The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) finds it painful to see that 12 years after Oslo began, after major concessions of giving away one-half of Judea & Samaria and all of Gaza, arming the Palestinian police, forcibly removing 10,000 Jews from their homes, and billions of dollars in international aid; it is still necessary for the Israeli Prime Minister once again to plead in his United Nations speech yesterday with “the Palestinian leadership to end terror and its infrastructures, eliminate the armed gangs, and cease the incitement and indoctrination of hatred toward Israel and the Jews.”
ZOA President Morton A. Klein said, “Who would have believed 12 years ago that this sort of speech would still be necessary. It is high time for Israel and the US to stop its pleading, stop its funding, and stop its negotiating with the Palestinian Authority (PA). There must be serious consequences to the PA’s unending anti-peace, pro-terror actions. Sharon and Bush should simply cut off all aid and continuously and severely respond to terror until the terror and incitement stops. Negotiations and concessions have failed. It is clear that the Arab war against Israel is not about economics or land but about the existence of a Jewish State within any border.
“Israel does not exist on any map in the PA schools or offices. Recent speeches by PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas calling for a ‘mixture of populations in Palestine’ indicate Abbas’ real aim is ending the Jewish State of Israel. In fact, when President Bush asked Abbas to publicly refer to Israel as the Jewish ‘state,’ Abbas refused. Each May, the Palestinians rally and call the creation of Israel ‘a catastrophe'”
Klein added that “It was also painful and incomprehensible to hear Sharon say he ‘respects’ the Palestinians. How can the leader of the Jewish State make this complimentary characterization after 12 years in which Palestinians have murdered 1500 Israelis and maimed 10,000 more. How can Sharon say he ‘respects’ the Palestinians days after they destroyed over 40 holy synagogues, looted the homes of the Gaza Jews, and destroyed the Jewish greenhouses left behind for their own use that Jewish millionaires bought for them.
“How can Sharon respect a people the majority of whom still support suicide bombings against Jews. How can he respect a people who refuse to arrest murderers of Jews and disarm and dismantle the anti-Jewish terror groups. How can he respect a people who refer to killers of Jews as martyrs and heroes.
“We are also puzzled as to why Sharon, in his speech, again calls for a sovereign Palestinian State. Doesn’t Sharon understand that such a state will now simply be a terror state. Sovereignty doesn’t end terror, it only strengthens the underlying culture to promote their agenda. Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Iran are sovereign states. Are they lovely and peaceful.
“A Palestinian State would only join the list of rogue states and cause more problems for Israel and the U.S. In a recent poll, by McLaughlin and Associates, by a margin of 3 to 1, Americans said a Palestinian State would be a terrorist state whose goal is to destroy Israel and not to live in peace. Americans understand. There should be no discussion of any Palestinian state unless and until the Palestinian Arab society is transformed and lives peacefully with Israel for many years.”