Oslo & Wye Accords require seizing all 40,000 illegal guns
Zionist Organization of America press release, September 1, 1999
More than 72% of Israelis say that Israel should not
withdraw from any more territory until Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority
fulfills its Wye accord obligation to seize the more than 40,000 illegal
weapons in the hands of terrorists in areas under PA control.
The survey, carried out by Gallup on behalf of the Israeli news
agency IMRA on August 31, 1999, asked a representative sample of 502
Israelis if Israel should withdraw from additional territory even if the PA
has not yet seized the weapons. Only 16.9% support further withdrawals
even if there is no PA confiscation of weapons; while 72.3% are opposed.
Earlier this year, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz (March 28, 1999)
reported, based on a conversation with special U.S. Middle East envoy
Dennis Ross, that the Clinton Administration accepted the position of
Israel that it need not implement the second pullback from Judea-Samaria
under the Wye agreement until the PA has adhered to all its obligations in
the accord’s second phase. One of the PA obligations in the second phase
is the removal of illegal weapons.
In July, Ahmed Sabawi, spokesman for the PA Preventive Security and
General Intelligence for the Gaza Strip, admitted that the PA has
confiscated only 120 of the over 40,000 illegal weapons in PA areas.
(Interview by IMRA on July 8, 1999).
Asked by IMRA on August 9, 1999, if he is “aware of any incident”
during the past month in which the PA confiscated a
significant number of illegal weapons, Sabawi said “As far as I know, no.”
Sabawi then urged the IMRA interviewer to read the August 9, 1999 interview
in the Jerusalem Post with the PA’s Gaza Security Chief Mohammed Dahlan.
In fact, however, the Post reported: “Dahlan would not respond
specifically to questions regarding Palestinian action on police
recruitment, weapons collections, and other matters stipulated by the Wye
agreement.”
Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of
America (ZOA), said: “The PA’s failure to confiscate any meaningful number
of weapons demonstrates again that Yasir Arafat is not seriously interested
in preventing terrorism or living in peace with Israel, and continues to
treat Hamas and Islamic Jihad as allies, not enemies.”
