http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/31/MN244287.DTLThey may be talking peace and Palestinian statehood in Washington, but DeLay is touring the Holy Land with a message for Israeli hawks: The war is not over, and the United States is Israel's brother in arms in a pitched battle against evil.
"As I shook his hand, I told Tom DeLay that until I heard him speak, I thought I was farthest to the right in the Knesset," quipped Aryeh Eldad, a right-wing lawmaker from the National Union party.
Peace is a Palestinian responsibility, DeLay told his audience. If the Palestinians suffer, it isn't Israel's fault, he argued.
DeLay has criticized the push for Palestinian statehood, but on Wednesday he kept quiet on that topic. A spokesman for DeLay said the speaker didn't think it was the appropriate time to discuss a Palestinian state.