NEW YORK – In the wake of the latest Palestinian Arab massacre of twenty Jews in Jerusalem, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is urging President Bush to cancel his planned announcement of support for the immediate creation of a Palestinian Arab state, “provisional” or otherwise.

In a telegram to President Bush, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein, Chairman of the Board Dr. Alan Mazurek, and Executive Committee Chairman Dr. Michael Goldblatt wrote:

“If the Palestinian Arabs can carry out such massacres when they do not have sovereignty, imagine how much worse it would be if they are given the powers of a sovereign state.

“Sovereignty does not necessarily put an end to terrorism. It only strengthens the existing pro-terrorist culture to wreak even more havoc. Iraq, Iran, and Syria are sovereign states; sovereignty has not turned them into civilized democracies. Wouldn’t the world be better off if they did not have the powers of sovereignty?

“The Palestinian Authority regime carries out constant terrorism against Israelis, and shelters and collaborates with other terrorist groups such as Hamas (which carried out Tuesday’s massacre in Jerusalem) and Islamic Jihad. The PA promotes a culture of anti-Jewish hatred and violence in its official media, school textbooks, summer camps, officials’ speeches, and sermons by clergymen.

“A Palestinian Arab state therefore would inevitably be a terrorist state. It would be the only time in history that a state would be established not to provide a better life for its citizens, but to better pursue the destruction of another state.

“If the Palestinian Arabs have a sovereign state, that will impede Israel’s ability to pursue terrorists who are being sheltered there.”

* NEW POLL SHOWS MOST ISRAELIS OPPOSE CREATING A PALESTINIAN ARAB STATE: A new poll has found that a large majority of Israeli Jews are opposed to creating a Palestinian Arab state. The poll asked respondents their view of a peace agreement between Israel and the Arabs that would involve creating a Palestinian Arab state and Israel withdrawing to the 1967 borders, which would include withdrawing from the Jordan Rift Valley and the Old City of Jerusalem. It found 80% of Israeli Jews are opposed. When the poll question was adjusted to include another standard Arab demand, the right of Palestinian Arab refugees to settle in Israel, 93% of Israeli Jews were opposed. (The poll was carried out from May 31-June 3, 2002 by the Smith Institute, Israel’s most prominent polling firm; it was co-sponsored by the ZOA and the Israeli news agency IMRA.)

* POLL FINDS MOST ISRAELIS SEE PALESTINIAN ARAB STATE AS A DANGER TO ISRAEL: November 2001 ZOA-IMRA poll by the Smith Institute found 68% of Israeli Jews believe that “regardless of the size or strength of a Palestinian state, if one is established it will constitute a threat to the State of Israel”; and 64% of Israeli Jews believe the creation of a Palestinian Arab state would “increase the ability of the Arab states to threaten Israel.” Only 9% of Israeli Jews believe creating a Palestinian Arab state would reduce the Arab states’ threat to Israel.

* ISRAEL’S RULING PARTY OPPOSES CREATION OF A PALESTINIAN ARAB STATE: In May 2002, Israel’s Likud Party passed a resolution stating that “No Palestinian state will be established west of the Jordan River.”

* AIPAC WARNS AGAINST CREATING PALESTINIAN ARAB TERRORIST STATE: In a statement on June 6, 2002, AIPAC president Amy Friedkin and executive director Howard Kohr stated: “The United States and the world cannot afford to introduce another terrorist state into the community of nations.”

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IMPORTANT NOTE: This week, the ZOA will be sponsoring a Capitol Hill panel discussion, “A Palestinian State: Civilized Democracy or Terrorist Regime?” The speakers will include Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; Israeli Knesset Member (and former Defense Minister) Moshe Arens; Gary Bauer, president of American Values and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination; Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives; and ZOA president Morton Klein.

The event will be held in 138 Dirksen Senate Office Building (1st and C Streets NW, Washington, D.C.), on Thursday, June 20, 2002, from 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.