Zionist Organisation of America Press Release, March 6, 2000
Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority deliberately releases
terrorists from jail and then false claims they “escaped,” Israel’s Foreign
Minister has said.
Referring to the frequent incidents of terrorists “escaping” from PA prisons,
Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said that there is “a high incidence of
supposed jailbreaks by dangerous prisoners” every time the PA wants to put more
pressure on Israel for concessions. He said the escapes were in fact a case of
“the Palestinian Authority releasing Hamas activists from jail.” (Quoted by the
Israeli news agency Itim, March 1, 2000.)
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “It is outrageous that the
Clinton administration is silent as Arafat makes a mockery of his Oslo
obligation to keep terrorists in jail.”
Other recent “escapes” by terrorists detained by the PA:
- Hamas terrorist Jamil Jedallah, who murdered Israeli citizens Itamar Doron
and Danny Vargas in 1998, “escaped” from the PA’s prison in Jericho.
Jedallah’s father said he is “convinced” the PA deliberately freed his son.
(Israel Radio, Feb. 25, 2000) - Three Islamic Jihad terrorists, including one involved in organizing a
suicide bombing in Jerusalem, “escaped” from the PA’s Jneid Prison, in Nablus.
(Associated Press, Oct. 3, 1999) - Senior Hamas bomber Imad Awadallah “escaped” from a PA prison. (Washington
Post, Aug.16, 1998) - Abed el-Nasser el-Kaysi, commander of the terrorists who murdered Mrs.
Etta Tzur and her son Efraim, of Beit El, “escaped” from the PA prison in
Jericho. (Jerusalem Post, July 4, 1997) - Ibrahim Ghneimat, who was involved in numerous attacks, including the
murder of American citizen Yaron Ungar and a 1997 Tel Aviv cafe bombing in
which three Israeli women were killed, “escaped” from the PA’s prison in
Hebron. The Jerusalem Post reported (July 4, 1997) that “there is reason to
assume that ’s ‘escape’ might have been engineered to placate
Hamas.”
