U.S. Report Ignores Culprits in Mideast Conflict

Cal Thomas | Syndicated columnist | Published: Apr 09, 2001

U.S. Report Ignores Culprits in Mideast Conflict

The State Department's first official report on the recent Palestinian Arab violence admits that Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization and his Palestinian security forces are engaging in terrorism against Israel. Yet, the State Department insists that neither Arafat nor other Palestinian Authority leaders are to blame.

The Zionist Organization of America has properly characterized the report as "a whitewash that will encourage Arafat to believe he will never be held responsible for acts of violence and murder against Jews."

ZOA is right. Arafat controls the violence. He turns on the light and he turns the light off. He has used violence and terror and murder as an instrument of his policy aimed at wringing as many land concessions from Israel as he can and then to finish the process of Israel's eradication in an all-out war.

The State Department report explicitly acknowledges that the forces of which arafat is personally chairman - Fatah and the P.A. - are deeply involved in the violence. That means Arafat, no matter the whitewash of the State Department.

U.S. Report Ignores Culprits in Mideast Conflict