ZOA Protests Bush's New Policy on Israel
March 14, 2003 Contact (212) 481-1500

Attn: NEWS EDITOR

Abbas Also Calls for Murder of Jews in Territories

ZOA PROTESTS BUSH'S EMBRACE OF ARAB HOLOCAUST-DENIER AND HIS DEMAND FOR MORE
ONE-SIDED CONCESSIONS BY ISRAEL

NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) strongly protests
President Bush's demand for more one-sided concessions by Israel, and the
president's embrace of Holocaust-denier Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister of
the Palestinian Authority, who has called for murdering Jews in the
territories.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "It is disappointing that when
it comes to the Arab war against Israel, President Bush has not learned the
lessons of Chamberlain's appeasement. The president's plan will create a
terrorist state, as proven by the PA's continual promotion of murder and
hatred, and Arafat's prime minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, calling for
terrorism against Jews in the territories. Bush's plan undermines America's
war against terrorism."

President Bush's Middle East statement on March 14, 2003, contained five
new, troubling elements:

1. EMBRACING MAHMOUD ABBAS, WHO DENIES THE HOLOCAUST AND CALLS FOR THE
MURDER OF ISRAELIS: President Bush said that "this moment offers a new
opportunity" to advance towards peace because "the Palestinian Authority has
created the new position of prime minister.. To be a credible and
responsible partner, the new Palestinian prime minister must hold a position
of real authority, We expect that such a Palestinian prime minister will be
confirmed soon." Yet the prime minister to whom Bush was referring, Mahmoud
Abbas, recently reiterated his support for murdering Israelis In an
interview in the Arab newspaper Alsharq Al-Amat (March 3, 2003), Abbas
described his recent discussions with various Palestinian Arab terrorist
groups about strategy. "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 defend 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. Every Jew praying at the Western Wall is a legitimate
target, according to Abbas's definition. President Bush, in his June 24,
2002 speech about the Middle East, said that the Palestinian Arabs must
"elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror " By President Bushd's
own definition, Mahmoud Abbas is not such a leader. Furthermore, Abbas is a
Holocaust-denier. He is the author of a 1983 book claiming that the Nazis
murdered less than one million Jews (rather than six million) and that they
were killed as a result of a conspiracy between Zionist leaders and the
Nazis to kill Jews in order to gain international sympathy for Zionism.
President Bush should treat Abbas as a pariah, just as other
Holocaust-deniers around the world are treated as pariahs, not statesmen.

2. ADOPTING THE "ROAD MAP" TO PALESTINIAN ARAB STATEHOOD--EVEN BEFORE THE PA
HAS MET BUSH'S OWN CONDITIONS FOR STATEHOOD: President Bush had previously
said that the "Road Map" for creating a Palestinian Arab state was being
postponed to some future date, after the Palestinian Arabs had demonstrated
that they had sincerely given up terrorism. Now, however, he said:
"Immediately upon confirmation [of Abbas as prime minister], the road map
for peace will be given to the Palestinians and the Israelis."

3. ISRAELI "SETTLEMENTS" MUST END AS SOON AS THERE IS UNDEFINED
"PROGRESS"--AND NO MENTION OF ARAB SETTLEMENTS President Bush said: "As
progress is made toward peace, settlement activity in the occupied
territories must end." Thus Israel is required to halt all Jewish
construction in the territories as soon as "progress is made" --a vague term
that could be defined by the State Department as consisting of slight
reduction in the number of Arab murders of Israelis. Meanwhile, President
Bush made no reference whatsoever to Arab construction activity--even though
the Arabs in Judea-Samaria-Gaza are building at ten times the rate of the
Jewish residents of those areas. The notion that Jews should be prevented
from building in their ancient homeland, while Arabs continue to build
there, smacks of racism.

4. CREATING A PALESTINIAN ARAB STATE BEFORE THERE IS ANY EVIDENCE OF REAL
CHANGE BY THE PALESTINIAN ARABS: President Bush said that "The government of
Israel, as the terror threat is removed and security improves, must take
concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian
state and to work as quickly as possible toward a final status agreement."

Thus. instead of requiring an end of terrorism as a precondition to Israel
supporting such a state, President Bush said that Israel must support a
state "as the terror threat is removed" --meaning, as the process of
removing it is underway, but before the process is complete. Thus Israel is
forced to assume an enormous risk to its security before the Palestinian
Arabs have demonstrated that they have genuinely ended terrorism.

5. MORAL EQUIVALENCY: President Bush "called upon all parties in the Middle
East to abandon old hatreds and to meet their responsibilities for peace."
The implication is that Israel and the Palestinian Arabs are equally to
blame for the persistence of those "hatreds," when in fact it is the PA
alone which constantly fosters hatred of Jews, Israel, and America in its
official media, schools, summer camps, officials' speeches, and religious
sermons by PA-appointed clergy.

The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the oldest
pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to strengthen
U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress about the
dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti Israel bias in the media and on
college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice
Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver