Zionist Organization of America press release, September 10, 1999
Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority has been distributing weapons, including submachine guns,
to the 199 Arab terrorists, including killers, who were released from Israeli prisons this
week, prompting the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) to demand that
the Clinton administration insist that Arafat stop arming the terrorists.
Israel Television (Channel 2 News, September 9) reported that:
“the terrorists released today by Israel were handed out weapons by the
Palestinian authority when they reached Gaza.”
The Associated Press (September 9, 1999) described how Jamal Imtur,
who had served 14 years of a life sentence for murder,
“got a hero’s welcome in Hebron, where Palestinian
police outfitted him with a submachine gun and led a 50-car convoy to his
village 20 minutes away.”
The Oslo accords prohibit the PA from giving weapons to anybody
except members of the PA police force.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said:
“By giving these released killers weapons and a heroes’ welcome, Yasir Arafat and the
Palestinian Authority are mocking the entire Oslo process, and showing they
have no interest in creating an environment of peace and conciliation.
Giving guns to killers encourages them to commit murder again, and
intensifies the atmosphere in Palestinian Arab society that glorifies
murder. The Clinton administration should demand that Arafat and the PA
stop arming and glorifying terrorists, and mocking the purpose of the Oslo,
Wye, and Sharm el-Sheikh accords.”
