As Israeli Prime Minister Arrives in Washington New ZOA Report Exposes Arafat’s Two Faces—Speaking “Peace” To The West, While Urging Arabs To Wage War Against Israel

JERUSALEM – As Israel’s prime minister visits Washington, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has released a new report documenting the two faces of Palestinian Authority chairman Yasir Arafat—how he claims to Western audiences that he wants “peace,” while simultaneously urging Arab audiences to continue their terrorist war against Israel.

Writing on the op-ed page of the New York Times on Feb. 3, 2002, Arafat claimed that he opposes violence against Israel. Yet to Arab audiences, Arafat continues to urge war. Addressing a crowd in Ramallah on Feb. 7, 2002, Arafat declared, “We will make the lives of the infidels Hell!” (Videotape of the speech was broadcast on Israel Television.) In a speech in Ramallah on Feb. 6, 2002, which was broadcast on Israel Television, Arafat led the crowd in a chant of “A million martyrs marching to Jerusalem!” In a speech to Palestinian Arab leaders from Hebron, which was broadcast on official PA Television on January 26, 2002, Arafat urged: “Jihad, jihad, jihad, jihad, jihad!”

At the same time, Arafat’s official PA media continue to praise and glorify terrorists who murder Jews:

…After an Arab terrorist murdered three Israelis in the town of Hamra on Feb. 6, 2002, the PA’s official “Voice of Palestine” Radio praised the attack as “istish-haad” —an act of “heroic martyrdom.” Anchorman Nizar Al-Ghul commented: “The man carrying out the operation became a heroic martyr after killing two ettlers and a soldier and wounding at least four.” (The two “settlers” were an unarmed woman and her 11 year-old daughter.) During the morning news program, a song was played that repeatedly called for “martyrs” and for acts of “heroic martyrdom” inside Jerusalem.

…When an Arab suicide bomber seriously wounded two Israelis on Jan. 30, 2002, the PA’s official “Voice of Palestine” Radio hailed the attack as “amaliya istish-hadiyya” —“an operation of heroic martyrdom.”

…When female suicide bomber Wafa Idris struck in Jerusalem on Jan.29, 2002, killing one Israeli and wounding over 150 others, the PA-sponsored newspaper Al Ayam published a front page photograph of the terrorist with three sympathetic death notices calling her a “heroine” and a “martyr.” On Jan. 31, 2002, Arafat’s Fatah movement held a rally for elementary school girls in honor of Idris. A photo in Al Ayam (Feb. 1, 2002) showed the girls carrying posters reading “The Fatah Movement…proudly eulogizes their heroine Martyr, from the Alamari refugee camp, the martyr Wafa Idris.”

(Translations courtesy of Prof.Michael Widlanski of Hebrew University.)

The ZOA’s new report, Arafat Glorifies Murderers, reveals how Arafat and the PA encourage terrorism against Israel by:

* Publicly praising terrorists as “heroes,” “martyrs,” and “righteous prophets.”

* Naming streets and public squares after prominent terrorists.

* Publicly bestowing awards, such as the PA’s “Jerusalem Decoration,” to terrorists.

* Giving dead terrorists a hero’s burial, accompanied by uniformed PA policemen and eulogies delivered by PA leaders.

* Holding memorial rallies for terrorists at PA schools.

* Paying salaries to imprisoned terrorists.

* Offering scholarships to the children of terrorists who are killed while trying to murder Israelis.

For a free copy of the ZOA’s timely new expose, Arafat Glorifies Murderers, please call the ZOA at 212-481-1500.