NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is deeply disappointed by the Bush administration’s continuing pressure on Israel to make more one-sided concessions to the Palestinian Arabs.

The New York Times reports (Nov. 22, 2004) that Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Israel to “press Prime Minister Ariel Sharon” to make new one-sided concessions such as “reducing Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza [and] easing roadblocks.” The Associated Press reports (Nov. 21, 2004) that Israel is “under U.S. pressure,” and quoted Assistant Secretary of State William J. Burns, who is accompanying Powell, as calling for “steps by Israel which are needed to facilitate this election.”

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Israel’s security checkpoints, set up at roadblocks, help prevent terrorists from smuggling bombs into Israel to murder its citizens, just as security checkpoints at U.S. airports help prevent terrorists from smuggling bombs onto airplanes to murder American citizens. Easing up on the checkpoints means making it easier for terrorists to commit murder. For the Bush administration to be pressuring Israel to ease up the checkpoints is wrong, and undermines the international war against terrorism.

“Instead of pressuring Israel, the U.S. should be pressuring PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia to honor their Oslo and Road Map obligations to arrest terrorists, dismantle terror groups, confiscate their tens of thousands of weapons, extradite terrorists to Israel for prosecution, and halt the constant incitement to hatred and murder of Jews in their official media, schools, summer camps, officials’ speeches, and sermons by PA-employed clergymen.”