ZOA Agrees With Bush’s Statement That Abu Mazen Must “Dismantle The Terrorist Organizations”
News
June 25, 2003

NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) agrees with President Bush’s statement that there must be a “complete dismantlement” of Hamas and other Palestinian Arab terrorist organizations. The question is: will the Bush administration take concrete steps to compel the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the terrorist groups?


In a press conference with European Union leaders on June 25, President Bush said: “The true test for Hamas and terrorist organizations is the complete dismantlement of their terrorist networks, their capacity to blow up the peace process … in order for there to be peace in the Middle East, we must see organizations such as Hamas dismantled, and then we’ll have peace, we’ll have a chance for peace.” (Associated Press, June 25, 2002)


ZOA National President Morton A. Klein noted that Bush has previously called for the “dismantling” of the terrorist organizations —both in his June 2002 speech and in the Road Map that he issued eight weeks ago— yet he has not taken action to pressure the Palestinian Authority to dismantle them.


ZOA president Klein said: “The Bush administration should use its diplomatic and financial leverage —including the $150-million in annual aid to the Palestinian Arabs— to compel Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority to take immediate, concrete steps to bring about the ‘complete dismantlement’ of terrorist groups:
* Arrest and imprison terrorists.


* Outlaw the terrorist groups.


* Confiscate the terrorists’ tens of thousands of weapons.


* Shut down their training camps and safe houses.


* Fulfill the PA’s obligation, in the Oslo accords, to honor Israel’s 45 requests for extradition requests.


* Stop glorifying terrorists and promoting hatred and murder of Jews, in the PA-controlled media and PA schools.


* Change the names of schools, streets, and parks that have been named after terrorists.”



Center for Law & Justice
We work to educate the American public and Congress about legal issues in order to advance the interests of Israel and the Jewish people.
We assist American victims of terrorism in vindicating their rights under the law, and seek to hold terrorists and sponsors of terrorism accountable for their actions.
We fight anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses.
We strive to enforce existing law and also to create new law in order to safeguard the rights of the Jewish people in the United States and Israel.