Communicated by the Prime Minister’s media adviser, Jerusalem, December 9, 2001.
Arafat has been continually claiming that he has arrested more than 20 terrorists from the list given to him by US Envoy General Anthony Zinni.
However, the true facts are that significant steps have not been taken by the PA to stop the terrorism:
1. Arafat continues to deceive the world, and continues to recycle his lies.
2. Arafat is not arresting terrorists, rather he is hosting them in guest houses (in a form of protective custody).
3. Arafat has not conducted serious interrogations of a single terrorist, and has taken no preventative action to foil terrorist activities.
4. Arafat has not begun judicial proceedings against a single terrorist.
5. Israel is acting, and will continue to act, against strategic locations (installations and facilities of PA security forces, such as Force 17, that are currently engaged in terrorist activities) from which terrorism is operating against the State of Israel and its citizens.
Israel is forced to do what the PA is supposed to, but is either unwilling or unable to do, namely to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.
6. In order to prevent terrorism, we have already announced that Israel will allow free passage of Palestinian security forces from one area to another.
7. The Palestinian Authority has taken no steps to stop the incitement in their media and in their education system.
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Additional information by Arutz Sheva News Service, december 9, 2001
Israel has not let up on its demand that the Palestinian Authority arrest the 33 terrorists whose names appear on the list Israel provided a while ago – and in fact, the PA is making efforts to appear to be fulfilling this demand. It has already ‘arrested’ 10 or 11 of them – i.e., they were asked if they agree to remain in detention, under better-than-usual conditions, for a period of a few weeks until the American and European pressure abates.
So did a ‘senior military source’ tell Ynet today. “It’s for the good of the Palestinian Authority,” the terrorists were told. Some of the 33 were arrested ‘on paper,’ and were released to their homes after being registered in the prison.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Sha’ul Mofaz told the Cabinet today that the PA is attempting to broadcast a message as if it has “changed direction,” but that in actuality, the changes are merely tactical. Mofaz said that Israel would continue its offensives for as long as the terrorism continues.
