November 6, 1997
Yasir Arafat is helping Saddam Hussein hide data relating to
Iraqi development of weapons of mass destruction, and the Zionist
Organization of America (ZOA) is criticizing the Clinton admnistration’s failure to
protest Arafat’s aid to Iraq.
The Jerusalem Post reported on November 6, 1997, that Palestinian
Authority’s embassy in Baghdad “is being used as a repository for secret
documents that relate to Iraq’s buildup of unconventional weapons…[T]he
site’s diplomatic immunity evidently keeps the documents beyond the reach
of United Nations arms inspectors. The documents relate to the purchase of raw
materials required for Iraq’s manufacture and deployment of weapons of mass
destruction [including] chemical weapons, VX nerve gas, and possibly
nuclear arms.” The Post noted that the PA embassy “is situated in Arafat’s private
residence in Baghdad, a heavily guarded palatial structure well inside a
compound.”
Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of
America, said: “When other regimes help Iraq, the Clinton administration
condemns them; why is Clinton silent about Yasir Arafat helping Iraq? Has
the administration’s Middle East policy become so tilted in favor of the
Palestinian Arabs that it is willing to overlook Arafat’s collaboration
with America’s arch-enemy, Iraq?”
Other pro-Iraq statements and actions by Arafat and the PLO:
- An official Palestinian Authority delegation met in Baghdad in
September 1997 with Udai Hussein, son of the Iraqi dictator, “in a warm and
friendly atmosphere.” The younger Hussein “said that Palestine is dear
both to his father and himself, and that the liberation of Jerusalem is one of his
primary concerns, and is close to the heart of the entire Iraqi people.”
Hussein “added that Iraq is open to our Palestinian brothers.” He also
“reminded members of the Palestinian delegation that the Iraqi military has
participated in all of the wars which have taken place in the struggle for Palestine.” (Khaled
Abu Taomeh, reporting in the Jerusalem newspaper Yerushalayim, September 5,
1997) -
The official Iraqi News Agency, in Baghdad, reported on July 10,
1997 that 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. [Iraqi Vice
President Taha Yasin] Ramadan expressed on behalf of President Saddam
Hussein his thanks to his brother President Arafat…” -
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
called upon the United Nations to take action to “end this arrogance,” and 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) - 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 “beathing 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)
