June 14, 2001
Schumer, Clinton Call for Eradication of
Hate Rhetoric by the Palestinian Authority
Senators voice concern over discrepancy between Arafat, PA rhetoric to the West and hatred preached to Palestinian people and taught in schools
In the wake of a recent cease-fire agreement in the Middle East, US Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) today praised the Bush Administration's efforts in helping the Israelis and the Palestinians reach a cease-fire, but said that President Bush should make clear that no real peace can come unless the Palestinians eradicate the use of hateful, anti-Israeli rhetoric in official statements, school books and newspapers.
"There cannot be a meaningful, lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians if the Palestinian Authority does not act to end the preaching of hate and replace it with the language of peace," the Senators wrote in a letter to President Bush. "That can only come by insisting that all official Palestinian publications – from official statements to newspapers to textbooks – immediately stop printing hateful, anti-Israeli rhetoric that undermines the very possibility of peace."
Earlier this week, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed to a US-brokered cease-fire ending eight months of violence that began last fall after the peace negotiations at Camp David broke down.
Schumer and Clinton noted that while Chairman Yasir Arafat speaks of peace to Israel and the West, he continues to call for the destruction of Israel when talking to the Palestinian people. Comments made by Arafat and other Palestinian officials, along with materials taught to schoolchildren frequently call for violence against the Jewish people and the destruction of Israel.
The Senators demonstrated several examples of Palestinian hate rhetoric:
•"There is no alternative to destroying Israel." (Our Country Palestine – required reading under new Palestinian sixth-grade curriculum – banner on title page of Volume I)
•"The flare will continue to burn and light up the difficult path before the Palestinian generations, one generation after another, until the flag of Palestine is raised over holy Jerusalem..." (Yasir Arafat, May 15, 2001 speech on Palestinian television)
•"The day of judgement will not come until the Muslims will fight against Jews and kill them, until the Jews will hide behind stones and trees and the stones and tree will say, 'O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." (Article in official PA government newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 9, 2001)
•"Perhaps Allah brought the Jews to our land so that their demise would be here, as it was in their wars with Rome." (Our Country Palestine, introduction to Volume II)
•"The Palestinian people accepted the Oslo agreements as a first step and not as a permanent arrangement based on the premise that the war and struggle on the ground is more efficient than a struggle from a distant land... for the Palestinian people will continue the revolution until they achieve the goal of the 1965 revolution." (PA Minister Abd el Shahian, May 2000)
•"The clearest examples of racist belief and racial discrimination in the world are Nazism and Zionism." (Modern Arab History For the 12 Grade, Part I, Lesson #648, p. 123)
"When Palestinian children are brought up to hate Israel, how can we ever expect them to commit to a lasting peace?" the Senators wrote. "We are writing to urge your Administration to make clear to Mr. Arafat that if there is to be real peace between Israelis and Palestinians, there must be a full and immediate cessation of hateful rhetoric on the part of the PA."
A copy of the letter follows.
June 14, 2001
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We applaud your Administration's active role in helping the Israelis and Palestinians reach a cease-fire agreement that will, we all hope, put an end to eight months of violence. This breakthrough has the potential to lead the two parties back on the path toward real and lasting peace. However, unless the Palestinians take unequivocal steps to stop the rhetoric of hate emanating from official Palestinian Authority (PA) statements, media organizations and textbooks in Palestinian schools, any peace agreement will have little meaning, and the cycle of violence will continue. We are writing to urge your Administration to make clear to Mr. Arafat that if there is to be real peace between Israelis and Palestinians, there must be a full and immediate cessation of hateful rhetoric on the part of the PA.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the breakdown in the Oslo process last summer and the outbreak of violence last fall was not owing to any lack of effort or good ideas on the parts of those who truly sought peace in good faith, but because of the failure of the Palestinian leadership to take the necessary steps to prepare their people for peace with Israel. The evidence of this failure is perfectly clear: for nearly ten years, while Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian leadership were speaking the language of peace with Israel and the West, they were continuing their calls for the destruction of Israel to the Palestinian people and the Arab world.
This rhetoric of hate continues daily. For example, last month, in a speech commemorating the "catastrophe" of Israel's creation in 1948, Mr. Arafat reiterated his theme that the violent Palestinian struggle will continue "until the flag of Palestine is raised over holy Jerusalem." A book that is required reading for Palestinian six graders actually starts off stating, "There is no alternative to destroying Israel." When Palestinian children are brought up to hate Israel, how can we ever expect a commitment to a lasting peace?
There cannot be a meaningful, lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians if the Palestinian Authority does not act to end the preaching of hate and replace it with the language of peace. That can only come by insisting that all official Palestinian publications – from official statements to newspapers to textbooks – immediately stop printing hateful, anti-Israeli rhetoric that undermines the very possibility of peace.
Again, we appreciate your continuing work on promoting peace in the region, and we support you in your efforts to encourage the cease-fire agreement. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States Senator United States Senator
| 