NEW YORK- The speech by Palestinian Authority prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) at the Aqaba Summit consisted of the same worthless generalities that Yasir Arafat has declared in numerous speeches to the Western media over the years, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) points out.
* Abu Mazen refused to acknowledge that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state.
* He said, “we repeat our renunciation of terrorism against the Israelis wherever they might be”; however, in a March 3, 2003 interview, he said that violence against Israelis beyond the 1967 borders is not terrorism but legitimate resistance against “occupation.”
It is worth noting that in Yasir Arafat’s letter to Yitzhak Rabin on September 9, 1993, as part of the Oslo accords, Arafat pledged that “the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence”—yet he never fulfilled that pledge.
* He did not pledge to take any specific steps against terrorists—no pledge to arrest terrorists, confiscate their weapons, or dismantle their infrastructure, as the Road Map requires.
* He did not pledge even to take elementary steps such as outlawing terrorist groups; changing the names of any streets or schools that were named after terrorists; or canceling the PA’s policy of providing monetary payments to imprisoned terrorists and terrorists’ families.
* He spoke in general about “acting against incitement,” without pledging to take any specific steps, such as changing the PA’s school textbooks and newspapers, which glorify terrorists as heroes and depict Jews as evil Nazis.
* He did not offer any timetable for when he would fulfill any of his promises.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Abu Mazen’s vague, worthless generalities at the Aqaba Summit are reminiscent of Arafat’s September 1993 speech on the White House lawn about ‘ushering in an age of peace.’ In fact, Arafat —with Abu Mazen as his number two official— ushered in an era of unprecedented Palestinian Arab violence against Israel, including the murders of more than 1,000 Israelis. There is no reason to expect that Abu Mazen will be any different from Arafat—especially when in his first speech as prime minister, Mazen turned to Arafat and said ‘This government, Mr. Arafat, is your government.’ The Road Map is an historic error, with Israel once again being pressured to trade vital territory for worthless Arab promises. It is clear that the lesson of Oslo has not been learned—that the Palestinian Arabs are not sincerely interested in a small state living in peace next to Israel, but remain committed to Israel’s destruction.”
In Arafat’s letter to Yitzhak Rabin on September 9, 1993, as part of the Oslo accords, Arafat pledged to “commit itself to a peaceful resolution of the conflict” … to “inaugurate a new epoch of peaceful coexistence, free from violence and all other acts which endanger peace and stability” … “the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators.” The PA never fulfilled any of those pledges. Once again, a Palestinian Arab leader, Abu Mazen, is making the same statements that Yasir Arafat made on numerous occasions. Yet Arafat never took any action to fulfill his promises; likewise, in the six weeks since the Road Map was proclaimed, Mazen has not taken any action to fulfill any of his Road Map obligations.