Makes a Mockery of Bush’s
Requirements for State
NEW YORK- Secretary of State Powell has pledged to bring about the creation of a Palestinian Arab state in Judea-Samaria and Gaza in the year 2003, even though the Palestinian Arabs have not fulfilled any of the conditions he spelled out in President Bush’s June 24 speech.
After a meeting at the U.N. between Powell and officials of Europe, Russia, and the United Nations on September 17, 2002, the participants issued a statement calling for “creating a Palestinian state with provisional borders” in the year 2003, to be followed by a “permanent status solution in 2005.” The statement also “deplored and condemned the morally repugnant violence and terror, which must end” —but it did not acknowledge that it is the Palestinian Arabs, not Israel, who are responsible for that violence and terror.
A June 2002 poll by Israel’s leading polling firm, the Hanoch Smith Institute, found 80% of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state along the 1967 borders. A November 2001 poll by the Smith Institute found 68% of Israeli Jews believe that “regardless of the size or strength of a Palestinian state, if one is established it will constitute a threat to the State of Israel.” In May 2002, Israel’s Likud Party passed a resolution stating that “No Palestinian state will be established west of the Jordan River.”
Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), said: “The Palestinian Arabs have not fulfilled any of the conditions set by President Bush’s June 24 speech and their terrorist war against Israel continues, yet the Bush administration is promising to give them a state nevertheless. This rewards terrorism and sends a message to the Palestinian Arabs that they can continue their terrorism against Israel without suffering any consequences. This makes a mockery of President Bush’s conditions for U.S. support for creating a Palestinian Arab state. The Bush administration should be working to end terrorist states — as President Bush vowed to do— rather than creating a new one.”
For a free copy of the ZOA’s new report on Palestinian Arab violations of the Bush plan, titled Two Months Since the Bush Middle East Speech, please call the ZOA at 212-481-1500.
The major findings of the report are:
* No crackdown on terror: While the Bush plan requires the Palestinian Arabs to “fight terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure,” they have not arrested terrorists, extradited any terrorists to Israel, outlawed or disarmed any terrorist groups, shut down any bomb factories, or punished any PLO factions involved in terror. During the two-month period since the Bush speech, there were 226 Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks, in which 45 people were killed and 309 wounded.
* No end to promoting murder and hatred: Official Palestinian Authority television, radio, and newspapers are still filled each day with anti-Israel and anti-American incitement and support for violence.
* No new leadership: While President Bush insisted that the Palestinian Arabs elect new leaders, PA spokesmen defiantly rejected that call and said they will elect whomever they want.
* No meaningful reforms: There was no meaningful effort to fulfill the Bush plan’s requirement for total reform of Palestinian Arab governing agencies and the dismissal of all officials involved in terrorism or corruption. As part of an internal power struggle, Yasir Arafat fired several officials but then offered them alternative positions within the PA; he also hired a veteran terrorist as his new national security adviser.