ZOA Criticizes Sec'y Clinton's White-Washing Of Pro-Terror, Pro-Iran,
Anti-Israel Abbas/Fatah Conference

November 3, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Morton A. Klein
Phone: 212-481-1500
www.zoa.org/sitedocuments/pressrelease_view.asp?pressreleaseID=1741

Denies points made in Sen. Specter's letter

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has written to Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, criticizing her response to a strong and principled letter
she received from Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA), in which she both
whitewashes and ignores the Abbas/Fatah Conference's rejection of a final
peace settlement with Israel, continuing support for terrorism, praising of
terrorists and suicide bombers and the embracing of Iran by the by
Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party at its Bethlehem
conference, which had prompted Senator Specter to write to her.

Secretary Clinton wrongly claims in her response to Senator Specter that the
Conference showed "a broad consensus supporting President Abbas,
negotiations with Israel, and the two-state solution." In fact, as the ZOA
documented at the time, the August 2009 Fatah Conference reaffirmed Fatah's
refusal to accept Israel's existence as a Jewish state, glorified terrorists
living and dead by name, praised the "armed struggle," insisted on the
so-called 'right of return,' and rejected an end of claims in any future
peace agreement with Israel.

Reports on the Fatah Conference led the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations to issue a statement saying, "Statements by
Abu Alaa [former PA prime minister Ahmed Qureia] praising suicide bombers
who have killed dozens of people is wholly unacceptable and represents the
true challenge to the chances for peace in the region. Statements by other
Fatah officials urged the continuation of armed resistance and asserted that
Fatah would not recognize the State of Israel. These declarations, made by
the so-called 'moderate' Palestinian faction puts into sharp focus the
question of the real beliefs of the party with whom Israel is to negotiate.
Such rhetoric cannot be dismissed as it glorifies murderers and incites
others to emulate their example. The U.S. has urged the Palestinians to
address the issue of incitement, which is both an immediate and long-term
obstacle to the prospect of meaningful negotiations. Too often such
statements have been dismissed. But as history has shown, it is a serious
impediment, not only undermining the confidence of Israelis, but exhorting
this and future generations to violence and hate. The leadership of the
Palestinian Authority must speak out against these actions to declare and
take steps that all such incitement be stopped."

Senator Specter wrote earlier this month to Secretary Clinton, saying that
he was "deeply concerned" with reports of extremism and glorification of
terror, including the featuring at the Conference of "posters of children
brandishing weapons . senior Fatah officials routinely referenced and
glorified perpetrators of terrorism; and perhaps most discouraging .leaders
addressing the audience continuously championed the notion that Palestinians
maintain the right to commit violence against Israel . it is my
understanding that the platform Fatah adopted at the Conference includes
calls for increased international pressure on Israel and opposes any
normalization of relations between Israel and Arab States." Referring to the
$800 million in U.S. aid to the PA, Senator Specter urged Secretary Clinton
that "This support ought to be predicated on at least some level of
assurance that the beneficiaries are committed to long-term peace." He also
urged her to "communicate disappointment to your counterparts in the
Palestinian Authority and advise them that the Conference and similar events
are counterproductive and will not be tolerated."

However Secretary Clinton has responded in an October 23 letter to Senator
Specter, where she whitewashed the anti-peace, pro-terror, anti-Israel
themes of this Conference by inaccurately stating that, "At the Congress,
President Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah leadership reaffirmed Fatah's
strategic choice to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict and
respect for the Quartet principles, including previous commitments of the
PLO. Among those who were elected during the Congress to the new Fatah
Central Committee and Fatah Revolutionary Council, there appears to be a
broad consensus supporting President Abbas, negotiations with Israel, and
the two-state solution. As you point out in your letter, however, some
individual Fatah delegates issued problematic texts and statements during
the Congress. It is important to note that those texts and statements did
not represent Fatah's official positions and the overwhelming majority of
Fatah delegates at the Congress made clear their support for peace and a
negotiated two-state solution."

In a letter to Secretary Clinton, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein,
National chairman of the Board, Dr. Michael Goldblatt, Executive Committee
Chairman Dr. Alan Mazurek and Treasurer Henry Schwartz said, "We view with
deep concern the major discrepancies that exist between what has been
reliably reported by, among others, prominent Israeli Arab Muslim journalist
Khalid Abu Toameh of the Jerusalem Post, about the Fatah Conference and your
subsequent description of it to Senator Specter. As we noted at the time of
the Conference, Fatah did not commit itself to a non-violent path. To the
contrary, at the Conference, Mahmoud Abbas himself declared that 'We
maintain the right to launch an armed resistance.' Jailed Fatah terrorist
leader, Marwan Barghouti, often touted as future Fatah leader, said
'Resistance to the Israeli occupation is a national obligation, and it is a
legitimate right' and, only weeks earlier, also stated that 'Fatah believes
in a combination of all forms of struggle, and it will not abandon, thwart,
or rule out any form of struggle . We in Fatah think that political activity
and negotiations complement resistance, and harvest its fruits.' Another
senior Fatah figure, Fahmi Al-Za'arir, said that 'It is not possible to rule
out or to marginalize the military option. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
[Fatah's armed force and a recognized terrorist group under U.S. law] are
the jewel in Fatah's crown.' Also, senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub
declared that 'Resistance was and is a tactical and strategic option of the
struggle are part of Fatah`s policy' while yet another senior Fatah
official, Husam Khader, said flatly, 'Fatah has not changed its national
identity, and it retains the option of resistance and armed struggle.'

"These are not merely the unrepresentative views of 'some individual Fatah
delegates' as you maintain in your letter to Senator Specter - they are
unequivocal statements of support for terrorism by well-known, senior
leaders of Fatah from Mahmoud Abbas down. Nor can it be said, as you contend
in your letter, that these statements do not reflect the platform of the
Fatah Conference. On the contrary, the Fatah platform calls for increased
international pressure on Israel, opposes any normalization of relations
between Israel and Arab states and refuses to declare that Fatah has no
further demands from Israel beyond a peace settlement. The platform also
calls for a 'strategic channel with Iran to be opened' - at a time Iran is
defying the world by seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. These facts are
matter of public record.

"We are, of course, aware that, at the Conference, Mahmoud Abbas asserted ,
as he often does to Western audiences, that Palestinians reject 'all forms
of terrorism,' but this disavowal of terrorism is meaningless when one
recalls that Palestinians do not consider terrorism against Israelis to be
terrorism, but legitimate 'resistance.' Indeed, when Abbas said those words
he immediately added that Palestinians would reject, in the words of the
Jerusalem Post report (Aug. 4), 'any attempt to label their struggle as an
act of terror.' In these circumstances, any language in the Fatah platform
concerning acceptance of Quartet principles and peace are simply
disingenuous and not credible, based on 16 years' experience.

"Please bear in mind that, at this Conference, Fatah did not even define
itself as a party, but as a 'national liberation movement' which means, not
a negotiating party or even a government-in-embryo, but an entity dedicated
to armed violence. This is, incidentally, the same way that Hamas, Hizballah
and the Syrian regime define themselves. Also bear in mind that the
resolutions of this Conference were virtually identical to those passed by
Fatah at its previous Conference, 20 years earlier, when all recognize that
it was a terrorist movement. And please recall that the Conference
unanimously passed a resolution claiming that Israel had murdered Yasser
Arafat. A party that does these things is clearly guilty of all and more
than Senator Specter pointed out in his original letter to you.

"At this Conference, former Palestinian Authority prime minister Ahmed
Qureia, now head of Fatah's Department for Recruitment and Organization,
welcomed delegates with the words 'In the name of shahids (martyrs, i.e.
dead terrorists).' Fatah explicitly honored terrorists, including Khaled
Abu-Isbah and Dalal Mughrabi, responsible for the 1978 coastal road bus
hijacking, in which 37 Israelis, including 12 children, were slaughtered.
Qureia honored their killers by declaring, 'We have in our midst the hero
Khaled Abu-Isbah, hero of the operation [terror attack] led by the Shahida
[Martyr] Dalal Mughrabi [loud applause from the audience]. We salute him and
welcome him. And [we salute] the hero, the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal. [He
shouts:] All the glory! All the glory! All the glory! All the sisters here
are Dalal's sisters.'

"In view of these easily ascertainable facts, we are surprised and deeply
concerned at your response to Senator Specter. As Senator, you distinguished
yourself by pointing to the poisonous and vile incitement to hatred and
murder that permeates the Palestinian Authority. You even said that such
incitement would have 'dire consequences for peace for generations to come'
and that 'It is clear that the Palestinian Authority, as we see on PA TV, is
complicit' in terrorist attacks and that we should condition U.S. aid to the
PA on a 'cessation of Palestinian propaganda and hateful rhetoric.' Yet, to
our dismay, we find now that you are not only neglecting to recognize the
clear extremism of the Fatah Conference ant its platform but actually
praising it for its commitment to peace and rebutting Senator Specter's
urgings to condition funding to the Palestinian Authority on it upholding a
truly moderate and peaceful approach. We strongly urge you to review this
vital matter. It would be a terrible, avoidable tragedy if further U.S.
funds go to support an unreconstructed regime that encourages terrorism and
engages in incitement and if the Obama Administration fails to take the
necessary steps to urge an end to this behavior as you yourself once urged."