September 16, 1997
The PLO-appointed Mufti (top Islamic religious authority)
Sheikh Ikrama Sabri, has again publicly appealed to “destroy America,” and
the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is urging the Clinton administration
demand that Yasir Arafat fire Sabri and publicly repudiate Sabri’s
statements.
Sheikh Sabri, in his weekly sermon at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque on
September 12, 1997, declared: “Oh Allah, destroy America, her agents, and
her allies! Cast them into their own traps, and cover the White House with
black!”
The speech was broadcast on the PLO’s Voice of Palestine Radio,
immediately after it broadcast a speech by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Two months ago, in his weekly sermon at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque on
July 11, 1997, Sabri declared: “Oh Allah, destroy America, for she is
ruled by Zionist Jews! Allah will paint the White House black!”
Morton A. Klein, ZOA National President, said: “The Clinton
administration should demand that Yasir Arafat immediately fire Mufti
Ikrama Sabri and publicly repudiate Sabri’s vicious anti-American statements.”
The ZOA president urged President Clinton to suspend the transfer of U.S. funds
to Palestinian Arab projects via the Agency for International Development
(A.I.D.), until Sabri is fired.
Other anti-American statements and actions by the PLO:
I. PLO’s Sheltering of Killers of Americans
-
The PLO has refused to hand over to either Israel or the U.S. four
terrorists who have been identified as suspects in recent murders of
Americans:
Nabil Sharihi, who helped prepare the
bomb for the April 1995 attack in which Alisa Flatow of New Jersey was
murdered; Muhi a-Din a-Sharif and Abd al-Majid Dudin, who were involved in
planning and preparing the August 1995 bombing in which Joan Davenny of
Connecticut was murdered; and Amjad Hanawi, one of those who carried out
the May 1996 shooting in which David Boim, an Israeli-American, was murdered. -
Two of the PLO terrorists involved in planning the Munich Olympics
massacre, in which David Berger, an Israeli-American athlete was killed,
reside in PLO territory. Amin el-Hindi is chief of Palestinian General
Intelligence; Abu Daoud is a resident of PLO-controlled Ramallah. -
Another PLO official, Abdul Latif Abu Hijleh, has been implicated in
the PLO’s murder of the U.S. ambassador to Sudan in 1973, Cleo Noel
(Jerusalem Post, January 8, 1989). -
The PLO has refused to arrest Abul Abbas, mastermind of the 1985
Achille Lauro hijacking in which American tourist Leon Klinghoffer was
murdered. Abbas freely enters and leaves PLO territory without being
detained.
II. PLO’s Alliance with Iraq
-
A Palestinian Authority delegation met in Baghdad in September 1997
with Udai Hussein, son of the Iraqi dictator, “in a warm and friendly
atmosphere.” (Khaled Abu Taomeh, reporting in the Jerusalem newspaper
Yerushalayim, September 5, 1997) -
In July 1997, according to the official Iraqi News Agency, in
Baghdad (July 10, 1997), Arafat sent a message which “conveyed the
greetings of the Palestinian president to President Saddam Hussein and reiterated the
Palestinian people’s pride in their close relations with the Iraqi people
and in the principled and firm Iraqi positions in the face of the challenges
and conspiracies implemented by the enemies of the Arab nation.” -
The PLO’s Palestinian Legislative Council denounced the U.S. missile
strike in western Iraq (in response to Iraqi attacks on Kurds there last
year), as “American aggression against the sister state, Iraq.” The PA also urged
Arab states to provide Iraq “any form of financial aid and moral
support…so that sister Iraq can recapture her natural place in the taking of the
national and pan-Arab responsibility.” (An Nahar, Sept. 5, 1996) -
Arafat visited Iraq in 1993, met with Saddam, and hailed “the
greatness of the Iraqi people and their leader.” (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 3,
1993) -
In 1991, the PLO representative in Washington, Hassan Abu Rahman,
circulated a fabricated transcript of a radio interview in which U.S.
General Norman Schwarzkopf supposedly “admitted” that
“the war that our men fought against Saddam Hussein was for Israel, our
men fought to destroy Israel’s main enemy in the region.” (Jerusalem Post, June
5, 1991) -
During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf crisis, PLO chairman Yasir Arafat
was Saddam Hussein’s closest Arab ally. After the Iraqi occupation of
Kuwait, the PLO denounced America’s opposition to the occupation, accusing
Washington of “beating the drums of a destructive war and raising tension toward a
complete explosion.” (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 14, 1990) -
According to the London Independent, “much of the logistical
planning for the Iraqi invasion was based on intelligence supplied by PLO
officials and supporters based in Kuwait.” (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 8, 1990)
III. PLO’s Support for Massacre of Students in China
- While the United States was condemning the Chinese government’s
massacre of pro-democracy students in Tiannenmen Square in 1990, Yasir
Arafat sent a telegram to the Chinese leaders expressing his “extreme
gratification that the friendly People’s Republic of China has restored normal order
after the recent incidents.” The letter was published in the Chinese Communist
Party newspaper, People’s Daily, on June 27, 1989.
IV. PLO’s Attempt to Save Romania’s Communist Regime
-
While the United States was cheering the downfall of the oppressive
Ceausescu regime in Romania in 1990, Yasir Arafat sent PLO fighters to help
Ceausescu combat pro-democracy protesters. (The New Republic, January 22,
1990)
V. Other Anti-American Statements by PLO Officials
-
PLO Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi said of U.S. envoy Dennis Ross:
“Let Ross go to hell, because he is a biased Zionist.” (Associated Press,
March 29, 1997)PLO Cabinet Minister Abdel Aziz Shaheen called Ross a “son
of a bitch” and said “I ask God to send him straight to hell.” (Washington
Post, August 1, 1997)PLO Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein said that “five
Zionist Jews are conducting U.S. policy in the Middle East.” (Yediot Ahronot, April
14, 1997) - An official statement by the PLO’s Palestinian Authority
Ministry of Information denounced the U.S. Congress as “racist” for linking U.S. aid to
PLO compliance with the Oslo accords. (PA statement, Sept. 23, 1995). The PLO
Ambassador to England, Afif Safieh, said “Capitol Hill is that other
Israeli occupied territory that needs to be liberated.” (Jerusalem Times, July 4,
1997)