New Poll: Americans Oppose
Palestinian Arab State, 71%-13%
NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) disagrees with President Bush’s statement that a Palestinian Arab state can be a “peaceful and democratic” state that will coexist with Israel. The Palestinian Arabs’ ongoing terrorist war against Israel and their culture of anti-Jewish hatred and violence demonstrates that a Palestinian Arab state will inevitably be a terrorist state.
The Palestinian Arabs have consistently violated the conditions that President Bush spelled out last year: they have not disarmed, dismantled, or outlawed terrorist groups; they have not arrested or extradited terrorists; they have not halted their anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, and anti-America incitement; they have not replaced their terrorist leadership; they have not embraced democracy and human rights.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “It is surprising that President Bush has declared his support for a ‘road map’ that will create a Palestinian Arab state in the very near future when the Palestinian Arabs h ave ruthlessly violated all the conditions he himself said had to be met before he would support the creation of such a state. Creating a Palestinian Arab state would, in effect, reward terrorism. President Bush promised to end terrorist states, not create new ones.”
President Bush correctly noted that “the passing of Saddam Hussein’s regime will deprive terrorist networks of a wealthy patron that pays for terrorist training, and offers rewards to families of suicide bombers.” Surprisingly, however, he did not acknowledge that the Palestinian Authority itself provides monetary rewards for the families of suicide bombers, pays salaries to imprisoned terrorists, provides scholarships to the children of terrorists who are killed while murdering Jews, names streets and parks after terrorists, including terrorists who have murdered American citizens, glorifies terrorists through the PA-controlled media, and harbors terrorists who have murdered Israelis and Americans. ZOA president Klein said: “Sadly, the phenomenon of payments to suicide bombers’ families will continue long after Saddam is gone, thanks to the pro-terrorist policies of the Palestinian Authority.”
The ZOA notes that the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Gen. Moshe Ya’alon, said recently that the PA’s goal is the destruction of Israel and therefore Israeli concessions to the PA would be disastrous.
The ZOA is also disappointed by President Bush’s statement that “As progress is made toward peace, settlement activity in the occupied territories must end.” The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza have never been an obstacle to peace; it is the Palestinian Arabs’ war to destroy Israel that is the obstacle to peace. Before 1967, there were no Jewish ‘settlements’, yet there were three Arab wars against Israel and constant Palestinian Arab terrorism. Furthermore, Arab settlement activity in the territories has been proceeding at ten times the pace of Jewish construction in those regions. It is surprising that President Bush mentions only Jewish construction but says nothing about Arab construction, which is illegal, violates the Oslo accords, and is far more widespread than Jewish construction.
Fifty prominent Jewish and Christian leaders, as well as former U.S. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Secretary of Education William Bennett, and former Republican presidential candidates Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes recently signed a full-page ZOA newspaper advertisement headlined “President Bush, creating a Palestinian Arab state means creating a new terrorist state.”
The ad appeared recently in the Washington Times, the Weekly Standard, the Israeli newspapers Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post, and Jewish newspapers throughout the United States. It will soon appear in the New York Times and elsewhere.
A national poll by McLaughlin and Associates earlier this month found that by a margin of 71% to 13%, Americans oppose the creation of a Palestinian Arab state.
The poll found that by a margin of five and a half to one, Americans oppose creating a Palestinian Arab state; by a margin of six and a half to one, Americans oppose U.S. aid to the Palestinian Arabs; by a margin of four and a half to one, Americans want Palestinian Arab killers of Americans handed over to the U.S. for prosecution; by a margin of more than three to one, Americans believe that the Palestinian Arabs’ goal is the destruction of Israel; by a margin of two to one, Americans believe that a Palestinian Arab state will be a terrorist state; and by a margin of three to one, Americans say that world leaders should not meet with Palestinian Arab officials such as Abu Mazen, Yasir Arafat’s second in command, who have denied or distorted the Holocaust.