New York – Ahmed Qurei, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA), met with leaders of terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Syria and announced “they would not be disarmed.” Instead, they “discussed ways of cooperating.”(Jerusalem Post, 8/22/05)

Musa abu-Marzouk, a senior Hamas leader, said, “We stressed during the meeting with Qurei that the Palestinians have the right to continue the resistance against Israel and that there would be no attempt to collect weapons from the resistance groups. The weapons of resistance were founded to defend the Palestinian people and resist the occupation. The Gaza victory was achieved with the weapons of resistance, which is the only strategy to drive Israel out of the rest of our lands.”

Hamas also vowed to bring terror to “Haifa, Tel Aviv, Safed, Acre and Ashkelon” and pledged that soon “Israel will no longer exist.” Mahmoud Zahar, another Hamas leader, condemned “useless negotiations.” (Al-Arabiyya TV, Aug. 17, 2005)

Qurei agreed saying, “there will be no calm until the establishment of a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capitol.”

Mahmoud Abbas, Holocaust Denier and President of the PA added that the “Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip was not enough and that Israel should withdraw to the pre-1967 borders.” Abbas also called for “international pressure on Israel to implement the Road Map and withdraw from the entire West Bank and east Jerusalem and to stop construction of the security fence.”

Abbas also addressed a gathering of injured and disabled Arabs and asserted that “the credit of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip and Northern West Bank goes to the Palestinians who were killed, wounded and imprisoned during the decades of struggle…the injuries and disabilities they carried were medals of honor that are paid today with the exit of the last Israeli settler from Gaza.” (PA website – WAFA – 8/23/05)

He added, “Thank G-d you lived to see with your own eyes the fruits of your struggle and sacrifices for the nation…The credit for the retreat goes to the martyrs.

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein said, “The response to the Gaza/Northern Samaria retreat was as predicted by ZOA and many Israeli military/political leaders. This misguided Sharon Gaza strategy has energized the PA and the terror groups to continue their demands under the threat of terror. Now is the time for President Bush to end negotiations and funding for the PA until they fulfill all their obligations under the Road Map. Now is the time for Bush to publicly support Israel and pressure the PA to honor their commitments.” Now is the time for Bush to publicly rescind his calling Abbas “a leader who rejects violence.”