January 29, 2004 Contact: (212)
481-1500 Attn: NEWS EDITOR

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY POLICEMAN CARRIED OUT LATEST BOMBING; ZOA URGES BUSH
TO CUT OFF AID TO PA POLICE

NEW YORK- In the wake of the latest suicide bombing massacre carried
out by a Palestinian Authority police officer, the Zionist Organization of
America (ZOA) is urging the Bush administration to immediately suspend all
U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority police and security forces.

The terrorist who massacred at least 10 Israelis in a Jerusalem bus
bombing on January 29, 2004 was Ali Yusuf Jaara, a PA police officer who was
formerly a member of Yasir Arafat's terrorist Fatah Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade.
This was just the latest of many instances in which PA police and security
personnel were involved in terrorism against Israel. (See list below.)

The U.S. has provided the PA police and security forces with hundreds
of millions of dollars worth of training and equipment in recent years.
According to the New York Times (July 1, 2003), the Bush administration is
planning to provide an additional $300-million in CIA assistance to the PA
police and security forces in the near future.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "In view of the
widespread and continuing involvement of PA police and security forces in
terrorism, we call on the Bush administration to immediately suspend all CIA
assistance and other forms of U.S. aid that are being provided to the PA
police and security forces. For the U.S. to continue providing such aid
under these circumstances is, in effect, to provide aid to terrorists."

He noted that a recent national McLaughlin poll found that by 73%-15%,
the American public opposes all U.S. aid to the Palestinian Arabs. The
American people understand that the Palestinian Authority is a terrorist
regime; the McLaughlin poll found that by 67%-19%, Americans say the PA has
not fought terrorism and should not be given a sovereign state.

Examples of involvement by the PA police and security forces in terror:

PA Security Service "is a Terrorist Organization": The Israeli Army
division commander in Gaza, Brig.-Gen. Israel Ziv, said on Nov. 18, 2002:
"The Palestinian Preventive Security Services (PSS) in the Gaza Strip,
headed by Rashid Abu Shubak and Samir Mashrahawai, has changed over the past
two years from an organization whose purpose it was to thwart terror, into
one that blatantly supports and assists it. The PSS has itself become a
terrorist organization, generating, initiating, backing and giving
protection to a great number of terrorists and a long line of terror
attacks..."

State Dept. Admits PA Police Involved in Terror: The State
Department's November 2002 report on PLO/PA compliance with the Oslo accords
acknowledged (p.4) that "members of PA security forces were frequently
involved in acts of violence against Israelis" during 2002-2003.

PA Police Station Used to Shield Terrorist: On October 26, 2003, the
Israeli Army dismantled a PA police station in Gaza that was "used as a
refuge by an Islamic Jihad terrorist," according to the IDF spokesman, who
added: "It should be noted that the terrorist was offered sanctuary by
Palestinian police officers--who also helped him escape. Such action
illustrates the blatant involvement of the Palestinian security apparatuses
in aiding terrorism."

PA Police Took Party in Lynching: PA police officers played a central
role in the kidnap-murder-lynching of two Israelis in Ramallah on October
12, 2000. PA police officers Osama Salim, Tarek Tabash, and Mahmoud Jamil
Sheikh seized the Israelis at gunpoint and took them to the PA police
station in Ramallah. PA policeman Nidal Asheikh violently assaulted one of
the victims on the way to the station. They were placed in the custody of
the station commander, Halil Hassan and then beaten, tortured and lynched by
a mob that included Sheikh and other police officers. (Jerusalem Post,
Aug.27, 2003)

PA Police Chief is a Fugitive from Justice: PA police chief Ghazi
Jabali has been the subject of an Israeli arrest warrant since 1997, when he
sent three PA policemen to murder Israelis in the town of Har Bracha.

PA Police Helped Al Qaeda Terrorist: When Israeli forces in Gaza
attempted to apprehend Nadim Abu-Okel, a Palestinian Arab terrorist
associated with Al Qaeda, "Palestinian police tried to prevent the Israelis
from taking Abu-Okel into custody, and started struggling with them. Some
policemen stoned the Israeli security forces," the Jerusalem Post
reported.(June 2, 2000)

PA Police Involved in Terror Since 1996: In February 2003, the
Israeli government released captured PA documents which proved that the PA
security forces have been involved in terror against Israel since at least
1996. The documents revealed:

...In September 2000, Mukdoud was instructed by his commander, PA
security forces Captain Nabil Hadhoud, to participate in the mass production
of illegal weapons. Mukdoud served as the conduit through which money was
transferred from the PA's Palestinian Preventive Security Service to Fatah
terrorists to finance the operations of factories to manufacture illegal
weapons.

...Since at least 1996, the PA's Palestinian Preventive Security
Service had been providing large sums of money to Hina Bakar, a colonel in
Yasir Arafat's "Force 17" unit who is also a major manufacturer of illegal
weapons. Bakar worked closely with Abu Tarad (aka Talal Mukhsin), a senior
Fatah terrorist involved in the mass production of illegal weapons. The
documents tracing the transfer of PA funds to Baka and Tarad indicate
transfers ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 each time.

...The funds given by the PA to Baka were transferred by Abu Smalah,
who at that time served as assistant head of operations for the Palestinian
Preventive Security Service. The funds given by the PA to Tarad were
transferred by the inspector-general of the Security Service, Samir Mashariu
and his deputy, Mahmud Prag. Funds were also transferred from the PA to
Tarad by Abu Hatam, who at the time was deputy to then-PA security services
chief Mohammed Dahlan.

...One document refers to the planned establishment of a weapons
workshop that would produce between 400-500 mortar rockets each month.
Such rockets are frequently fired at Israeli villages by PA forces and other
terrorists, especially in Gaza and southern Israel.

* * *

The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the
oldest pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to
strengthen U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress
about the dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the
media and on college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme
Court Justice Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.