June 21, 2004 Contact: (212)
481-1500 Attn: NEWS EDITOR

ARAB CONSTRUCTION IN TERRITORIES RISES BY 27%, WHILE WORLD FOCUSES ON JEWISH
CONSTRUCTION

NEW YORK - While the international community focuses on Jewish construction
in Judea-Samaria-Gaza, Palestinian Arab construction in those territories
rose nearly 27% this year, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) points
out.

According to Israeli government estimates, Arabs have been building at ten
times the rate of Jews in the territories.

The pro-Arafat newspaper Arab newspaper Jerusalem Times reports (June 18,
2004):

"There was a general increase in the total number of issued building permits
in first quarter 2004 compared with first quarter 2003 (around 26.8%), said
a new report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). The
number of issued building permits in first quarter 2004 has also increased
compared with the first quarter of 2002 (around 16.0%)..."

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "For the international
community to demand an end to Jewish construction, yet remain silent about
the much larger amount of Palestinian Arab construction, represents a
deplorable double standard."

A recent poll carried out by John McLaughlin & Associates among a scientific
sample of 1,000 American adults asked if both Jews and Arabs should be
allowed to build in the territories, as they do now, or if Jews should be
prevented from building there. 61.5% said both Jews and Arabs should be
allowed to build; only 13.5% said that only Arabs should be allowed.

* * *

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.