NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) strongly objects to the statement by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz that the Bush administration intends to “intensify” its efforts to create a Palestinian Arab state—despite the Palestinian Arabs’ failure to fulfill any of the conditions set forth by President Bush last June.
Wolfowitz said (Ha’aretz, Jan. 22, 2003) that “Our stake in pushing for a Palestinian state will grow” after the anticipated U.S. war with Iraq, and the “day after” the war ends, the administration’s campaign to create a Palestinian Arab state will begin.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “For the administration to push ahead for a Palestinian Arab state, when the Palestinian Arabs have failed to meet any of President Bush’s conditions, makes a mockery of the president’s June speech and sets the stage for the creation of a brutal, corrupt, totalitarian, and thoroughly terrorist state. It rewards the Palestinian Arabs for their constant murder of Jews. President Bush promised to put an end to terrorist states, not create new ones.”
A new ZOA report has found that during the six months since President Bush’s major Middle East policy speech, the Palestinian Arabs have not fulfilled any of the conditions that the president set forth before the U.S. will support creation of a Palestinian Arab state. For a free copy of the report, call the ZOA at 212-481-1500.
The major findings of the report, titled Six Months Since the Bush Middle East Speech, are:
* No crackdown on terror: While the Bush plan requires the Palestinian Arabs to “fight terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure,” they have not arrested terrorists, extradited any terrorists to Israel, outlawed or disarmed any terrorist groups, shut down any bomb factories, or punished any PLO factions involved in terror. During the six-month period, there were at least 617 Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks or attempted attacks, in which 115 people were killed and 613 wounded.
* No end to incitement: Official Palestinian Authority television, radio, and newspapers are still filled each day with anti-Israel and anti-American incitement and support for violence.
* No new leadership: While President Bush insisted that the Palestinian Arabs elect new leaders, PA spokesmen defiantly rejected that call and said they will elect whomever they want.
* No meaningful reforms: There was no meaningful effort to fulfill the Bush plan’s requirement for total reform of Palestinian Arab governing agencies and the dismissal of all officials involved in terrorism or corruption. As part of an internal power struggle, Yasir Arafat fired several officials but then offered them alternative positions within the PA; he also hired a veteran terrorist as his new national security adviser.
The ZOA report notes that despite the Palestinian Arabs’ failure to meet the Bush plan conditions, President Bush and his spokesmen have claimed that the Palestinian Arabs are making “progress,” have held meetings with Yasir Arafat’s top aides in Washington, and have declared that the administration is determined to create a Palestinian Arab state in the year 2003.