Speaking in Jerusalem to the top leadership of American Jewry, Mr. Arens focussed his attention on the decision of the U.S. to enter into a dialogue with the PLO, and continuing this dialogue even when the PLO violated the conditions set forth by the State Department, namely that the PLO cease all terrorist activity. Excerpts:
We have to be concerned with the Palestinian population in Judea-Samaria and Gaza, and we are concerned. We are looking for ways of engaging them in a dialogue, and eventually in negotiations.
That's not easy either, because they too are afraid. They're being terrorized, they're being intimidated, they're been threatened. By whom? By the PLO that presumably doesn't practise terrorism anymore. But, amongst the many acts of terrorism that it is engaged in, it terrorizes the population in the area, to make sure that everybody toes the line.
The Mayor of Nablus, Zafer Al-Masri, one of the most outstanding personalities amongst the Palestinian population in Samaria - I had the pleasure of getting to know him while I was Minister of Defence - a leader amongst that population, was shot dead in the street by the PLO.
And when recently some voices were heard amongst the population, that maybe there should be a cessation of violence, that the atmosphere should be improved so that negotiations could take place, Arafat personally threatened them, on one occasion saying they were exposing themselves to the bullets of their people and on another occasion saying: 'I will put ten bullets in the chest of anybody who talks about cessation of violence'. If that isn't terrorism, I don't know what terrorism is.
But, they seem to have been reasonably successful - the PLO and its leadership and their PR organizations - of convincing many throughout the world they are not a terrorist organization any more, and 25 years of atrocities seem to have been erased from people's memories. But unfortunately terrorism continues. I've talked about terrorism against the Palestinian population, and now we have had recent experience with a return to terrorist activities whose objective it is to kill civilians in Israel.
Two days ago a group of terrorists belonging to the PLO were intercepted by an Israeli army patrol just north of our border, in the Lebanese security zone. Fortunately, they were intercepted, and were killed. There were five, three or four of them were members of the PLO belonging to the group that is commanded by George Habash, a member of good standing of the PLO, a man who attended the Algiers Conference, and a man who approved the decisions that were taken at Algiers. The other one or two were members of a sub-group that's called Taalat Yaakoub which is also connected to the PLO.
The terrorists that were apprehended, that were on a mission to kill, the day before yesterday, belong to the PLO and to a branch of the PLO that accepts the authority of Yasser Arafat. Now some people might say. 'Well, maybe if they had not been apprehended, and if they had succeeded in killing some women and children, then there would have been a clear cut case'. But my friends, we don't want cases like that. This is why we have the Israeli army, to make sure there is no case like that. That we stop them before they ever get here.
The incident, the day before yesterday, is a clear violation of the conditions that the United States established for contacts with the PLO. You know that it is our view that contact with the PLO should not have been, and should not be established under any conditions. Because we believe, just as the United States believes and has declared for many years, that terrorism has to be fought and that the establishment of contacts with terrorists, providing them with some sense of recognition or legitimacy, in the final analysis will further terrorism, and will increase the risks of violence and terrorist acts, and not the other way around.
But the administration in Washington when it decided to enter these contacts in Tunis, spelled out unequivocally what the conditions were for these contacts, and these conditions included that there be no further terrorist acts by any branch of the PLO. And on the day before yesterday, we had an example of a terrorist act by a branch of the PLO and the conditions as they were set forth by the State Department have been clearly and unequivocally violated.