July 14, 1997
A senior PLO official has attacked the United States
Congress, calling Capitol Hill “Israeli-occupied territory”–the latest in
a series of incidents in which PLO officials have slapped America in the
face.
The PLO’s representative in Great Britain, Afif Safieh, declared in
a recent speech: “The American Congress is even more supportive of Israeli
extravagance than the Knesset itself, validating the perception of Capitol
Hill as that other Israeli-occupied territory that needs to be liberated if
we are to have a successful peace process.” (Jerusalem Times, July 4, 1997)
In other recent episodes:
-
The PLO called the Speaker of the House “ignorant.” On April 10,
1997, Yasir Arafat’s spokesman, Marwan Kanafani, attacked Speaker of the
House Newt Gingrich after Rep. Gingrich expressed concern about Arafat’s
constant public praise of terrorists as “heroes” and “martyrs.” Kanafani
accused Rep. Gingrich of “shameful ignorance” and claimed that Rep.
Gingrich is “attacking the Palestinian people and President Arafat in order
to satisfy the Jewish lobby in the United States.” -
The PLO condemned “American aggression against Iraq.” After the
limited U.S. military action in southern Iraq (in response to Iraqi
massacres of Kurds) in September 1996, the PLO’s Palestinian Legislative
Council denounced “this mighty aggression which the U.S. conducted while
ignoring the suffering of the Iraqi people.” PLO Cabinet Minister Hanan Ashrawi said, “The Iraqi people have
paid a dear price and there is no need to add to their suffering.”
(Associated Press, September 4, 1996) And PLO Cabinet Minister Azem Ahmad
said that the U.S. action was “against international law.” (Jerusalem Post,
September 4, 1996) -
The PLO called the U.S. Congress “racist.” The PLO’s Palestinian
Authority Ministry of Information released a statement on September 23,
1995, declaring that Congressional linkage between U.S. aid to the PLO and
the closure of illegal PLO offices in Jerusalem “is provocative and
insulting to the Palestinian national feelings…the American Congress have
set a record for themselves in the competition of hatred towards the
Palestinian people…How does Congress allow itself to act in a racist
manner towards the Palestinian people by denying it the simplest right to
civil institutions?” The PLO-PA statement also condemned what it called
“the Jewish occupation of Jerusalem.”
“At a time when the Clinton administration wants to continue
sending hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S aid to the PLO and PA,
Congress has every right to express concern about the PLO’s pro-terrorism
behavior and its other violations of the Oslo accords,” said Morton A.
Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
“For the PLO to attack the Speaker of the House in this manner is an insult
that should trouble every Member of Congress and every American.”
