House Blames Palestinians for Violence

The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution Wednesday condemning Palestinians for the violence with Israel despite warnings that it would “inflame passions” and undermine the U.S. role as a broker for peace in the region.

Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian troop commanders met in Jerusalem at U.S. insistence to try to pave the way for a truce, and relative calm prevailed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For the first time in a week, no one was killed in clashes, despite sporadic exchanges of gunfire.

Israel said that if there are no new outbreaks of violence, it could withdraw troops from friction points and then look into ways of resuming peace talks. However, army officials were skeptical that the calm would hold for long.

The House, on a 365-30 vote, called on the Palestinian leadership to put an end to the violence, refrain from making public statements that incite the public and settle its grievances through negotiations.

The nonbinding resolution expresses the House’s “solidarity with the State and people of Israel at this time of crisis” and condemns the Palestinian leadership for “encouraging the violence and doing so little for so long to stop it.”

The vote comes only days after the Palestinians won U.N. admonition of Israel in a General Assembly resolution that condemned the “excessive use of force” by Israelis against Palestinian civilians in the nearly four weeks of fighting.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) said the House had to pass its resolution partly in response to that vote Friday.

Several representatives spoke against the House resolution.

“We should be standing here today urging both parties instead to . . . the negotiating table and help them find the way back toward the road to peace,” said Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.). “This resolution condemns one side and it inflames passions. It is about bashing the Palestinians.”

“Ask yourself if that works for peace, if that enables us to function as honest brokers,” said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.).