NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is contacting leading Members of Congress to urge them to block the Bush administration’s plan to give direct financial aid to the terrorist Palestinian Authority regime.

The Washington Post reports (Nov. 18, 2004) that the administration “plans to give $20-million in U.S. aid directly to the Palestinian Authority…the administration notified key congressional committees yesterday of the move.” Last year, the Bush administration more than doubled the annual U.S. aid grant to the Palestinian Arabs from $100-million to $213-million. Those funds were previously sent not to the PA itself, but to private contractors in PA territory. The Bush administration did make direct grant of $30-million to the PA last year, then stopped giving to the PA because of the regime’s involvement in terrorism.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “The evidence of the PA regime’s involvement in terrorism is overwhelming and incontrovertible. American taxpayers’ money should not be given to a terrorist regime, and we are urging Members of Congress to block the proposed $20-million grant.”

The ZOA is concerned that the administration’s plan to send aid directly to the PA may reflect a new policy pushed by Secretary of State-designate Condoleeza Rice. The ZOA recalls that the Washington Post reported on May 3, 2004 that the Bush administration “launched a diplomatic offensive intended to impress the Arab world, including trying ‘to emphasize its concern for the Palestinians,’ [and] as part of the diplomatic offensive, national security adviser Condoleeza Rice last week called some Arab countries that were behind in making payments to shore up the Palestinian Authority [PA].” Rice’s action contradicted the Bush administration’s own Road Map plan, which states that Arab states must “cut off public and private funding and all other forms of support for groups supporting and engaging in violence and terror.”