NEW YORK- Although two weeks have passed since the appointment of a supposed “moderate” as the Palestinian Authority’s new prime minister, the PA’s anti-Jewish and anti-American terrorism and incitement are just as rampant as ever.

On March 19, 2003, Arafat’s number two man, Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) became prime minister of the PA. While PA officials claimed this fulfilled President Bush’s requirement for “new leaders not compromised by terror,” Palestinian Arab terror has continued.

During Abbas’s first two weeks in power:

* The PA did not seize any weapons from terrorists.

* The PA did not shut down any terrorist bomb factories.

* The PA did not outlaw or punish any terrorist groups.

* The PA did not honor any of Israel’s 45 requests for the extradition of terrorists.

* Terror continued: Between March 19 and April 2, there were at least 44 terrorist attacks or attempted attacks, in which 2 people were murdered and 46 were wounded.

* Incitement continued:

—Official PA Television on March 28, 2003 broadcast a 40-minute live sermon by Sheikh Muhammad Jamal Abu-Hannud, in the Sheikh Ijlin Mosque in Gaza, in which he said: “The children of Iraq are being massacred, Iraq is being bombed, and the sons of Iraq are being killed. Iraq, the Arab Muslim country, has been the cradle of civilization since the dawn of history and the capital of the Islamic Caliphate. Aggression against Iraq is an aggression against international law, religious, humanity, and values, morals, and principles. Aggression against Iraq is an aggression against Islam, the Koran, and Muhammad’s message. If Iraq falls down, God forbid, the crusaders will target the Koran.”

Sheikh Abu-Hannud said that President Bush, “the enemy of Allah and His messenger, created hatred against the United States all over the world through his aggressiveness and by calling for a change in the educational curricula in Arab and Islamic countries.” He concluded: “O Allah, help the Iraqi people and leadership be victorious over their enemy. O Allah, defeat the United States and its allies.”

—On March 28, 2003, official PA Radio broadcast a 28-minute live sermon by Sheikh Yusuf Abu-Sneinah in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, in which he appealed to Allah “to help the Iraqi people be victorious over the enemies” and denounced what he called “the ugly massacres committed by the U.S. and British invasion forces.” He added: “Non-Muslim countries have taken an honorable position, although they are defending their interests in the region. They have condemned the aggression and refused to allow the invading forces to use their territories and their territorial waters. They also refuse to sever their relations with Iraq.” He concluded: “O Allah, help our Muslim people in Iraq be victorious over the infidels. O Allah, destroy the Muslims’ enemies, for they are within your power. O Allah, destroy them all.”

—On March 23, 2003, the PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida published a cartoon depicting a glorious Iraqi eagle with two soldiers, one American and one British, caught in its claws. (Translation courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch.)

—Official PA Television on March 21, 2003 broadcast a live sermon by Sheikh Ibrahim Mudayris, in the Sheikh Ijlin Mosque in Gaza, in which he said “Allah is stronger than the United States, Britain, and Israel, and he will avenge for his subjects from their enemies, the arrogant on this earth. Allah will drown the small pharaoh of our time, the president of the United States. America will drown in our seas. It will face death in our skies and lands, Allah willing. America and all tyrants will drown in their blood in our land, Allah willing.”

He added: “Here is the Crusader, Zionist United States waging war on our Iraq; Iraq of Islam and Arabdom, Iraq of civilization and history, Iraq of science, and Iraq of steadfastness. It is waging a Crusader, Zionist war on Iraq…Allah willing, the United States will be annihilated. Iraq, Palestine, the Arab homeland, and the Middle East will be a cemetery for the oppressive tyrannical invaders. O Allah, O Supporter of the oppressed, we have been treated unjustly in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan. O Allah, destroy the pillars of America and Britain. O Lord, shake the land under their feet. O Allah, shake the land under Israel’s feet.”

—On March 21, 2003, official PA Radio broadcast a live sermon by Sheikh Muhammad Hussein in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, in which he said: “From the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque we reject and condemn this criminal aggression against Iraq and its brave people…O Allah, O revealer of the Koran, mover of the clouds, and vanquisher of infidels, defeat the infidels and help us triumph over them. O Lord, face them and spare us their evil. O Allah, shake the land under their feet…O Allah, kill them all and leave no one alive.”

No Disavowal of Pro-Terror Statements:
Despite becoming prime minister, Abbas has so far refused to disavow his recent statements supporting the murder of Israelis.

Abbas had told the Arab newspaper Alsharq Al-Awsat on March 3, 2003: “We didn’t talk about a break in the armed struggle … It is our right to resist. The Intifada must continue and it is the right of the Palestinian People to resist and use all possible means in order to defends its presence and existence. I add and say that if the Israelis come to your land in order to erect a settlement then it is your right to defend what is yours.”

The interviewer then asked: “Including using arms?” Abbas replied: “All means and arms as long as they are coming to your home, as this is the right to resist. The restriction applies only to ‘Shahada -Seeking’ [suicide] operations and going out to attack in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. There is no justification to go out [of the territories] to fight the army.”

Thus Abbas supports murdering all Jews in the territories, both soldiers and civilians whom he defines as “settlers”—that is, Jews who reside in (or happen to be visiting) Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan, the Old City section of Jerusalem (where the Jewish Quarter, Western Wall and Temple Mount are situated), and Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Gilo, Ramat Eshkol, French Hill, and the Hebrew University campus.

No Disavowal of Holocaust-Denial Writings:

Despite becoming prime minister, Abbas has so far refused to disavow the book he wrote in 1983, called The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and the Zionist Movement, in which he stated that the Nazis may actually have killed “only a few hundred thousand” Jews, not six million; that Zionist leaders “give permission to every racist in the world, led by Hitler and the Nazis, to treat Jews as they wish, so long as it guarantees immigration to Palestine. Zionism not only gave this permission but was seeking more victims in order to maintain equality with the sacrifices of other nations during the war”; and that “the interest of the Zionist movement is to inflate this figure [from several hundred thousand to 6 million] so that their gains will be greater.” (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 26, 1995)

A February 2003 poll by McLaughlin & Associates found that 64% of Americans believe that “world leaders should refuse to meet with Abbas and treat him the same as others who deny or minimize the Holocaust.” Only 20% of Americans believe that world leaders should meet with Abbas.

No Disavowal of Statements That Jewish Temple Wasn’t in Jerusalem:

Despite becoming prime minister, Abbas has so far refused to disavow his statements claiming that the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem never existed. In an interview with the Israeli Arab newspaper Kul Al-Arab (Aug.8,2000), Abbas was asked: “The Israelis want you to forget the past and turn your gaze to the future.” Abbas replied: “According to this logic, he who wants to forget the past, namely the Israelis, should not claim that the Jewish Temple is underneath the Haram [the Temple Mount, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is situated]. They demand that we forget what happened to the refugees 50 years ago and at the same time The Jews claim that 2,000 years ago, they had a holy place there. I challenge the assertion that there has ever been a Jewish Temple.” (Translation courtesy of MEMRI.)