A State Department report found "no clear evidence" that Yasser Arafat or other top officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization planned or gave the nod to “terror” attacks on Israel between mid-June and mid-December of last year.
"The weight of evidence," however, indicates that senior leaders of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority knew that elements of Arafat's organization, including his bodyguards, were involved in violence against Israel and "did little to rein them in," the department said in a report to Congress.
The report said it was clear that those in the PLO who committed acts of “terror” were going unpunished. "The Palestinian Authority has in some important respects at least tolerated an atmosphere that promoted or supported the use of violence," the report said, according to AP.
The Palestinian Authority occasionally cooperated in arresting suspected Palestinian activists from lists provided by the United States and Israel, the report added. "However, often those arrested were quickly released or were kept under questionable conditions of arrest," such as in comfortable surroundings.
The report dealt with PLO compliance with the 1993 Oslo accords and their requirements that Arafat's organization counter “terror.”
Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, called the report "a disgrace and misleading" and "a crude and transparent attempt to exonerate Arafat rather than reveal the truth."
Lantos said he would ask Secretary of State Colin Powellto file a supplement to the report, particularly on what Lantos called Arafat's involvement in the smuggling episode. Arafat "obviously is involved in terrorist activity," Lantos said.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the report submitted to Congress on Tuesday was consistent with past assessments of the PLO's performance on “terrorism.”
Elements of the PLO are engaged in attacks on Israel, the report said. But it is unclear whether they were acting at the direction of or with the foreknowledge of the senior leadership of Fatah or of the PLO, the official said Congress was told. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
