[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 118 (Tuesday, September 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8937-S8942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 U.S. FOREIGN POLICY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, in the absence of any Senators in the 
Chamber to proceed with the legislation pending, I will take this 
occasion for a few moments to discuss U.S. foreign policy in the 
Mideast. This is especially appropriate since today the Secretary of 
State, Madeleine Albright, is traveling to the Mideast in an effort to 
promote the so-called peace process. My very strong view is that the 
time has come for a fundamental reassessment of U.S. policy for the 
Mideast. The brutal fact of life is that there is no peace process. We 
talk of the peace process, but there is a one-sided war being waged 
today by the Palestinians, a war against Israel.
  Regrettably, terrorism has replaced warfare as a way of obtaining or 
seeking to obtain political objectives. After the Israelis were 
successful in the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, there has no 
longer been an effort to confront Israel militarily, but the insidious 
terrorist war continues. President Reagan said that the Soviets liked 
the arms race as long as they were the only ones in it, and then with 
the change of United States policy in the 1980's we brought the Soviet 
Union to bankruptcy and ended that matter. And now I submit it is time 
for a change in U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast because, simply 
stated, the emperor is wearing no clothes. There is no peace process. 
We have had continuing terrorist attacks for years, but in the last 6 
months the situation has escalated.
  On March 21 of this year, on July 30 of this year, and on September 4 
of this year, there have been bombings, murdering 21 Israelis and 
wounding over 330 other Israelis. On August 27, Chairman Yasser Arafat 
openly embraced the Hamas leader, specifically condoning and supporting 
the Hamas terrorism in a picture seen around the world: The famous shot 
heard around the world. This is the famous picture seen around the 
world as depicted on the front page of the New York Times. And in this 
embrace and in this kiss facially, Yasser Arafat has thumbed his nose 
not only at the Israelis but at the United States and our allies and 
all others who have poured billions of dollars into the Palestinian 
authority.

  My point is, simply stated, that it is time to stop that U.S. aid, 
and it is time that the U.S. exert its maximum influence to persuade 
our allies to stop that aid because of what has in fact happened. The 
Palestinians now have a police force of some 30,000. They have highly 
sophisticated weapons which are really not designed for a police force. 
Should Israel now turn over an airport to the Palestinians so that they 
can develop air power as well?
  The fundamental principle of the Camp David accord and the Oslo 
accord was that there would be confidence measures established, that 
there would be assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza and on the West 
Bank, that there would be an improvement in the standard of living, 
that there would be an opportunity for Israel and the Palestinians to 
live side by side. But the brutal fact of life is that that has not 
happened. And when the U.S. policy now suggests going to final status 
negotiations, it seems totally inappropriate when the confidence 
building measures have not worked.
  U.S. law now prohibits economic aid to the Palestinians on conditions 
imposed in an amendment introduced by

[[Page S8938]]

Senator Shelby and myself in 1994 which became part of the foreign aid 
bill of 1995. That amendment provided that further U.S. economic aid 
was conditioned on two factors. No. 1, a maximum effort by the 
Palestinians to stop the terrorism. Realistically there cannot be 
guarantors. There is no such thing as an absolute success requirement. 
But there is a requirement of a 100 percent effort, and that certainly 
has not happened. The second requirement of the Specter-Shelby 
amendment was that the PLO charter be changed to eliminate the language 
calling for the destruction of Israel. That, too, has not been done, 
with some excuses about the Palestinian legislative group not 
convening, some representation that the accord signed on September 13, 
1993, in effect changed the charter, but that is legally incorrect. The 
charter has not been changed.
  After the March 21 terrorist attack on a Tel Aviv restaurant, Prime 
Minister Netanyahu charged that Chairman Arafat had given a green light 
to the terrorists. When Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appeared 
before the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, I asked 
whether in fact it was true that the Secretary of State knew the facts 
that Chairman Arafat had given a green light. Secretary Albright 
replied that there had not been a green light but there had not been a 
red light either.
  Now, Mr. President, if there is not a red light, then U.S. law 
requires an end to the economic aid. There is an absolute obligation on 
the part of Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to make that 
maximum, 100 percent, effort and it was not made. Earlier this year, in 
March, Deputy Secretary of Education Moshe Peled of Israel charged that 
Chairman Arafat had knowledge in 1993 before the bombing of the World 
Trade Center. When I noted that accusation, I called upon the 
Department of Justice to conduct an investigation as to what had 
happened there. I then pursued the matter by calling Deputy Secretary 
Peled myself. I could not talk to him because he spoke only Hebrew, and 
I spoke only English. But my associate, David Brog, who works with me 
on these issues, who speaks Hebrew, talked to Mr. Peled, who stood by 
his earlier comments. And it is my understanding that the FBI has 
questioned Mr. Peled and that an investigation is ongoing, but as yet 
we have not heard what the results of that investigation are.
  It was a difficult day for me back on September 13, 1993, when 
Chairman Arafat was honored at a ceremony on the lawn of the White 
House. It was an especially difficult day because many of us felt that 
Chairman Arafat should have been prosecuted for his complicity in the 
murder of our American Ambassador to the Sudan, Cleo A. Noble, Jr., and 
our Charge, George C. Moore in Khartoum back in 1973. Many thought 
Arafat should have been prosecuted for the murders of 11 Israeli 
athletes at the summer Olympics in Munich in 1972. Many thought, 
including this Senator, that Chairman Arafat should have been 
prosecuted for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro and the murder of Mr. 
Leon Klinghoffer who was pushed overboard in October 1985.

  But in the world of real politics, remarkable, strange, bizarre 
things occur, and I think such an occurrence was presented at the White 
House lawn back in September 1993 in conferring a joint Nobel Peace 
Prize on Chairman Arafat. It seemed to me that when Prime Minister 
Rabin shook Chairman Arafat's hand and then Foreign Minister Peres 
shook Chairman Arafat's hand, considering the fact that Israel had 
borne the brunt of the PLO terrorism, I should shake his hand as well, 
and I have on a number of occasions. Senator DeConcini led a delegation 
of which I was a member back in December 1993. Senator Hank Brown and I 
visited Chairman Arafat in Gaza in 1995, August. Senator Richard Shelby 
and I visited Chairman Arafat in Gaza in January 1996, and on each 
occasion we pressed him hard about stopping terrorism. And in August 
1996 Senator Brown and I had obtained a long list of terrorists from 
now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At that time, Mr. Netanyahu was 
the leader of the opposition. And one by one, we went over this list of 
terrorists with Chairman Arafat, and we heard his excuses one by one. 
But now Chairman Arafat has run out of excuses.
  The U.S. policy appears to be continuing to work with Chairman Arafat 
because there is no one else to work with, but I suggest that if 
Chairman Arafat is the best we have to work with, then the reality is 
we have no one to work with. From meetings that I have had with 
Palestinian leaders over the course of the past decade, it is my view 
that there may well be someone to succeed Chairman Arafat. We know on 
this state of the record, with what Chairman Arafat has done on 
repeated pronouncements and this embrace seen around the world, it is 
simply not workable to continue to deal with him.
  Now, it may be that the zebra can change its stripes, but on this 
state of the record my sense is that it is futile to continue to deal 
with Chairman Arafat. The terrorists whom Israel has tried to have 
extradited for trial, of which 31 are now on the list, some 11 have 
either joined the Palestinian Authority police force or are awaiting 
entry there. I have discussed with the distinguished Presiding Officer, 
Senator Hutchinson, who introduced a sense-of-the-Senate resolution 
last week, combining our efforts in seeking hearings on this matter to 
go into some detail and hear from the Secretary of State after her 
return from the Mideast and to hear from the Department of Justice what 
are the ramifications of the inquiries conducted as to Moshe Peled's 
charges, because leadership is necessary to our foreign policy at the 
present time and it is counterproductive and simply not sensible to 
continue on the policy which is being undertaken at the present time, 
to continue to have United States dollars and our allies' dollars 
poured into the Palestinian Authority, which only increases the ability 
of some Palestinians to conduct terrorism and also to prepare to wage 
an all-out war.

  The thought about a Palestinian state had been deferred, awaiting to 
see what confidence-building measures could arise, but when the 
DeConcini delegation arrived in Jericho in December 1993, just a few 
months after the signing of the accord on the White House lawn on 
September 13, 1993, the Palestinian flags were already in full 
evidence. As far as the Palestinians were concerned, it was a de facto 
state.
  There had been concern that there would be a Trojan horse within 
Israel. That has not happened because it hasn't been a secret Trojan 
horse; it has been an army out in the open, some 30,000 strong with 
sophisticated military weapons and with the chief of police being under 
indictment under charge of having worked with the terrorists.
  It is my hope, Mr. President, that President Clinton himself will 
become engaged in the Mideast peace process. I think it is a very good 
move for Secretary of State Albright to go to the Mideast, and I 
compliment the President for the decision to send our Secretary of 
State there, notwithstanding the terrorist attack of last week. It is 
my hope that there will be a renewed effort by the United States to 
press to resume the Israeli-Syrian dialog. I believe that the visit 
that President Clinton made to Damascus in 1994 was a very fruitful 
visit. There have been reports that President Clinton was engaged in 
negotiations as an intermediary between Prime Minister Rabin and 
President Assad which might have led to an accord between Israel and 
Syria, depending on what happened to the Golan Heights. That matter 
might have been referred to Israel for a referendum, and there are 
signs now that it would be fruitful to resume those discussions.
  I think it also might be helpful to the Israeli-Palestinian situation 
to take the world's spotlight and the glare of the television cameras, 
so thoroughly enjoyed by Chairman Arafat, away from the Israeli-
Palestinian controversy and focus some attention on an Israeli-Syrian 
peace accord. If a peace could be brokered between Israel and Syria to 
go along with the peace between Egypt and Israel from the Camp David 
accords and the more recent peace negotiations between Jordan and 
Israel, that would leave the Palestinian issue the odd man out. I 
believe that a direct involvement by the President, which I had 
suggested last August after I returned from conversations with both 
Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Assad, would be very, very 
fruitful.

[[Page S8939]]

  I have seen in my foreign travels in my capacity as Chairman of the 
Senate Intelligence Committee and my work on the Foreign Operations 
Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee the enormous respect and 
admiration that the United States is held in around the world. We are 
the only superpower, and we are greatly admired for our tremendous 
economic success. We have the potential for enormous influence. When 
the President of the United States, when that office is involved, 
regardless of who the President is--President Reagan, President Bush, 
President Carter, President Clinton--when the Presidency exerts that 
power, there are enormous potential benefits to be gained in bringing 
adversaries together.
  It is my hope that Secretary Albright will make some progress. It is 
my hope that the President will personally intervene in these matters, 
because his participation in the past has been very, very productive, 
but it ought to be very plain that on the current state of the record, 
the United States will not, should not, cannot, must not provide 
further economic aid to the Palestinian Authority, that we should use 
our utmost persuasive powers to get our allies to follow the same 
course of not giving economic aid to the Palestinian Authority, because 
to do so is just to build up their military capacity, their capacity 
for terrorism, the police force, the army of some 30,000 and the 
sophisticated weapons they now have. The reality is that the emperor 
has no clothes. There is no peace process. There is a war engaged, one 
side of the war is terrorism, with the efforts of the Palestinians to 
use terrorism to replace warfare as a method of getting their political 
objectives.
  The time has come for a fundamental reassessment of U.S. policy for 
the Mid-East.
  The brutal fact of life is that there is no peace process.
  It is time to acknowledge there is a war going on. The PLO is at war 
with Israel.
  There can be no other conclusion from these facts:
  First, the PLO/Hamas in three terrorist attacks in the past 6 months 
have murdered 21 Israelis and wounded over 330.
  Second, Chairman Arafat has literally and figuratively embraced Hamas 
openly. His front page kiss of the Hamas leader seen around the world 
tells the Arab world and certainly the Palestinians that the 
Palestinian Authority condones and supports Hamas.
  Third, even after last week's terrorist attack, Hamas threatens more 
violence if its demands are not met.
  Terrorism has replaced conventional warfare in the Mid-East as the 
prime method to obtain political objectives. After losing the wars of 
1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, the Arab world has not directly confronted 
Israel militarily. Instead the PLO has sought to obtain its objectives 
by killing women, children, and any other available civilians by 
cowardly sneak attacks in restaurants, shopping centers, and street 
corners.
  Yet, we continue to talk of the peace process while this one-sided 
war is being waged. President Reagan correctly noted that the Soviets 
liked the arms race as long as they were the only ones in it. The 
United States changed course in the 1980's with military preparedness 
and brought the U.S.S.R. to its knees in bankruptcy.
  It is now time--really past time--to change U.S. policy in the Mid-
East.
  This week's visit by Secretary Madeleine Albright presents an 
occasion to do just that.
  While the PLO makes a pretense at peace, the United States and our 
allies are making the Palestinian Authority stronger by financing their 
buildup.
  The concept of the Camp David agreement and the Oslo accords was 
sound. Give the Palestinians local autonomy. Develop confidence 
building measures. Set the stage for the Palestinians to live side by 
side in peace with Israel.
  The problem is that it just has not worked. It's time to acknowledge 
that the emperor is wearing no clothes.
  I had long thought Chairman Arafat should be prosecuted for his 
complicity in the murder of our Ambassador to the Sudan, Cleo A. Noel, 
Jr., and our Charge d'Affaires, George C. Moore, in Khartoum on March 
2, 1973; for the murders of 11 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics 
in Munich in 1972; and the murder of Mr. Leon Klinghoffer on the 
Achille Lauro in October 1985. But I thought, if Prime Minister Rabin 
and Foreign Minister Peres could shake Chairman Arafat's hand--
considering Israel had born the brunt of PLO terrorism--then so could 
I.
  I have shaken his hand in meetings with a delegation led by Senator 
Dennis DeConcini in Cairo in December 1993, with Senator Hank Brown in 
Gaza in August 1995, and with Senator Richard Shelby in Gaza in January 
1996. On each occasion, our delegation pressed him on stopping 
terrorism. In our August 1995 meeting, Senator Brown and I had obtained 
from now-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then the leader of the 
opposition, a list of PLO terrorists against whom Chairman Arafat 
refused to act. One by one we listened to his excuses why nothing could 
be done. By now, he has run out of excuses.

  Following the Oslo accords, the United States took the lead with our 
allies in providing financial aid in the billions to the Palestinian 
Authority. Our calculation was that improving the lives of the 
Palestinians would provide stability to the region and promote peace.
  The issue of a Palestinian state was supposedly deferred. But not as 
far as the Palestinians were concerned. When the DeConcini delegation 
arrived in Jericho in December 1993, we found flags for the Palestinian 
state with the PLO taking it as a fait accompli.
  Some were concerned that the Oslo accords would create a Trojan 
horse--a concealed military force within Israel. But it was not that 
way at all. It was not concealed, but it was a force.
  We now find a Palestinian police force--really an army. Although the 
Oslo accords limit the Palestinians to 24,000 policemen in the West 
Bank and Gaza, the Israeli Government reports that the PLO currently 
deploys over 30,000 policemen. The Palestinian police have acquired 
sophisticated weapons typically used by armies, not police forces, such 
as LAU and RPG antitank missiles, antiaircraft missiles, and Kayushas.
  Of the 31 suspected terrorists whose extradition is being sought by 
Israel, 11 are either serving in the Palestinian police or are in the 
process of joining its ranks. The Palestinian police chief, Ghazi 
Jabali, stands accused by Israel of planning terrorist attacks on 
Israeli civilians. The Israelis cited evidence that General Jabali 
helped plot a July 1997 attack on Jewish settlers near Nablus. Israel 
has issued a warrant for his arrest and a formal order for his 
extradition to Israel to face these charges. The Washington Post 
reported on August 7, 1997, that the Clinton administration has said it 
has proof that Jabali helped organize this attack.
  What next? Israel has resisted giving the Palestinians their own 
airport. Should a Palestinian air force be permitted? Will continued 
U.S. and allied aid be funneled into such air power and further 
military development?
  Assessing blame for the deterioration in the Israeli-Palestinian 
relationship is an endless and futile undertaking. Whatever blame is 
attached to Prime Minister Netanyahu's rhetoric and policies, that 
cannot be placed on the same scale as PLO terrorist murders.
  I strongly believe that the United States should now cut off any 
further aid and persuade our allies to do the same unless and until the 
Palestinian Authority demonstrates a 100-percent effort to stop 
terrorism. They cannot be guarantors, but they can and should be held 
to a 100-percent effort.
  When PLO terrorism continued after the Oslo accords were signed, 
Senator Shelby and I introduced the Specter-Shelby amendment which 
became law on August 23, 1994, as part of the fiscal year 1995 foreign 
operations bill. That amendment provided for a cutoff of United States 
aid if: First, the PLO did not change its charter calling for the 
destruction of Israel; and second, the Palestinian Authority did not 
make a 100-percent effort to stop terrorism.
  In a report published in the Jerusalem Post on March 26, 1997, Deputy 
Education Minister Moshe Peled charged that Chairman Arafat knew in 
advance about the plan to blow up the Trade Center in New York in 1993. 
I then wrote to Attorney General Reno on April 1, 1997, asking for an 
investigation on that matter. After receiving a reply from the 
Department of Justice legislative liaison that they

[[Page S8940]]

knew of no evidence to support that charge, I called Mr. Peled on May 
2, 1997. Since he did not speak English and I do not speak Hebrew, I 
asked my assistant, David Brog, who does speak Hebrew, to talk to him. 
Mr. Peled stood by his charge, but declined to elaborate.

  On May 14, 1997, I again wrote to Attorney General Reno with more 
specific requests on what her Department should do in its 
investigation. When I announced on June 13, 1997, that I intended to 
put a hold--that is, hold up on the confirmation of Deputy Attorney 
General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice committed to undertake 
an investigation. I have since heard media reports that the FBI 
interviewed Mr. Peled in his Tel Aviv office for some 2 hours on June 
26, 1997. On June 4, 1997, and again on July 28, 1997, I asked FBI 
Director Louis Freeh about the progress of the investigation during 
Judiciary Committee hearings. Both times, I was told he would let me 
know. To date, I have received no report on the progress of that 
investigation.
  In light of Mr. Peled's charge and the March 21, 1997, terrorist 
attack on a Tel Aviv restaurant, I proposed an amendment to the fiscal 
year 1998 foreign operations bill providing that no aid shall be given 
to the Palestinian Authority unless:
       First, the Palestinian Authority is using its maximum 
     efforts to combat terrorism and, in accordance with the Oslo 
     accords, has ceased the use violence, threat of violence, or 
     incitement to violence as a tool of the Palestinian 
     Authority's policy toward Israel;
       Second, after a full investigation by the Department of 
     Justice, the executive branch of government concludes that 
     Chairman Arafat had no prior knowledge of the World Trade 
     Center bombing, and
       Third, after a full inquiry by the Department of State, the 
     executive branch of government concludes that Chairman Arafat 
     did not authorize and did not fail to use his authority to 
     prevent the Tel Aviv cafe bombing of March 21, 1997.
  That amendment was adopted on July 16, 1997, as part of the Senate 
bill and now awaits action in the forthcoming Senate-House conference.
  The subsequent terrorist attacks on July 30 and September 4 require 
increased sanctions of an unconditional elimination of U.S. aid plus 
our efforts to persuade our allies to do the same.
  I support the President's decision to send Secretary of State 
Madeleine Albright to the Mid-East notwithstanding the September 4 
bombing and urge greater U.S. involvement including action by the 
President himself. However, I disagreed with the administration's 
decision to continue United States aid to the Palestinian Authority 
after the March 21 bombing and I oppose the suggested administration 
policy to move to final status negotiations promptly.
  After the March 21 bombing, Prime Minister Netanyahu accused Chairman 
Arafat of giving a green light to that terrorist attack. On March 24, 
1997, I wrote Secretary of State Madeleine Albright asking if that was 
true. Receiving no answer, I pursued that question when the Secretary 
of State appeared before the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign 
Operations on May 22, 1997.
  The Secretary of State responded that Chairman Arafat had not given a 
green light, but had not given a red light either. That is totally 
unsatisfactory. Under United States law, embodied in the Specter-Shelby 
amendment, a red light is mandated if the Palestinian Authority is to 
continue to receive United States aid.
  The administration continues a policy of giving financial aid to the 
Palestinian Authority to promote the so-called peace process and to 
deal with Chairman Arafat on the argument that there is no one else 
with whom to deal.

  I emphatically disagree on both counts.
  Further financial aid to the Palestinian authority only strengthens 
the PLO's ability to carry out terrorist attacks and ultimately wage an 
all-out war.
  To continue to deal with Chairman Arafat on this date of the record 
is counter-productive and foolish. How can we deal with a man who 
openly embraced the Hamas terrorist leader which condones prior murder 
and encourages future mayhem.
  If Chairman Arafat is the best we have to deal with, then their best 
is not good enough. After extensive dialogue with moderate Palestinians 
for more than a decade, I believe there are others who could to a 
better job than Chairman Arafat. None could do worse.
  I would not categorically rule out further dealings with Chairman 
Arafat if he again changes his stripes. Not to discredit the zebra or 
to unduly mix metaphors, Chairman Arafat makes the chameleon look 
constant.
  The Chairman Arafat who embraced Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi--
pictured on the front page of the New York Times on August 21, 1997--is 
totally unacceptable as was the Chairman Arafat who was implicated in 
the murders of our Ambassador and Charge d'Affairs in the Sudan in 
1973, the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972 and the 
highjack/murder of Leon Klinghoffer on the Achille Lauro in 1985.
  But, in the distasteful world of real politic, who knows? What will 
be the future of Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority? We know 
that Chairman Arafat responds to pressure. If the United States applies 
the most pressure, perhaps he will again be minimally acceptable. But 
on today's record, the cutoff of aid from the United States and our 
allies and the rejection of Chairman Arafat should be absolute.
  The desperate situation in the Mid-East calls for more intense U.S. 
involvement in new directions. We should continue to urge all the 
parties, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, to improve the climate for 
negotiation. However, we should not place on the same scale Israel's 
policy to build settlements on its own land with PLO's terrorist 
murders.
  Somehow, we must reach the daily preaching of hatred against Jews by 
the PLO and Moslem fundamentalists. It may well be that until we solve 
that underlying problem, the reach for peace in the Mid-East will be a 
continuing generation away.
  The record continues to demonstrate the spewing of hate by Chairman 
Arafat and his ilk. Just weeks ago, on August 25, 1997, a moderator on 
PLO controlled television declared that ``the Jews exaggerate what the 
Nazis did to them'' and that ``no more than 400,000'' Jews were killed 
in the Holocaust. Likewise, PLO officials including their 
representative to the United Nations in Geneva have embraced a modern 
version of the age-old blood liable by claiming that Israeli 
authorities injected hundreds of Palestinian children with the HIV 
virus.
  These messages of hatred are not directed against Israel alone. On 
July 11, 1997, the PLO-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikrama 
Sabri, said in a sermon broadcast on the Palestinian Authority's 
official radio station: ``Oh Allah, destroy America for she is ruled by 
Zionist Jews . . . Allah will paint the White House black . . . Allah 
shall take revenge on behalf of his prophet against the colonialist 
settlers who are sons of monkeys and pigs.''
  Beyond the current visit by the Secretary of State, I continue to 
urge the personal involvement of the President. At the right moment, 
his personal touch on the Israeli-Palestinian problem could be 
powerful.

  My foreign travels on behalf of the Senate Intelligence Committee and 
the Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee have shown me the 
enormous impact the United States has around the world. The United 
States is respected and admired. As the only remaining superpower, our 
power is acknowledged as awesome.
  Bringing peace to the Mid-East is an awesome task in the face of 
millennia of strife in that region. By properly deploying our 
persuasion and power, we may still be able to do it.
  I ask unanimous consent that all letters and articles referred to be 
printed in the Congressional Record at the conclusion of this floor 
statement.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                  Committee on Appropriations,

                                    Washington, DC, April 1, 1997.
     Hon. Janet Reno,
     Attorney General, Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
       Dear Attorney General Reno: Just yesterday I saw a news 
     report that Israeli intelligence has evidence that 
     Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had prior 
     knowledge of the 1993 plot to bomb New York City's World 
     Trade Center which killed six people.
       The news report quoted Deputy Education Minister Moshe 
     Peled stating: ``More than

[[Page S8941]]

     that, he [referring to Arafat] was part of the discussions on 
     the operation.'' The news report further said that Arafat was 
     privy to the conspiracy and met with Sudanese and Islamic 
     terrorist leaders.
       With this letter, I am enclosing for you a photostatic copy 
     of the news report from the Jerusalem Post on March 26.
       I would very much appreciate it if you would conduct the 
     appropriate investigation to determine what evidence exists, 
     if any, of Arafat's complicity in this matter.
       It appears to me that, if true, Arafat would be 
     prosecutable under U.S. criminal laws. I would appreciate 
     your advice as to what indictments could be brought as to 
     Chairman Arafat.
       Thank you for your consideration of this report.
           Sincerely,
     Arlen Specter.
                                                                    ____

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                  Committee on Appropriations,

                                     Washington, DC, May 14, 1997.
     Hon. Janet Reno,
     Attorney General, Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
       Dear Attorney General Reno: By letter dated April 1, 1997, 
     (copy enclosed) I wrote to you concerning Israeli Deputy 
     Education Minister Moshe Peled's statement that Palestinian 
     Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had prior knowledge of the 
     1993 plot to bomb New York City's World Trade Center.
       By letter dated April 29 (copy enclosed) Assistant Attorney 
     General Andrew Fois responded with a very generalized 
     statement about having ``queried the Israeli authorities.'' 
     No mention was made whether the Department of Justice talked 
     to Deputy Education Minister Moshe Peled or did any real 
     pursuit on the matter.
       Since I do not speak Hebrew, my assistant, David Brog, 
     Esquire, talked to Mr. Peled. Mr. Peled said that he was not 
     prepared to disclose any more information on Chairman 
     Arafat's connection in the World Trade Center bombing beyond 
     what he told the Jerusalem Post. Mr. Brog said that Mr. Peled 
     was not flexible on this point and that he (Mr. Brog) had the 
     impression that Mr. Peled had gotten into some trouble for 
     his previous disclosure.
       I am interested to know whether the Department of Justice 
     talked to Mr. Peled before Mr. Fois's letter to me of April 
     29. If so, what he said. If not, why wasn't Mr. Peled 
     questioned.
       I consider this an extremely serious matter. As you know, 
     Chairman Arafat could be extradited to the United States if 
     there is evidence to support Mr. Peled's charge.
       I formally request the Department of Justice to conduct a 
     real investigation on this matter.
           Sincerely,
     Arlen Specter.
                                                                    ____



                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                   Washington, DC, March 24, 1997.
     Hon. Madeleine Albright,
     Secretary of State,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Albright: According to the weekend press 
     reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated 
     that Palestinian Chairman Yasir Arafat has indirectly given a 
     green light to the terrorists resulting in the suicide bomb 
     which killed and wounded many Israelis last Friday.
       According to the news reports, Chairman Arafat and the 
     Palestinian authority released Ibrahim Maqadmeh. Prime 
     Minister Netanyahu further stated that Chairman Arafat and 
     the Palestinian authority have failed to detain known 
     terrorists and to confiscate weaponry.
       In my judgment, it is very important for the State 
     Department to make a factual determination as to whether 
     Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian authority did give a 
     green light indirectly to the terrorists and whether there 
     was a failure to detain known terrorists and to confiscate 
     weaponry.
       I would appreciate your advice, as promptly as possible, on 
     your Department's conclusion as to whether Chairman Arafat 
     and the Palestinian authority gave an indirect green light to 
     the terrorists.
       As you know, an amendment offered by Senator Shelby and 
     myself to the Middle East Peace Facilitation Act of 1995 
     conditions the $500 million in U.S. aid to the Palestinian 
     authority on presidential certification that the Palestinian 
     authority is complying with all of its commitments under its 
     peace accords with Israel, including its commitment to 
     prevent acts of terrorism and undertake ``legal measures 
     against terrorists, including the arrest and prosecution of 
     individuals suspected of perpetrating acts of violence and 
     terror''.
       The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign 
     Operations, on which I sit, will soon be considering this 
     issue for fiscal year 1998 so I would appreciate your prompt 
     response.
       In addition, I would appreciate your advising me as to 
     whether there is any U.S. aid in the pipeline which has not 
     yet been turned over to the Palestinian authority. If so, I 
     request that such payments be withheld until the 
     determination as to whether the Palestinian authority is 
     complying with the Specter-Shelby amendment.
           Sincerely,
     Arlen Specter.
                                                                    ____

                                       U.S. Department of Justice,


                                Office of Legislative Affairs,

                                   Washington, DC, April 29, 1997.
     Hon. Arlen Specter,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Specter: This is in response to you letter to 
     the Attorney General dated April 1, 1997. Your letter 
     encloses a news article from The Jerusalem Post in which it 
     is reported that Yasser Arafat may have had prior knowledge 
     of the bombing of the World Trade Center building on February 
     26, 1993.
       Aside from the news report enclosed with you letter, the 
     Department of Justice is unaware of any information that 
     Yasser Arafat either had prior knowledge of the bombing of 
     the World Trade Center or was in any way involved in the 
     conspiracy to bomb the building. We have queried the Israeli 
     authorities about this information and they deny the accuracy 
     of the statements attributed in the article to the Deputy 
     Education Minister.
       I hope this information is helpful. If we can be of further 
     assistance with regard to this or any other matter, please do 
     not hesitate to contact this office.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Andrew Fois,
     Assistant Attorney General.
                                                                    ____


                [From the Jerusalem Post, Mar. 26, 1997]

                 Arafat Knew of World Trade Center Plot

                           (By Steven Rodan)

       Israeli intelligence has evidence that Palestinian 
     Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had prior knowledge of the 
     successful 1993 plot to bomb New York City's World Trade 
     Center, which killed six people. Deputy Education Minister 
     Moshe Peled said Tuesday night.
       ``More than that, he was part of the discussions on the 
     operation,'' Peled said, ``I call on the prime minister to 
     give the information to the Americans, so they'll know who 
     they're dealing with.''
       Peled confirmed information relayed by intelligence sources 
     that, several days before the February 26, 1993 bombing, 
     Arafat met with Sudanese and Islamic terrorist leaders who 
     discussed the plot.
       The sources said Arafat was privy to the conspiracy because 
     of his close personal ties to Sudanese leader Hassan Turabi, 
     head of the National Islamic Front. According to a U.S. State 
     Department report on terrorism, Turabi is a leading advocate 
     of closer ties between terrorist groups and their government 
     sponsors. He was also a leading figure in the Fatah-Hamas 
     dialogue in 1995.
       Two Sudanese diplomats were arrested and later deported in 
     July of 1993, after U.S. authorities directly linked them to 
     the explosion at the World Trade Center and a plot to bomb 
     the United Nations.
       Israeli government spokesmen refused to comment on the 
     intelligence reports or on Peled's call for Prime Minister 
     Binyamin Netanyahu to release them to the U.S. ``I don't know 
     anything about it,'' said David Bar-Illan, director of 
     communications and policy planning in the Prime Minister's 
     Office.
       A Defense Ministry spokesman also refused to comment.
       But U.S. and Israeli intelligence sources agree that Arafat 
     continues to maintain a large number of Fatah guerrillas in 
     bases in Sudan, 1,200 of whom arrived from that country in 
     1994 and now serve in the Palestinian security forces. One 
     Israeli source said the number of Fatah guerrillas in Sudan 
     is close to 3,000.
       ``Arafat continues to maintain a training base in Sudan and 
     the Fatah people there and work closely with the regime and 
     with Iran,'' said Yonah Alexander, a Pentagon consultant and 
     director of the terrorism studies program at George 
     Washington University. ``If there hadn't been an agreement 
     with Israel, then Fatah would definitely have been on the 
     U.S. list of terror organizations.''
       But a U.S. counterterrorism official disputed the claim and 
     said Israeli officials might be confusing Fatah with Abu 
     Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council, which trains in Sudan.
       ``There's no doubt there are terrorist groups training in 
     Sudan, but (Fatah) isn't one of them,'' he said.
       U.S. counterterrorism officials have ``never heard any 
     report of Fatah'' training there, he said. He also stated 
     that ``there's been no indication of that kind of Sudan 
     connection'' to the World Trade Center bombing.
       At one of the Sudanese camps, Kadru north of Khartoum, 
     Iranian experts trained terrorists, including Fatah forces 
     headed by Jaber Amer, as commanders, intelligence operatives, 
     and bombmakers, according to the sources.
       A U.S. congressional investigator with close ties to 
     Israeli officials said Hamas and Fatah have training camps in 
     Sudan. ``They work together,'' he said. ``Arafat has 
     strategic ties with Turabi and he has exploited them in order 
     to forge cooperation with Hamas.'' But the investigator said 
     although he has heard of reports that Arafat knew of the 
     World Trade Center bombing plot, and was said to have even 
     praised the idea, he is skeptical of the veracity of the 
     information, ``I have yet to be convinced,'' he said.
       U.S. State Department officials said the PLO has not 
     authorized any terrorist attacks since Arafat signed the 
     Declaration of Principles with Israel in September 1993. One 
     official who works on the State Department's report on global 
     terrorism said he does not know of any Fatah bases in Sudan.
       In another development, Israeli officials said the Clinton 
     administration has quietly dropped its dispute of Israel's 
     assertion that

[[Page S8942]]

     Arafat has allowed the Islamic opposition groups to resume 
     terrorist attacks on Israel.
       The officials said the CIA now shares Israel's assessment 
     that Arafat gave Hamas and Islamic Jihad a green light to 
     carry out terrorist attacks, at least while he is abroad.
                                                                    ____


                [From the New York Times, Aug. 21, 1997]

           Defying Israel, Arafat Embraces Islamic Militants

                          (By Joel Greenberg)

       Gaza.--Defying Israeli and American demands that he crack 
     down on Islamic militants, Yasir Arafat kissed and applauded 
     leaders of the Hamas and Islamic Holy War movements today and 
     warned that Palestinians were prepared to resume their 
     violent revolt against Israel.
       At a conference of Palestinian factions here, Mr. Arafat 
     returned to the combative language of the seven-year uprising 
     against Israeli occupation, which ended in 1994 with the 
     beginning of Palestinian self rule.
       ``There was an uprising for seven years,'' Mr. Arafat told 
     the conference, which he called to protest the policies of 
     Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. ``Who did it? 
     The lion cubs, our children--this glorious uprising. Seven 
     years. We can erase and do it again from the beginning. There 
     is nothing far from us. All options are open to us.''
       As he has many times in his career, Mr. Arafat was fighting 
     on several fronts at once.
       His remarks came just days after Dennis B. Ross, the 
     American mediator, prodded him to renew security cooperation 
     with the Israelis and take action against Hamas and other 
     hard-line Islamic groups that have carried out terrorist 
     bombings in Israel. Mr. Arafat met Tuesday with the head of 
     Shin Bet, the Israeli domestic security agency, as he began 
     to comply with that request.
       But at today's session in Gaza, called the National Unity 
     Conference to Confront the Challenges, Mr. Arafat was lining 
     up support from a broad array of factions, including the 
     militant Islamic groups who favor a more confrontational 
     stance toward the Israelis. The Islamic groups said they saw 
     the meeting as a means of resisting the crackdown by the 
     Palestinian Authority that Israel and the United States are 
     demanding.
       [In Washington, senior American officials were dismayed by 
     Mr. Arafat's remarks. ``It simply makes an already difficult 
     situation more difficult,'' one official said. ``We have a 
     crisis of confidence, so no party should do or say things 
     that undermine confidence about a peaceful resolution of 
     their differences.''
       [James P. Rubin, the State Department spokesman, said the 
     United States remained convinced that Mr. Arafat would carry 
     out his pledge to cooperate with the Israelis against 
     terrorism. ``We are going to judge, in the area of security 
     cooperation and anti-terrorist cooperation, Chairman Arafat 
     by deeds,'' he said. ``Deeds are the coin of the realm when 
     it comes to fighting terrorism.'']
       Today's conference in Gaza was significant because it 
     marked the first time Islamic Holy War, a militant group that 
     operates primarily in Gaza, had joined a meeting of 
     Palestinian factions under Mr. Arafat's leadership. Unlike 
     Hamas, which has both social programs and a military wing, 
     Islamic Holy War has devoted itself almost exclusively to 
     attacks on Israel.
       At the conference, representatives of Hamas and Islamic 
     Holy War, who are political leaders of their organizations, 
     not members of their clandestine military wings, exchanged 
     customary kisses with Mr. Arafat after their speeches.
       They said later that their participation in Mr. Arafat's 
     conference did not mean they were renouncing violence, as the 
     Palestinian leader did in reaching an accord with the 
     Israelis. The delegates said they remain implacably opposed 
     to the agreement reached in Oslo in 1993 between Israel and 
     the Palestine Liberation Organization.
       ``This is not a conference to support Oslo, but to support 
     the stance of our people against the American and Israeli 
     pressures on the Palestinian Authority to arrest and crack 
     down on the Islamic movements,'' said Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, 
     a Hamas leader.
       The relationship between Mr. Arafat and the Israeli 
     Government, which had been strained, worsened considerably 
     last month after a suicide bombing in a Jerusalem market on 
     July 30 in which 14 people and the two attackers were killed.
       Israel demanded that Mr. Arafat take action against Hamas 
     and Islamic Holy War and it imposed economic sanctions and 
     other punitive measures that the Palestinian leader condemned 
     as a declaration of war against his people.
       The measure included closing borders, demolishing houses of 
     Palestinians on the grounds that they were built without 
     permits, and freezing payments of taxes and other money to 
     the Palestinian Authority.
       Israel's moves united Palestinians of all political stripes 
     behind Mr. Arafat. Many perceive him as standing up to heavy 
     Israeli and American pressures to suppress the militants.
       United States officials have backed the Israeli demands, 
     but they have also urged Israel to rescind economic sanctions 
     that are not directly linked to its security. To ease the 
     economic pressure, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt pledged 
     Tuesday to give the Palestinian Authority $10 million.
       Israeli officials criticized Mr. Arafat for inviting Hamas 
     and Islamic Holy War to the Gaza conference, asserting that 
     his invitation of groups responsible for bombings that killed 
     scores of Israelis contradicted his commitment to fight 
     terrorism. Mr. Arafat is ``giving the terrorist organizations 
     a stamp of approval,'' said David Bar-Illan, communications 
     director for Prime Minister Netanyahu.
       Mr. Arafat and his aides might think that ``appeasing, 
     pacifying and placating these organizations will do the 
     trick,'' Mr. Bar-Illan added, ``but they already tried that, 
     and we found that all this dialog does is give these 
     organizations the respectability and legitimacy which makes 
     it easier for them to continue their terrorist activity with 
     impunity.''
       But Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a close aide of Mr. Arafat who was 
     chairman of the conference, rejected the Israeli criticism. 
     ``None of the speakers advocated explosions or terrorism,'' 
     he said. ``They all protested the Israeli policy that 
     disregards the peace process. They agreed on a common 
     denominator of rejecting the policy of dictation.''
       The speakers, apparently following rules agreed upon in 
     advance, did not call explicitly for violence against Israel, 
     but instead urging ``resistance,'' ``confrontation'' and 
     ``struggle'' against the Israeli ``enemy.''
       Many called on Mr. Arafat to stop security cooperation and 
     negotiations with the Israelis, and urged a boycott of 
     Israeli products in response to the Israeli border closures. 
     They criticized American officials for what they described as 
     a stance that favors Israel, and they urged Mr. Arafat to 
     resist Israeli ``dictates'' backed by the Americans to crack 
     down on militant groups.
       Mr. Arafat has recently renewed security contacts at the 
     urging of the Americans, and he met on Tuesday with Ami 
     Ayalon, the head of Shin Bet, the Israeli security services. 
     But before the conference delegates he vowed never to submit 
     to Israeli economic and political pressures.
       ``In the name of our children,'' he said, ``the children of 
     the uprising, I say: No one can humiliate the Palestinian 
     people, no one can defeat the Palestinian people, no one can 
     make our Palestinian people bow!''

     

                          ____________________