ZOA: End All U.S.
Relations with Arafat
NEW YORK – In response to Yasir Arafat’s sponsorship of the “ship of terror” that recently tried to bring 80 tons of weapons to Palestinian Arab terrorists, prominent voices in American journalism are calling for stronger U.S. action against Yasir Arafat and his terrorist Palestinian Authority regime.
* Charles Krauthammer: Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote on January 11, 2002: “What does it take for the world to acknowledge the obvious truth that Yasser Arafat has no intention of making real peace? How much incontrovertible evidence is required before one admits that the Oslo ‘peace’ was a fraud and a deception?…Any truce Gen. Anthony Zinni gets him to sign will have the same durability as the dozens of truces Arafat signed while destroying Lebanon in the 1970s. If we want peace, Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have to go. They must be de-legitimized, de-recognized, de-funded by the United States. And by Europe. And if that does not bring them down, Israel should be allowed to go in and do the job itself.”
* William Rusher: Syndicated columnist William Rusher wrote on January 10, 2002: “In the wake of September 11, President Bush rightly declared that the United States was at war-not only with Osama Bin Laden, his followers, and any nations that might harbor them, but with all ‘terrorist’ organizations of similarly worldwide scope…The Palestinian terrorists [are] exact moral equivalents of Osama bin Laden and his followers.”
* William Safire: New York Times op-ed columnist William Safire wrote on January 10, 2002: “The clear purpose of the [80] tons of Iranian arms was to help Yasir Arafat’s coalition of terror win Iran’s undeclared war on Israel. While the U.S. and Israel have for a decade been deluding themselves with a ‘peace process,’ Iran and its Palestinian proxies have been gaining ground in their war process.”
* Michael Kelly: Syndicated columnist Michael Kelly wrote on January 9, 2002: “The evidence is close to overwhelming that the Karine A mission [the ship carrying 80 tons of weapons] was financed and organized at the highest levels of the Palestinian Authority, most likely sanctioned by Arafat himself—and that Arafat allowed the mission to proceed after he called for cessation of all armed actions against Israel on Dec. 16.”
* Don Feder: Syndicated columnist Don Feder wrote on January 7, 2002: “By sending Presidential mediator Anthony Zinni back to the Middle East, our State Department rewarded and became an accomplice in Yasser Arafat’s latest charade…Other than token gestures, there has been nothing remotely resembling a ‘crackdown’ [on terrorists] from the PalestinianAuthority…The Palestinian Authority’s Force 17 and Mr. Arafat’s personal Tanzim militia have worked hand-in-bloody-glove with Hamas and Jihad in planning and executing atrocities. If Mr. Arafat were sincere about fighting terrorism, he would have to arrest himself.”
Morton A. Klein, National President, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) said: “We urge the Bush administration to heed the wise counsel of these prominent columnists; the time has come to end all U.S. relations with Yasir Arafat and his terrorist regime.”
