January 17, 1997
The official American “Side Letter” that is part of the
Israel-PLO agreement on Hebron acknowledges that the PLO has not yet changed its
Covenant–meaning that, according to U.S. law, the $500-million U.S. aid program
to the PLO must be immediately suspended.
The Specter-Shelby-Lowey Amendment to the 1995 Foreign Aid Bill
specifically required that the PLO “amend its National Covenant to eliminate all
references in the National Covenant to the PLO calling for the destruction of
Israel,” in order to qualify for U.S. aid. This stipulation was later
reaffirmed in the Middle East Peace Facilitation Act of 1995, Sec.604(c)(1).
In the official American “Side Letter” that is part of the new Hebron
agreement, there is a section entitled “Palestinian Responsibilities.” It says,
among other things, that the PLO pledges “its commitment” to “complete the
process of revising the Palestinian National Charter.”
Previously, the Clinton administration and the PLO had claimed that the
April 1996 meeting of the PLO’s Palestine National Council had changed the
Covenant. In fact, however, that meeting had only resolved to authorize a PLO
legal committee to consider possible changes in the Covenant. Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that the PLO has not changed the
Covenant, and Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Eliahu Ben-Elissar, said last
month that the PLO has still not even appointed the legal committee (Washington
Jewish Week, November 7, 1996). Thus, 30 (out of 33) clauses in the PLO
National Covenant still call for the destruction of Israel or urge violence
against Israel.
“The Clinton administration has officially and publicly acknowledged that
the PLO has not yet changed its Covenant calling for Israel’s destruction,” said
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein. “U.S. law explicitly requires a
suspension of the $500-million in aid to the PLO until the Covenant is changed.”
