NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has strongly protested a claim by the New York Times that there were “six months of relative quiet” prior to this week’s suicide bombing — when in fact there were at least 420 terrorist attacks against Israel during those six months.

The “relative quiet” claim was the opening sentence in the Times’ report on the suicide bomb massacre of 16 Israelis in Beersheba on September 1, 2004, by correspondent Steven Erlanger.

The Zionist Organization of America monitors Palestinian Arab violations of the Bush administration’s Road Map, including terrorist attacks against Israel. According to the ZOA’s records, during the six months from March through August 2004, there were at least 420 attacks or attempted attacks, in which 36 people were murdered and 175 wounded.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “The New York Times is attempting to minimize Palestinian Arab terrorism, by falsely portraying such terror as something which is relatively rare. The casualty figures for the past six months were lower than those for some periods last year, only because of anti-terrorist measures taken by the Israeli authorities, not because the Palestinian Arabs have stopped trying to murder Israelis.”