PLO’s Phony “Arrests” of Terrorists are To Protect them from Israel
September 10, 1997
The PLO’s arrest of a small handful of Hamas members is
actually intended to protect the terrorists from being captured by Israel,
U.S. News and World Report has revealed. The Zionist Organization of America
(ZOA) is urging the Clinton administration to demand that Yasir Arafat stop aid
and abetting the terrorists.
The Associated Press reported on September 8, 1997, that the PLO
arrested about 30 “Islamic militants” on the eve of Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright’s visit to the Middle East. There was no indication
that
any of them were among the 150 terrorists whose names were on the list of
fugitives Israel gave the PLO.
Meanwhile, U.S. News and World Report, the weekly newsmagazine,
reported in its September 15, 1997 issue that, “according to Palestinian
sources,” the suspects who were recently arrested by the PLO were detained
“on a ‘friendly basis’,” and are “being held for their own protection,” to
prevent them from being “kidnapped or assassinated by the Israeli Army.” The
detainees “also were told that they could receive guests 24 hours a day and leave the
prison for short visits whenever they wished.”
Similarly, the New York Times last month (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.”
The Times reported on September 10, 1997, that the PLO had arrested 200
Hamas members shortly before the Albright visit, but then immediately
released all but “50 to 100” of them. Those who are being held are only “doctors
and pharmacists,” rather than hard-core terrorists, according to the Times.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Arafat’s token detention
of a few suspects is a transparent attempt to deceive Secretary of State
Albright. The report that they are being arrested for their own protection is consistent
with the PLO’s ongoing policy of giving aid and comfort to Hamas murderers.
The Clinton administration should insist
that Arafat and the PLO cease their system of revolving-door justice, in
which terrorists are briefly detained and then quickly released.”
Earlier this year, Israel Radio reported (on May 19, 1997) that Arafat
has ordered the release of 200 imprisoned members of the Islamic Jihad
terrorist group who had been arrested as part of an alleged PLO “crackdown”
on terrorists.
