December 2, 2003 Contact: (212) 481-1500 Attn: NEWS EDITOR

Powell Should Not Meet With Rogue Group

ZOA CONDEMNS ROGUE GENEVA ACCORD, WHICH WOULD PUSH ISRAEL BACK TO THE
INDEFENSIBLE 1967 BORDERS

NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has condemned the
rogue Geneva Accord, which would push Israel back almost to the
nine-miles-wide pre-1967 borders, expel many thousands of Jews from their
homes, and give away Judaism's holiest site.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin, has described
the Geneva Accord as "tantamount to Israel committing suicide." (Ha'aretz,
Dec. 2, 2003) According to the Geneva plan, Israel would have to retreat
virtually all the way to the narrow pre-1967 borders, and give up parts of
the Negev region (which is now part of the State of Israel); a sovereign
Palestinian Arab state would be established, right next to Israel's major
population centers; half of Jerusalem would be turned into the capital of
the Palestinian Arab state, including Judaism's holiest site, the Temple
Mount; and many of the 230,000 Jews living in Judea-Samaria-Gaza would be
expelled from their homes and towns. The Geneva accord does not
specifically rule out the Arab demand for the "return" of millions of Arab
"refugees" to Israel.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "It is outrageous for
individuals acting in opposition to the democratically-elected government of
Israel to negotiate an 'accord' that undermines Israel's security by
putting pressure on Israel to retreat to indefensible borders and divide its
own capital, Jerusalem."

The ZOA president also expressed strong opposition to the plan by
Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet with the architects of the Geneva
Accord: "Imagine how the U.S. would feel if the Israeli government embraced
a group of radical former Congressmen who negotiated an 'accord' on nuclear
weapons with the North Korean government."

Concerning the danger of the 1967 borders, the ZOA noted:

* The late Abba Eban said that the 1967 border would leave Israel so
vulnerable that "it has for us something of a memory of Auschwitz." (Der
Spiegel, November 5, 1969)

* A study by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in June 1967 concluded:
"From a strictly military point of view Israel would require the retention
of some captured Arab territory in order to provide militarily defensible
borders ... [including] control of the prominent high ground running
north-south through the middle of West Jordan [Judea-Samaria]," as well as
the entire Gaza Strip and the entire Golan Heights.

* Lt.-Gen. Thomas Kelly, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of
Staff during the 1991 Gulf War, said: "It is impossible to defend Jerusalem
unless you hold that high ground [in Judea-Samaria]. I look out from those
heights and look onto the West Bank and say to myself, 'If I'm the chief of
staff of the Israel Defense Forces, I cannot defend this land without that
terrain.'" (Jerusalem Post, Nov.7, 1991)

* * *
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.