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Peace Process

PLO: Free all terrorists, without conditions


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
February 16, 2005

The Executive Committee of Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Sunday demanded the immediate release of all jailed “Palestinian” terrorists, without restrictions or preconditions, if Israel wants the peace process to continue.

Jerusalem’s refusal to free the murderers and would-be killers was the number one issue stalling peace efforts, the Palestinian Arabs’ top governing body said.

And once the terrorists are free, PA police officers indicated they either would not or could not do anything to prevent them from planning and executing further atrocities against Jewish men, women and children.

Washington seeks to remedy the situation by training the PA security forces to be a lean, organized terror-fighting machine. But the Clinton Administration’s attempt to do the same backfired when CIA-trained “Palestinian” troops turned their guns on Israelis.

Meanwhile, Abbas looks to protect wanted Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists still at large from Israeli justice by incorporating them into the PA security forces.

Incarceration of killers holding up peace

Following its meeting in Gaza Sunday, the PLO’s Executive Committee issued a statement insisting Israel’s plan to set free jailed Palestinian Arabs “should include all the prisoners without any restrictions or preconditions.”

Israel’s reluctance to release those who have actually murdered Jewish civilians and its construction of a security fence to defend its people “represent the utmost risk against the Palestinian national future and the resumption of the peace process,” the statement read.

The meeting was chaired by Abbas, who succeeded his longtime partner Yasser Arafat as chairman of the PLO. While Israel and the West officially do business with the entity known as the Palestinian Authority, it is in fact subordinate to the PLO.

PA police won’t curb terrorist activity

Should the “Palestinian” leadership succeed in pressuring Israel to release all jailed terrorists, there is little indication PA security forces will do anything to prevent them from planning and executing further atrocities against Jewish men, women and children.

The Washington Post reported Monday that most PA paramilitary troops either won’t or can’t fulfill their orders to restrain the terror groups.

Many of those interviewed by the paper said they sympathize with the anti-Jewish terrorists and support their campaign to mass murder Israelis.

"I will never raise my weapons against the [terrorists]," one officer said. "I can only ask them not to fire."

The failure of the PA “police” to perform their duties also stems from “rampant corruption, rivalries among commanders of [the] numerous police forces set up by the late Yasser Arafat and a lack of discipline and training,” the Post explained.

As a result, both Abbas and Israel must rely largely on the “good will” of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the other terror groups to not resume their murderous rampage.

Abbas has promised to remedy the numerous problems, but his deputies say doing so will take months.

In the meantime, the lives of Israel’s Jews will continue to hang in a fragile balance.

Advanced CIA training for murderers

The Bush administration’s solution to the problem is to offer further CIA training and American military equipment to the dysfunctional PA security forces.

When she visited the region earlier this month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington would again “help in the training of the Palestinian security forces” as part of an overall aid package for Abbas’s regime.

"What we're really all talking about is helping the Palestinian security forces get organized, get equipped, get trained and get the command structure that allows them to take care of security problems," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday.

The training of PA forces that began under the Oslo Accords was halted four years ago when the Palestinian Arabs launched their full-scale terrorist war against Israel.

At that time it became apparent that PA officers trained by the CIA during Bill Clinton’s presidency had begun using their deadly new skills to kill Israelis.

Terrorist-riddled PA security force

Meanwhile, Abbas is looking to make good on his election campaign promise to protect wanted “Palestinian” terrorists still at large from Israeli justice.

The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday that Abbas had reached a deal with the terror groups to incorporate some 350 wanted Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen into the PA security forces.

"The move is designed to protect them against Israeli assassination attempts,” PA Minister of Agriculture Ibrahim Abu al-Naja told the paper.

The wanted men “are entitled to join the security forces because of their involvement in” terrorist activities against Israelis, said Naja, who also heads the Higher Committee of National and Islamic Forces in the Gaza Strip.

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