Breakfast of Champions: An Unrepentant Arafat Has No Place at the National Prayer Breakfast
(Washington, D.C.): If the Clinton Administration has its way, on February 4th,
Yasser Arafat’s
presence will make a sacrilege of the National Prayer Breakfast. President Clinton, a man
unashamed to exploit others’ piety for his political ends, clearly hopes to do so once again on this
occasion.
By politicizing this annual and high-profile gathering of thousands of Evangelical
Christians and other believers, the Clinton Administration evidently hopes to advance its
campaign to depict an unreconstructed terrorist as an honorable man of peace — an
initiative that has proven to be not only dishonest but hugely expensive (both in terms of U.S.
prestige and taxpayer resources).
Toward this end, according to the Washington Post, the White House has said
that President
Clinton will use the occasion of the breakfast to have a “conversation” with the Palestinian in
which he will “stress that Arafat fulfill his obligation to cooperate with Israel and work against
violence.”
The Latest Evidence That Arafat Has Not Changed His
Spots
Unfortunately for Mr. Clinton and for Rep. Steve Largent of Oklahoma (a
rising Republican star
who, as chairman of this year’s Breakfast has thus far refused to withdraw an invitation to Arafat
extended for three years running but, until now, never accepted), evidence continues to
accumulate that the PLO Chairman has no intention of fulfilling his obligation to “work against
violence.” In fact, last week Arafat permitted the release from Palestinian custody of 60
Arab terrorists, including five who are accused of being directly responsible for the murder
of American citizens.
These five — Bashir Daher, Hassan Salameh, Talal al-Baz, Arafat Kawasmeh and Jihad Suwiti
—
have been implicated in several murderous bus and marketplace bombings carried out over the
past three years in and near Jerusalem. Thanks to Arafat, there are now twenty freed Palestinian
terrorists with American blood on their hands in connection with attacks conducted since he
signed the Oslo accords in September 1993. Incredibly, four of these are actually serving in the
Palestinians’ proto-army, the Preventive Security Forces.
The Larger Problem
As deeply offensive as this behavior is in light of repeated efforts by their victims’ relatives, by
Members of Congress and by the Israeli government to have these criminals brought to justice in
Israel and/or the United States, it is but a microcosm of the larger problem.
Despite his
seductive pronouncements before Western audiences and media, despite his signature on
numerous “peace” accords, Arafat and his regime remain vehemently opposed to
peaceful
coexistence with Israel.
The Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) does an
extraordinary public
service by identifying, translating and disseminating statements by the senior leadership of the
Palestinian Authority (PA) that show its true purpose: A continuing commitment to the liberation
of all of “Palestine” — an outcome that can only be achieved through “holy war” or
jihad leading
to the ultimate destruction of the State of Israel.
These inciting words are matched by deeds, including: the recruiting of a far larger and far
more
heavily armed “police force” than is permitted under Oslo; despite the public charade in December
over which Mr. Clinton personally presided, the PLO Charter has yet to be formally (that is, in the
way explicitly required) rid of the 30 out of 33 provisions that call for Israel’s elimination or
violence against Jews; and the relentless use of maps — including in Palestinian children’s
textbooks — conveying the powerful symbolic message of a “Palestine” comprising Gaza, the
entire West Bank and all of Israel. 1
In the face of such evidence of malign intent on the part of its “partner for peace,” how has
the
Clinton Administration responded? It has studiously ignored the evidence of Palestinian bad faith.
It has upbraided Israel for complaining about it, most recently by chastising Israeli officials for
observing, as Prime Minister Netanyahu’s spokesman David Bar-Ilan did
recently, that “Even
the worst terrorists arrested by the Palestinian Authority can be assured of being released in a
short time, which makes a mockery of the [PA’s] commitment not to release terrorist leaders and
activists.” Arguably, worst of all, the Administration has repeatedly joined the
Palestinians
in denouncing Israel for not making more, unreciprocated concessions.
The Bottom Line
This troubling pattern of official U.S. behavior casts a shadow far beyond the National Prayer
Breakfast. It bespeaks a policy shift that has grave long-term implications for the critical
American-Israeli relationship and for the security of Israel. At the very least, the
Clinton
Administration’s behavior reinforces concerns that the CIA cannot help but be politicized as it
monitors Palestinian non-compliance and arbitrates disputes between the parties concerning the
PA’s breaches, pursuant to the Wye Plantation agreement. 2
An unrepentant terrorist like Arafat should not be permitted to force National Prayer
Breakfast
participants to make a horrible choice: either to turn a blind-eye to his continuing misdeeds or to
join in the Administration’s efforts to dissemble about them. Regrettably, should the organizers
not withdraw the Palestinian’s invitation, they leave people of conscience no choice but to refrain
from attending the Breakfast.
More importantly, the time has come for President Clinton to acknowledge the bankruptcy of
his
policy of investing in Yasser Arafat. As with his Administration’s failed diplomatic bets on such
dubious characters as Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, China’s Jiang
Zemin, Russia’s Yevgeny Primakov and the UN’s Kofi Annan, the time has come to cut
America’s losses. Only a clear-eyed appreciation of the Nation’s friends and foes — and policies
that align us with the former and steadfastly against the latter — can protect its long-term security
and other vital interests.
1 See the Center’s Decision Brief entitled
Bibi’s Choice: Allow The Palestinians to Acquire a
Real — and Threatening — State or Just a ‘State of Mind’ (
2 See in this connection, Douglas J. Feith’s essay in the January 1999
edition of Commentary
entitled “Wye and the Road to War.”
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