To:
ZOA Executive Directors
ZOA Regional Leaders
Friends of Israel Around the U.S.
From:
Morton A. Klein
National President, Zionist Organization of America
Media reports indicate that President Bush is preparing to announce a formal Middle East “peace” plan based on the creation of a Palestinian Arab state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
Please urge the President to refrain from pushing for the creation of such a state, which would be a terrorist state that would endanger Israel and undermine America’s interests in the Mideast:
Recommended Action For You To Take:
Contact the White House:
President George W. Bush The White House Phone: 202-456-1111 / Fax: 202-456-2461 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov Washington, DC 20500
Some Points You May Want to Make:
The creation of a Palestinian Arab state will:
* Reward the murder of Israelis. It will send a message that terrorism pays. And if the suicide bombers succeed in Israel, it will increase the likelihood that they will strike America again.
* A sovereign Arafat state will be no more peaceful than sovereign regimes such as Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Granting sovereignty does not necessarily ensure that the new sovereign state will be peaceful. Syria, Iraq, and Iran are sovereign; wouldn’t the world be a better place if such regimes were merely autonomous and did not have full sovereignty? A sovereign Arafat state will be able to bring in weapons and troops from Iraq.
* Endanger America’s ally, Israel, by establishing a terrorist state that will station its forces just miles from Israel’s major cities—and leave Israel just nine miles wide at its vulnerable mid-section. A Palestinian state would share a Israel’s longest border, flanking the areas that contain 70% of Israel’s population, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa—plenty of tempting targets for cross-border attacks by terrorists who would then take refuge in the Palestinian state.
* Endanger Jordan. Arafat’s forces could join with the Palestinian Arab residents of Jordan —where they are a majority of the population— to overthrow King Abdullah and create a single state that will stretch all the way to the Jordanian border with Iraq. Arafat already tried once (in 1969-1970) to take over Jordan; the PLO’s official ideology claims that all of Jordan should be part of “Palestine.”
* Create another anti-American dictatorship —Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority is a brutal Muslim dictatorship which tortures dissidents, silences newspaper that deviate from Arafat’s line, and persecutes Christians. The official PA media actively incites hatred against America, and the Arafat maintains warm relations with the most anti-American regimes in the world, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, North Korea, and Cuba.
* Endanger Jewish religious rights —the Palestinian Authority has already destroyed one key Jewish religious site, the Tomb of Joseph, turning it into a mosque and barring Jews from the area. The ancient Shalom al-Yisrael synagogue in PA-controlled Jericho has also been burned down. PA officials have called for banning Jewish prayer from Jerusalem’s Western Wall and Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs, and PA police officers regularly carry out shooting attacks on the Tomb of Rachel, near Bethlehem. In an Arafat state, Jews will be prevented from access to their religious sites.
* Endanger Palestinian Arab Christians —Christian Arabs living in PA territory “are subjected to brutal and relentless persecution,” according to the Israeli government. Bethlehem, which once had a Christian majority, is now 80% Muslim; most of its Christian residents have left because of Muslim harassment. Christians are not allowed to build, or even renovate, churches in PA territory. American courts have granted asylum to Palestinian Christian Arabs on the grounds that they will be persecuted if they return to PA-controlled areas.
* Endanger Israel’s water supply. A significant portion of Israel’s water originates in Judea-Samaria. If Arafat has sovereignty, he could shut off the flow of that water. There would also be an increase danger of Palestinian Arab terrorists sabotaging the Israeli water supply.