AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL/AFSI
1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128
Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717
Email: afsi@rcn.com; Website: www.afsi.org

Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director; April 29, 2003

MURDEROUS MAHMOUD ABBAS
WITH A DASH OF PERES OPTIMISM

Today is a significant day for Israel as we remember the Holocaust and think about the "road" ahead. Those who refuse to remember choose to see a primrose path before them, as per the latest "wisdom" from Shimon Peres. We prefer the realistic, honest approach of Cal Thomas, and we applaud Israeli attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner for her call for an investigation into Abu Mazen's role in the Munich murders.

"A map to Israel's oblivion" by Cal Thomas - Gwinnett Daily Post Online: "Among the road map's many problems is that it fails to fulfill President Bush's own conditions. In a speech last June, the president said the United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian state until its leaders engage in a ''sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure.'' That is unlikely to happen since terrorism has been the official policy of Yasser Arafat and his bloody band of brothers for more than 30 years. The faux ''democracy'' that Abbas supposedly represents is about as credible as one of Saddam Hussein's near-unanimous elections.

The new Palestinian cabinet is full of Arafat supporters. As many as 14 ministers are expected to be old Arafat appointees with just four to six loyal to Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen). While Abbas controls one ''security'' organization, Arafat still commands many far larger ones. Arafat refuses to accept Abbas' ''demand'' that the armed factions of Fatah, such as the Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade, be dissolved.

Abbas retains his hard-line views. If implemented, they will jeopardize Israel's very existence. In an interview last month, he continued to justify ''armed struggle'' against Israeli civilians. He has never repudiated his 1983 book, ''The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and the Zionist Movement,'' which denies the Holocaust occurred."

And from Holocaust denial we move to the Munich massacre:

Steve K. Walz for WorldNetDaily.com - April 29, 2003

"President Yasser Arafat's newly appointed Palestinian Authority prime minister does not have the pristine past touted by his supporters, charges an Israeli civil rights group.

Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, provided financing for the terrorist attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, says Israeli attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat Hadin - Israel Law Center. In a letter to President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Darshan-Leitner called for an investigation into Abu Mazen's role in the Sept. 5, 1972, attack, carried out by Arafat's central Palestinian Liberation Organization faction Fatah."

In contrast to the hard facts of Abu Mazen's murderous past, we have the 'heartwarming optimism' of Shimon Peres:

'We need a new Middle East of understanding' Monday April 7, 2003 The Guardian - Tom Phillips

Tom Phillips reports from the NUS (student organization) conference in Blackpool, England, where he found former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres optimistic about the future for the Middle East

"Students are the future," he says. We must teach the young people to imagine and not to remember. "Instead of learning the past," he continues, "let's study the future. We committed so many mistakes - all of us ... [We] need a new Middle East of understanding."

The recent appointment of Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) as Palestinian prime minister, argues Mr Peres, could signal the start of a more lasting peace. "I think he stands a chance," the Israeli politician ventures cautiously. "We negotiated the Oslo agreement [in 1993], signed it together, I think very highly about him and even more so about the way in which he was elected. It is the first time that an Arab parliament didn't take orders from above but elected so democratically. If he will be able to run the show and have a team that can do the job [then] yes it's a great promise."

If you agree with AFSI that the real "promise" of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is for another Oslo disaster for Israel, and possibly worse, if a "Palestinian" state becomes a serious possibility, we ask you to take action. Continue to call your Congressperson and Senators. Help them to understand that in order for Israel to survive, we must say NO to a "Palestinian" state and YES to a whole Israel.( U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121).