July 31, 1997
The PLO has publicly blamed “Israeli atrocities” for
“provoking” the Arab terrorist bombing in Jerusalem, in which 13 Israelis
were murdered and 170 wounded. The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)
is urging the Clinton administration to “strongly and unequivocally condemn
the PLO’s continuing hostile propaganda against Israel.”
In an official statement released on July 31, 1997, the PLO’s
Palestine Ministry of Information declared that the Jerusalem bombing was a
response to “Israel’s despotic crimes” and “Israeli atrocities,” such as
“judaizing Arab Jerusalem.”
The PLO statement also said that any Israeli attempt to pursue
terrorists into PLO-controlled territory would be considered “Israeli
aggression” and “will receive the appropriate reply.” Commenting on
Israel’s demand that the PLO crack down on terrorists, the PLO statement
asserted: “We will not receive orders or dictation from any alien side
being an Israeli or elsewhere.”
In addition, the PLO statement mocked Israel’s security concerns as
“their security illusions.”
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Instead of fighting
terrorism, as the Oslo accords require, Yasir Arafat and the PLO are again
using the ‘big lie’ technique, trying to blame Israel, the victim, for the
terror. The Clinton administration should demand that Arafat cease his
hostile propaganda and immediately make a major public address in Arabic,
to an Arab audience, in which he specifically condemns the murder of Jews
as immoral and urges Arabs to cease all violence against Jews.”
The ZOA pointed out that after other Arab terrorist attacks, Arafat
and the PLO have likewise tried to blame Israel:
-
A Palestinian Arab prisoner who claimed to be an agent of
Israel’s General Security Services (the Shin Bet) was presented at a
press conference organized by the PLO police in Gaza on May 4, 1997. The
prisoner, Ibrahim Halabi, claimed that the Shin Bet recruited him to carry
out two recent attacks on Israeli school buses in Gaza, and gave him the
explosives. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman said the
allegation was “a fabrication,” (N.Y. Times, May 5, 1997) -
Regarding weapons in the hands of Arab terrorists, Arafat said,
“These weapons could be obtained only from high authorities with great
influence on the Israeli side.” (Jerusalem Post, March 22, 1996) -
“An unholy conspiracy of Israeli ‘fanatics’, who are members of
a shadowy group of ex-IDF people called ‘OAS’, and Moslem extremists were
behind suicide bombings, Palestinian Authority President
Yasser Arafat told foreign diplomats…Arafat is known to have said last
year, before Barak became foreign minister, that ‘Barak
is one of the big bosses of the OAS’…” (Jerusalem Post, Feb.27, 1996) -
Referring to the Arab terrorist attack in Beit Lid, in which 22
Israelis were killed, and other attacks in 1995, Arafat said, “I have
evidences that these terrorist activities have been done through
coordination between these fanatic Islamic groups and some elements on the
Israeli side.” (Washington Post, May 2, 1995) -
“PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, in interviews published yesterday,
accused IDF troops of aiding the spread of arms in the territories in a
plot to create chaos in Palestinian self-rule areas…’This weapons trade
is being carried out under the auspices of some Israeli officers in the
West Bank and Gaza. This is part of a wicked plan’…” (Jerusalem Post,
Feb. 18 & Feb. 19, 1994)
