Urging the President to appoint a Special Envoy for Middle East Peace.

Whereas on June 25, 2006, members of the Hamas military wing attacked Israeli forces, just outside the Gaza Strip, killing two Israeli soldiers, wounding four, and kidnapping one;

Whereas Israel in response launched a military assault on Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip in an effort to secure the captured soldier’s release, resulting in extensive infrastructure damage and substantial Palestinian casualties;

Whereas Hamas rockets also struck parts of Israel, including the southern city of Ashkelon;

Whereas on July 12, 2006, Hezbollah forces crossed the international border from Lebanon into northwestern Israel and attacked two Israeli vehicles, killing three and kidnapping two soldiers;

Whereas Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah have engaged in an escalating series of air strikes and rocket attacks that have resulted in severe physical damage and have caused Israeli, Lebanese, and Palestinian casualties;

Whereas the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and several Arab governments are now engaged in diplomatic efforts to resolve the ongoing Middle East crisis;

Whereas the support of Hezbollah and Hamas by Iran and Syria complicates those efforts;

Whereas although there have been repeated peace initiatives for more than 58 years, including Camp David, the Madrid Conference, the Oslo Accords, Wye River, and the Roadmap (of the Quartet—the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Russian Federation), the process has been frought with lost opportunities and leadership lapses;

Whereas history has demonstrated that the Middle East region is likely to lurch from crisis to crisis without sustained diplomatic and economic engagement by the United States;

Whereas leaders of the Group of Eight (G–8) countries in St. Petersburg, Russia agreed on July 16, 2006, that the immediate crisis results from efforts by extremist forces to destabilize the region, that the root cause of the problems in the region is the absence of a comprehensive Middle East peace, that there should be an end to terrorist attacks against Israel, and that there should be a resumption of dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli political officials; and

Whereas President George W. Bush as recently as July 22, 2006, pledged that the United States will continue to seek a return to the road map for peace in the Middle East that includes establishing a viable democratic Palestinian state: Now, therefore, be it