Full Page Ad To Ask Yasir Arafat: Which Will It Be? Peace Or Jihad?

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 27 March 1997

On Friday, March 28, the American Jewish Committee will take out a full-page ad in The New York Times which asks: "Chairman Arafat, Which Will It Be? Peace or Jihad?" (A copy of the ad is enclosed).

The ad features the translated remarks of Ibrahim Makadama, chief of the secret military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization, delivered at a rally in Gaza on the same day a Hamas suicide bomber murdered three women and wounded more than forty others in Tel Aviv. Mr. Makadama was released by Yasir Arafat from prison ten days earlier.

Robert S. Rifkind, AJC President, explained that "the American Jewish Committee is an organization that has been and continues to be deeply committed to, and supportive of, the Arab-Israeli peace process. Violence or the threat of violence are incompatible with a process of negotiation.

"Recent terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis have been deeply disturbing. Beyond the terrible loss of life is the threat to the peace process itself. Chairman Arafat's inadequate condemnation of these attacks as well as his unconvincing declarations that he is doing his utmost to prevent terrorism, call into question his continuing commitment to the peace process. The facts, including his release from detention of more than 130 Hamas activists - some of them known terrorists - suggest that terror has once again become part of the Palestinian arsenal and violence is being used as a negotiating strategy and pressure tactic against Israel.

"The abandonment of terror is the cornerstone of the peace process. There is no policy disagreement that can ever justify a renewed resort to bloodshed and terror. We have taken out this ad to let Mr. Arafat know that he can not straddle the fence on this issue. If he is indeed a true partner for peace, as we hope and pray he is, then he must unequivocally condemn terrorism and unconditionally join in the battle against those who would murder women and children in the effort to murder peace."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org