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Israeli
Terror Claims Ungrounded: U.S. Report
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| "There
is no conclusive evidence that the senior PA or PLO leadership
approved or had advanced knowledge of planned attacks,” the
report says.
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WASHINGTON,
May 16 (News Agencies) - The U.S. State Department has presented
Congress with a report which refutes Israeli claims that Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat was allegedly implicated in funding and
planning attacks against Israeli civilians, news agencies reported.
"There
is no conclusive evidence that the senior PA or PLO leadership
approved or had advanced knowledge of planned attacks,” the State
Department report says.
State
Department officials on Wednesday, May 15, said U.S. agencies were
analyzing alleged documents Israel claims prove Arafat's complicity.
"If
the documents provide us with something, we would revise the
report," a State Department official said.
The
report, published Tuesday, May 14, on the compliance with commitments
made by the Palestine Liberation Organization as part of the now dying
Oslo Peace Process, says "there is no conclusive evidence that
senior leaderships of the [Palestinian Authority] or PLO were involved
in planning or approving specific acts of violence."
The
report, required under the 1989 PLO Commitments and Compliance Act, is
released twice a year to Congress. The latest findings cover the
period from June 16, 2001 to Dec. 15, 2001. No similar legislation
exists with regard to Israel.
The
report says, however, that there is some evidence that lower level
Palestinian Authority officials "fomented violence at some
points, while working to bring it under control at others."
The
State Department's finding openly contradicts Israel's claims about
documents it claims it seized last month in its military offensives on
the West Bank.
Those
alleged documents, to be seen on the Israeli occupation army's website
and released to the media, bear what the army claims is Arafat's
handwriting on two separate funding requests for individuals
associated with the Tanzim, the military wing of Arafat's Fatah party.
The Tanzim have claimed responsibility for operations in the Israeli
town of Giloh as well as ambushes of Israeli civilian and military
busses.
Last
month, the Israeli army personally abducted Fatah General Secretary
Marwan Barghouti on charges that he allegedly commanded the Tanzim to
carry out attacks and assist other groups.
Palestinian
officials have disputed the authenticity of the documents.
The
State Department report says, "While there is no conclusive
evidence that the senior PA or PLO leadership approved or had advanced
knowledge of planned attacks, the weight of evidence would indicate
that they knew of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Tanzim and elements of
Force 17 involvement in the violence and did little to rein them
in."
Testifying
in closed session before the House International Relations Committee
Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns was peppered
with questions from lawmakers for his opinion of the Israeli
documents, according to two House staffers.
Israel
has used the so-called documents as a pretext for no longer
negotiating with the Palestinian President. Both Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush have said that
the Palestinian Authority needs to be reformed as part of any progress
towards a peace deal. Arafat promised such reform Wednesday.
In
another development, the Pentagon has concluded Israel will not
achieve a military victory in its war against Palestinians, World
Tribune online reported.
Officials
said the U.S. Defense Department was struck by the slow pace of
Israel's offensive and the failure to deliver a strategic blow to
either the Palestinian Authority, the Islamic resistance movement
Hamas or Islamic Jihad. They said the Israeli offensives reminded them
of the Russian war in Chechnya.
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