Clinton Was Wrong to
Take DFLP Off the Terror List

NEW YORK – The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which was removed from the U.S. list of terror groups in 1999, has claimed responsibility for carrying out yet another terrorist attack against Israel, prompting the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) to urge the Bush administration to to put the DFLP back on the terror list.

The DFLP is a member-organization of Yasir Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). President Clinton removed the DFLP from the terrorist list in 1999 as part of his policy of attempting to appease Arafat. Clinton took the action despite the fact that the DFLP continued to shelter terrorists, including some involved in the murders of American citizens.

The DFLP has now claimed responsibility for the shooting attack on Israeli vehicles along the Karnei-Netzarim route on May 19, 2002, resulting in injuries to four Israelis. (In the past nine months, DFLP terrorists have murdered at least 4 Israelis and wounded 11.) Israel has publicly identified DFLP terrorist Talal Abu Zarifa as the mastermind of this and other recent attacks. According to the Israeli government, “Abu Zarifa’s name has been passed on to the Palestinian security services several times, including recently, on the basis of information obtained in investigations that he was overseeing an attack. The Palestinian security services did not act to prevent the attack; Abu Zarifa continues to enjoy full freedom of action.”

In a letter to President Bush, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein, Chairman of the Board Dr. Alan Mazurek, and National Executive Committee Chairman Dr. Michael Goldblatt wrote: “President Clinton removed the DFLP from the terror list in the mistaken belief that such a reward would encourage the DFLP to sincerely forsake terrorism. Instead, it sent a message to the DFLP that it could engage in terrorism —including the murders of American citizens— and never pay a price. We urge President Bush to put the DFLP back on the terrorist list and make it clear that there will be consequences for terrorism. At this critical time when America is engaged in a worldwide struggle against terrorism, every terrorist group, including the DFLP, should be put on the U.S. list and subjected to appropriate sanctions.”

Other Recent DFLP Terrorist Attacks:

* Earlier this year, the Israeli police captured a six-man DFLP cell operating from the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya. The cell members “confessed that they had perpetrated a large number of shooting attacks at private vehicles and buses on the Jerusalem-Ma’aleh Adumim road,” as well as shooting attacks on security forces stationed near Hebrew University; throwing molotov cocktails and pipe bombs at Israeli motorists; arson attacks against Arabs suspected of cooperating with Israel; and planned to lay mines in areas where Israeli security forces were expected to travel. (Office of the Prime Minister, March 13, 2002)

* Last October, six members of another DFLP terrorist cell operating in the same area admitted to having carried out a July 29, 2001, shooting attack on an Israeli police jeep. The police who raided their hideout found the weapons used in the attack, as well as a submachine gun, a pistol, three Kalashnikov rifles, hundreds of bullets and cartridges, uniforms, and fake identification documents. (Jerusalem Post, Oct.8, 2001)

* The Palestinian Authority said that “a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was arrested after he was found with a rifle and hand grenades” on December 29, 2001. (New York Times, December 31, 2001)

* In December 2001, the Israeli Army captured eight terrorists, some of the DFLP members, who “were positively identified as having planted bombs or having taken part in shooting attacks.” (Jerusalem Post, December 10, 2001)

* The DFLP claimed responsibility for carrying out a shooting attack in northern Jerusalem on September 15, 2001, killing an Israeli man. (Jerusalem Post, September 17, 2001)

* The DFLP claimed responsibility for carrying out a shooting attack on the Israeli Army’s Marganit outpost in Gaza on August 24, 2001, killing three Israelis and wounding seven. (Jerusalem Post, August 26, 2001)

* In an official statement released by DFLP headquarters in Damascus on January 20, 2002, the DFLP “said it has decided to resume attacks on Israelis,” the Associated Press reported (Jan. 20, 2002)