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U.S. Legislators Urge Bush To Deal Harshly With PA
WASHINGTON, April 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Eighty-seven U.S. Senators and 186 congressmen have appealed to U.S. President George W. Bush to reassess U.S. relations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA), given the Palestinians' decision "to embark on a deliberate campaign of violence against Israelis."
The Senate letter, due to be sent to Bush on Thursday, was initiated by Sam Brownback (R-KA) and Joseph Biden (D-DE), and the House version organized by Chairman of the House International Relations Committee Henry Hyde (R-IL) and the ranking Democrat on the committee, Tom Lantos (CA).
"Given the drastic changes that have taken place in recent months in Palestinian behavior, we believe it is time for the United States to reassess our relations with the Palestinians," said the letters.
Legislators asked the administration to "examine whether those Palestinians involved in attacks against Israelis should be barred from coming to the U.S., whether those Palestinians groups involved in violence should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations ... whether the PLO office in Washington should be allowed to remain open, and whether U.S. aid to the Palestinians is in fact meeting its goals and should continue."
In the strongest indictment of Palestinians yet from Capitol Hill, legislators urged Bush to downgrade U.S. relations with the PA if Chairman Yasser Arafat does not issue a call to end violence.
"From our perspective it is time for the U.S. to require that the leadership of the Palestinians speak and act against the continuing violence and terrorism, or face a significant change in our relationship with them," said the letters.
Hassan Abdel Rahman, PLO representative in Washington, called the letters "counterproductive" saying that the signatories and advocates of the reassessment in relations "don't have the interests of peace in mind."
"It only confirms the lack of objectivity of members of Congress who signed this letter and their lack of concern for the principles of fairness and justice," said Abdel Rahman.
"Eventually, this will make it difficult for the U.S. to play a positive role that is expected from the sponsor of the peace process," he added.
On Thursday, however, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO), a signatory to the House letter, told reporters that it was important to keep up a dialogue with the Palestinians.
"It was a very frustrating set of negotiations that went on a few months ago that resulted in nothing happening, but we can't just talk away from it because we didn't succeed," said Gephardt.
"We have to deal with the new president and prime minister of Israel. We have to deal with the leadership on the Palestinian side. We have to deal with Egypt and Jordan and our other allies in the region, and try to start this thing over again."
The administration has held back an invitation for Arafat to come to Washington, and according to administration officials, no private visit is expected either, until the Palestinian leader issues a public call to end violence and until security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians is resumed.
On Wednesday, after a U.S. sponsored security meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Israel between Israelis and Palestinians, as a Palestinian delegation of security chiefs was leaving the meeting, Israeli forces fired them upon.
The U.S., in a rare show of harsh criticism towards Israel, severely protested the Israeli action Thursday.
King Abdullah II of Jordan, currently in Washington, telephoned Arafat on Wednesday and urged him to keep up security cooperation meetings with Israel. It is expected that Abdullah will ask Bush in their meeting on Tuesday to invite Arafat to Washington.
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