State Department Must Reassess Relations with Arafat

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 10 January 2002

The American Jewish Committee is urging the State Department to "initiate a comprehensive reassessment of the merits and prospects of America's relationship with Chairman Arafat."

The call came in an AJC letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, delivered yesterday in the wake of Israel's capture of an arms-laden ship that was bought, piloted by, and bound for the Palestinian Authority.

"The evidence of PA authorship of this smuggling plan, and the devious intent at the Authority's highest level, are so compelling that the State Department, we believe, must quickly affix responsibility where it belongs," wrote AJC President Harold Tanner and Executive Director David A. Harris in their letter to Secretary Powell.

The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Secretary Powell:

The American Jewish Committee has carefully followed the State Department's efforts to unearth the facts in the case of the Karine A, the arms-laden ship that was bought, piloted by, and bound for the Palestinian Authority, and seized by Israel in the Red Sea on January 3.

We can appreciate the grounds for the Department's hesitancy to publicly declare the aborted weapons smuggling operation what it so plainly was: a grievous violation of the Palestinian leadership's commitments (to America, Israel and its own public) to halt violence against Israel; a revelation of Chairman Arafat's agenda to perpetuate terror while pretending to pursue peace; proof of a Palestinian arms supply link with Iran, the nation identified by State as the world's foremost supporter of international terrorism; and vivid justification for Israel's self-defense against not only Hamas and Islamic Jihad but the very institutions of the Palestinian Authority itself. Formally implicating the PA and Chairman Arafat in this insidious operation would have profound ramifications and is, we know, a step the Department cannot take lightly.

But the time has surely come to take that step. The evidence of PA authorship of this smuggling plan, and the devious intent at the Authority's highest level, are so compelling that the Department, we believe, must quickly affix responsibility where it belongs, and – of necessity – initiate a comprehensive reassessment of the merits and prospects of America's relationship with Chairman Arafat.

With gratitude for your serious consideration of our views, we remain,

Respectfully,

Harold Tanner David A. Harris

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