August 22, 1997
PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat is providing bodyguards to
prominent terrorists to protect them from being captured by Israel–yet the
Clinton administration is silent about Arafat’s latest pro-terrorist
action.
The New York Times (August 22, 1997) quoted the Israeli government
spokesman as revealing that “Rather than arrest the militants named on
lists provided by Israel, the Palestinian Authority appears in some cases to have
provided them with bodyguards to protect them from a possible Israeli
snatch.”
Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of
America (ZOA), said: “Instead of fighting the terrorists who have murdered
261 Israelis in the past 4 years, Arafat is physically protecting them. The
Clinton administration should speak out, loudly and clearly, against
Arafat’s pro-terrorist behavior, and the administration should use all means at its
disposal to pressure Arafat to fulfill his Oslo obligation to combat the
terrorists.”
Other recent pro-Hamas actions by Arafat and the PLO:
-
Arafat hosted a public “unity conference” with Hamas and Islamic
Jihad leaders in Gaza. He praised and embraced the terrorist leaders. (New
York Times, August 21, 1997) -
In an interview with the Russian newspaper Novoya Vremya (May 25,
1997), Arafat said: “Hamas, even its military wing, is a patriotic
movement.” -
Arafat publicly praised Yiyha Ayyash, the master Hamas bombmaker
who killed at least 60 Israelis, as “a martyr.” (Jerusalem Post, July
28, 1996) -
Arafat named a public square in Jericho in memory of Yiyha Ayyash,
the master Hamas bomb-maker who killed at least 60 Israelis.
