consent the previous week in the Senate.  That resolution (S. Res. 185) included the signatures of both Connecticut Senators and was introduced. by Sens. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Casey (D-PA), John Thune (R-SD), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and Jim Risch (R-ID).
The resolution in the House – introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) – passed by an overwhelming vote of 407-6.
“We ask and call upon the Palestinian Authority to return to the negotiating table and join the Israelis in direct discussions to end this conflict,” said Cantor during debate on the House floor. “Furthermore, we call on the leadership of the Palestinian Authority to renounce the violence Hamas condones and teaches to its followers.”
Hoyer urged Palestinian leaders to refrain from “symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations,” arguing that “peace must be negotiated, not imposed from the outside.”
“Palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection,” he added. “Palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist.”