May 1, 1997
The PLO’s chief representative in the United States has
publicly claimed that the PLO is not obliged to fulfill the commitments it
made in the January 1997 Hebron accord.
Appearing on a panel at the University of Miami’s Middle East
Studies Institute on April 30, 1997, PLO representative Hassan Abd
el-Rahman was asked about the PLO’s failure to fulfill the “Palestinian
Responsibilities” listed in the “Note for the Record” that is part of the
Hebron accord. Rahman replied: “Israel wrote what they wanted. Just
because they wrote it, doesn’t mean that we agree to it.”
In fact, the opening paragraph of the “Note for the Record” states:
“This document was prepared by Ambassador Dennis Ross at the request of
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chairman Yasir Arafat. They requested
him to prepare this Note for the Record to summarize what they agreed upon
at their meeting.”
The list in the “Note for the Record” specifies that the PLO must
“immediately” do the following:
- “complete the process of revising the Palestinian NationalCharter”
- “strengthen security cooperation”
- “prevent incitement and hostile propaganda”
- “combat systematically and effectively terrorist organizations and infrastructure”
- “apprehend, prosecute and punish terrorists”
-
respond, in accordance with the Oslo II agreement, to Israeli
requests for the extradition of terrorists - “confiscate illegal firearms”
- limit the size of the PLO police force according to Oslo II
-
restrict the location of PLO offices in accordance with Oslo II
.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein, and the director of the
Middle East Studies Institute at the University of Miami, Professor Haim
Shaked, also took part in the University of Miami panel. Author and former
talk show host Taffy Gould was the moderator.
