[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 16, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S3298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PALESTINIAN TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL

 Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, I rise to condemn the resurgence 
of terrorism against Israel. We have all watched with concern as a 
seemingly strong peace process has been assaulted with senseless acts 
of violence. Most troubling to me is the role Palestinian leadership 
has played in facilitating that terrorism. Yasser Arafat's failure to 
combat consistently terrorist activity in territory administered by the 
Palestinian Authority is the greatest single threat to achieving a 
lasting peace settlement in the Middle East.
  In the last few years, the Palestinian Authority has allowed 
terrorist attacks to reach atrocious levels of violence before finally 
responding to suppress these criminals. In 1996, four suicide bombings 
in Israel killed 59 people before Mr. Arafat got serious about 
combating terrorist networks in Palestinian territory. The Palestinian 
Authority arrested Islamic extremists, censored mosque sermons, and 
finally jailed almost all known operatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. 
The crackdown was successful and resulted in almost a year of silence 
from Hamas.
  Last week's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv broke that silence, however, 
and revived longstanding concerns about Arafat's willingness to use 
terrorism as a tool of leverage in the peace process. Beginning last 
August, Arafat gradually released 120 of 200 Islamic activists that 
Israel identified as security threats. Of those 120 activists, 16 were 
allegedly involved in terrorist acts that killed Israelis. To make 
matters worse, Arafat permitted five of the known terrorists to enter 
his security forces in Gaza and appointed a Hamas spokesman, Emad 
Falouji, to his Cabinet. Arafat also hired Adnan Ghol, one of Israel's 
most wanted Hamas terrorists for building the bomb used in a bus attack 
last year, to serve in his intelligence service in Gaza.
  In his visit to the United States in early March, Arafat was warned 
by the United States of the danger of releasing known terrorists. Such 
warnings went unheeded as Arafat returned to Palestine and promptly 
released the most senior remaining terrorist leader, Ibrahim Maqadmeh. 
Maqadmeh could very well have been involved in the March 21 Tel Aviv 
suicide bombing. Arafat claims his release of terrorist operatives is 
meant to bring all elements of Palestinian society into the peace 
process, but it is clear that such actions merely give a green light to 
terrorist attacks.
  Mr. President, I am troubled by the deterioration of the Middle East 
peace process and alarmed by the release of known terrorists from 
Palestinian jails. Terrorists are not welcome at the table of peace, 
and I call upon the Clinton administration to address this issue more 
forcefully in future discussions with Palestinian officials. The April 
10 joint raid by Israeli and Palestinian security forces on a Hamas 
terrorist cell in the West Bank is a constructive step to rebuild 
security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It 
is my sincerest hope that Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority 
will suppress terrorism at every turn and consistently adopt policies 
that preserve the security of both Israel and the occupied territories. 
When Palestinian terrorism ends, sincere negotiations for a lasting 
peace can truly begin.

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