April 30, 2004 Contact: (212)
481-1500 Attn: NEWS EDITOR

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY INVOLVED IN TERROR, STATE DEPT ADMITS SO WHERE ARE
THE SANCTIONS?

NEW YORK- For the second year in a row, the State Department's annual report
on global terrorism has acknowledged that senior Palestinian Authority (PA)
officials are involved in terrorism yet the Bush administration still has
not imposed sanctions on the PA.

The State Department report, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003, noted
that "The PA's efforts to thwart terrorist operations were minimal in 2003,"
and, moreover, that "some personnel in the security services, including
several senior officers, have continued to assist terrorist operations."

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "The latest confirmation
that the PA security forces have been involved in terrorism against Israel
demonstrates that the PA cannot be 'reformed'; it is an evil regime that
must be completely dismantled and outlawed. Why isn't the Bush
administration imposing sanctions on the PA, just as it imposes sanctions on
other terror regimes?"

The language was identical to the previous year's report, Patterns of
Global Terrorism 2002, which stated: "The Palestinian Authority's efforts to
thwart terrorist operations were minimal in 2002" and "Some personnel in the
security services, including several senior officers, have continued to
assist terrorist operations."

That marked a change from the report surveying 2001, which acknowledged
only that "PA counterterrorism activities remained sporadic throughout the
year," and "a lax security environment allowed Hamas and other groups to
rebuild terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian territories." But the
State Department blamed that on Israel, asserting: "Israel's destruction of
the PA's security infrastructure contributed to the ineffectiveness of the
PA."

In the report for the year 2000, the State Department made it appears
as if PA involvement in terrorism was merely an Israeli accusation, rather
than a fact, stating: "Israeli officials publicly expressed their
dissatisfaction with PA counter-terrorism efforts during the crisis" ... "
The Israelis also accused PA security officials and Fatah members of
facilitating and taking part in shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli
targets" ... "The Israelis charged that the release of several prisoners
during the crisis had facilitated terrorist planning by the groups and that
Palestinian security officials had not been responsive to their calls for
more decisive measures against the violence."

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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.