71% of Americans Oppose
Creating Pal. Arab State
NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America has strongly protested Secretary of State Colin Powell’s statement equating opponents of Palestinian Arab statehood with mass murderers.
Speaking to reporters outside the United Nations on August 21, 2003, Secretary Powell, commenting on the prospects for the Road Map plan in the wake the latest Palestinian Arab massacre of Jews in Jerusalem, said: “The alternative is what? Just more death and destruction? Let the terrorists win? Let those who have no interest in a Palestinian state win? Let those who have no interest but killing innocent people win? No. That is not an acceptable outcome.”
In a telegram to Secretary Powell, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein, Chairman of the Board Dr.Alan Mazurek, and chairman of the National Executive Committee Dr. Michael Goldblatt wrote:
“It is shocking and appalling that you would lump together ‘those who have no interest in a Palestinian state’ with ‘the terrorists…those who have no interest but killing innocent people.’ Opposition to a Palestinian Arab state is a legitimate and reasonable position that is shared by many prominent Americans, Members of Congress, and —according to a recent McLaughlin poll— 71% of the American public. And for good reason: a Palestinian Arab state would be a terrorist state that would endanger Israel and ally itself with anti-American rogue regimes such as Syria and Iran.
“For more than thirty years, the United States government’s position was against creating such a state. Does your statement mean that your predecessors as Secretary of State were comparable to terrorists, because they opposed creating a Palestinian Arab state?”
Prominent Americans who oppose Palestinian Arab statehood include: Dr. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education; former Assistant Secretary of State Alan Keyes; Gary Bauer, president of American Values and former senior White House aide; the Rev. Dr. Pat Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network; former U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz; and former U.S. Senator Connie Mack.