Bay Area Congressman Tom Lantos Defends Israeli Actions In Rafah

Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said "there would have been no incursion" if the Palestinian Authority and the Egyptian government had taken steps to prevent weapons from being smuggled into Gaza through tunnels under the Egyptian border.

The Israeli offensive has drawn stiff international criticism, including rare negative statements from the United States, because of the destruction of dozens of Palestinian homes and the deaths of 41 Palestinians.

Israel embarked on the raid, the largest military operation in Gaza in years, after 13 soldiers were killed in two attacks on armored personnel carriers there. The weeklong offensive appeared to be winding down on Monday.

Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in the U.S. Congress, is in Israel for meetings with Israeli officials, including Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Lantos expressed support for Sharon's proposal to evacuate Israeli settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip. However, Sharon had to water down the proposal, substituting a staged pullout for a one-step withdrawal, because of opposition in his Cabinet and party.

In order for Sharon's planned Gaza disengagement to work, Israel must feel secure that militants in Gaza cannot import weapons, Lantos said.

"I do believe that essentially the proposal which the prime minister presented to our President, hopefully, will be approved by all of the appropriate bodies here," Lantos said.

Sharon said he would seek Cabinet approval for his new plan on Sunday.

Lantos said it was significant that the U.S. government and the other Quartet partners- the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - are all, for the first time, supporting "a full withdrawal from Gaza and a handful of settlements in the northern part of the West Bank." The Quartet was formed to mediate a Mideast peace solution.

The congressman also repeated his call for a probe into the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which he claimed is involved in terrorism, before its mandate is renewed on June 30. UNRWA administers Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank.

"(UNRWA) engages in behavior which is so contrary to what American taxpayers expect of a relief organization," Lantos said, charging that it shields terrorists and breeds a culture of anger and dependency among Palestinians. UNRWA officials have repeatedly denied the charges.

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1928, Lantos fought in the anti-Nazi and anti-communist underground before being imprisoned at age 16 and sent to a Nazi work camp.

Lantos eventually escaped and returned to Budapest to work under Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in his effort to save Hungarian Jews. Lantos immigrated to the United States in 1947.

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