Posted on 06/24/2004 4:52:23 AM PDT by datura
DOSSIER: Black September |
How does U.S. aid support Palestinian terrorism? Let us count the ways
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Black September
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Even while increasingly condemning terrorism, the United States has been providing millions of dollars to Palestinian universities, students and municipalities with links to terrorism.
Here's one example: Remember the Black September group, the organization affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah that became an icon for modern terrorism at the 1972 Munich Olympics? Well, a soccer stadium in the Palestinian Authority that received a $500,000 U.S. aid grant is named for the head of Black September.
Other examples? Consider the case of Mahmud Shuraytakh, chairman of the Hamas in the Student Council at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah. Shuraytakh planned a suicide attack on a bus in Tel Aviv on Sept. 19, 2002, in which six Israelis were murdered and 71 injured. The State Department condemned the attack in the strongest terms. But what it didn't say was that U.S. money might have empowered Mahmud Shuraytakh, the suicide terrorist.
How? The U.S. Agency for International Development has been funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to Palestinian universities, municipalities and other government institutions that glorify terrorists and often provide them with jobs and safe haven.
"Current U.S. law is severely flawed, with loopholes that allow U.S. money to end up in the hands of those that promote terror, glorify terrorists, and sponsor anti- American activities," stated a report by Palestinian Media Watch, which monitors the Palestinian media.
Take Bir Zeit. U.S. funding to this university continued even after Hamas took over the student body and converted the institution into a laboratory for suicide bombers. Shuraytakh was assured of funding for Hamas activities on campus, which included recruitment of suicide bombers.
Ihab Abdul Qadir Mahmud is one example. Abu Salim was an Arabic language student and a member of the Hamas bloc at Bir Zeit University. On Sept. 9, 2003, Abu Salim carried out a suicide attack at the Tel Aviv suburb of Tsrifin in which eight Israelis were killed and about 20 injured.
Daya Muhammad Hussein Al Tawil was an engineering student at Bir Zeit University and a member of the Hamas bloc. He blew himself up in Jerusalem on March 27, 2001, injuring 29 Israelis in the process.
Al Tawil's colleague, Ramiz Ubaid, was an Islamic Jihad member at Bir Zeit University. Ubaid carried out a suicide attack in Tel Aviv March 3, 1996 in which 13 Israelis were killed and 118 injured. All of them benefited from U.S. AID to Bir Zeit.
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Gaza City has a stadium named after a Black September terrorist who killed U.S. diplomats thanks to the State Dept. |
Congress has linked U.S. aid to Palestinian and other groups to their commitment that they would not support terrorism. But the requirement to sign the so-called Anti-Terrorism Certification does not include Palestinian universities and municipalities. Most Palestinian non-government organizations have already rejected agreeing to the U.S. government terms for aid.
Still, the State Department has approved nearly $200 million in U.S. aid to the PA during 2004. AID has used loopholes in the U.S. law that allow funds to end up benefiting those who refuse to sign the Anti-Terrorism Certification.
So, Gaza City has a stadium named after a Black September terrorist who killed U.S. diplomats thanks to the State Department. PA officials described the stadium, built by the United States and inaugurated in late May, as one of the largest in the Gaza Strip.
Another $380,000 in U.S. funds went to the Gaza City Council for repairs to the water and sewage systems. But the State Department ignored the city council decision to name a street in the city after the late Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin.
"Clearly, there are serious flaws in the American law," the PMW report said.
One of these flaws is that U.S. law has exempted numerous categories of recipients and services from signing the anti-terror certificate. Another flaw is that U.S. law does not impose sufficient restrictions on the way primary recipients, such as the World Bank and the United Nations, allocate U.S. contributions in the PA.
The report said the State Department and other agencies routinely ignore the promotion of terrorism and anti-American activities of Palestinian recipients. The only time Washington has been forced to examine these activities was when they were directly funded by the United States.
The PA and Palestinian municipalities have been exempt from signing the U.S. anti-terrorism certificate even though both glorify terrorists. U.S. funds have been allocated to PA summer camps named for suicide terrorists and for PA television, which calls for the killing of killing of Jews and Americans.
As a result, the United States did not penalize the Gaza City municipality for publishing a paid newspaper ad for Yassin in which it called Jews "monkey and pigs." The eulogy for Yassin also vowed that Palestinians would continue what the ad termed holy war against Israel and Jews.
The State Department has not denied that U.S. aid continues to flow to PA bodies that glorify terrorism. Gayle Schwartz, the program development officer, U.S. AID in the West Bank and Gaza, told PMW that the anti-terrorism certificate does not apply to contracts and government institutions, including Palestinian municipalities.
"These municipalities receive regular grants from U.S. AID for various projects amounting to millions of dollars each year, while they continue with their anti-American and terror promotion activities," the report said. "Is it the intention of U.S. policy to fund projects of municipalities that champion the murder of Americans and Jews?"
PMW has recommended a series of measures to halt the U.S. funding of Palestinian terrorism. They include forcing every recipient of U.S. aid to sign the anti-terrorism certificate. Currently, only groups that receive U.S. grants must sign the certification.
The report also urged the United States to require Palestinian contractors as well as beneficiaries of funding to sign the anti-terrorism certificate. This would include Palestinian universities as well as student branches of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, groups designated as terrorist by the United States and the European Union. The report termed PA universities centers of anti-American activities.
"Hamas and Islamic Jihad student branches at the PA universities have historically been breeding grounds for terrorists," the report said.
"Campuses are used to promote terror and to recruit and plan terrorist activities."
But even if the United States cuts off aid to Palestinian institutions, U.S. funding could still help support terrorism. The United States pours hundreds of millions of dollars to the World Bank and the UN. The World Bank plans to invest in the construction of a PA university without ensuring that it would not be used for pro-terrorism activities.
PMW director Itamar Marcus has testified before a Senate appropriations subcommittee regarding the loopholes in U.S. law. During the October 2003 hearing, committee members questioned U.S. officials on the use of AID money for terror promotion and said they would seek to revise the law.
Of course the World Bank and UN are neck deep in this. (Or deeper.)
Congress needs to address this issue, as well as our membership in the UN and World Bank. Enough redistributing our nation's wealth to this scum.
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This article could read the US continues to send money to Berkeley and the University of California in spite of their agenda of supporting terrorists across this nation and elsewhere. We need to clean up our own Universities of subversive scum. We need to rid our campuses of Liberal professors both foreign and domestic who teach hatred of the United States.Our youth needs to go to college to learn their studies ,not to be conformed into political pawns for terrorists , abortionists and drug dealers.
I couldn't agree more. How close to the edge to we have to get before this nation realizes that the liberals are running it into the ground? And I say liberal without party affiliation - the RINOs are equally to blame.
The sad part is that we have no one to blame but ourselves for voting the cretins into office. Let's vote them out.
The State Department OTOH, is a nameless, faceless, cesspool of failed liberal and communist ideals. The lifetime bureaucrats that infest that organization are accountable to no one except their own chain of command. I can't remember a time - or an administration - that was able to get State to stay on the same sheet of music with the president. Back when we had a War Department the US had a unified voice to the world. (From what I've read, I wasn't alive then - I'm 42.) Certainly during WWII we didn't have this problem since there was no State Department, and no UN.
The American public is starting to realize that the UN is not beneficial to the US. It may become politically acceptable to throw those bums out of New York. I sure hope so.
I worked at the State Department in 2000, in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM), and during that year, UNRWA (United Nation Relief and Works Agency, the group that supports the Palestinian Refugee camps) asked for an additional $9 million, on top of the $80 million we had already sent them. The problem was, according to themselves, their population was growing so fast that the $80 million wouldn't be enough. So what did we do? We at first said no, it's too much, and then after a few more weeks, we agreed to send it to them, if Europe would help, too. Europe just said "no, we can't afford it", so once again, the US foots the entire bill. Come to find out, during a Congressional Investigation, some of our money went to make those "Suicide Bomber Elmo" shows, the Palestinian equivelent of Sesame Street (it actually is a licensed version of Sesame Street, not just a knock-off).
YOU JUST CAN'T OUTGIVE TO A GREAT TERRORIST ORGANIZATION!
(BTW: This was four years ago - have we surpassed the $100 million yet in funding terrosism?) _____________________________________________
"The problem was, according to themselves, their population was growing so fast that the $80 million wouldn't be enough."
Actually I think they gave up on the licensed version, which morphed into the "Children's Club", but I could be wrong. In any case, the US pays for it.
Excerpts taken from Palestinian Television
The Palestinian Authority created "The Children's Club - a Sesame Street like T.V. show . The following quotes are from children who have appeared as guests on "The Children's Club" during the most recent broadcasts.
The Children's Club, 29 January, 1998
Palestine! Amidst the shooting of the revolution, I turn to you with my blood and the blood of my brother and of the son of my neighbors. My heart will cleanse your image. Allah is great! Allah is great!
The Children's Club, 6 February, 1998
When I wander into the entrance of Jerusalem, I will turn into a suicide warrior in battledress! In battledress! In battledress! Thank you. ( Applause - 'Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!)
The Children's Club, 13 February 1998
I am the voice of the exalted martyr. I am the voice of the exalted martyr and his green fire. Oh, my homeland...And like my father I will live in the shadow of the heroes and echo his voice, with my blood, and his image will be upon my eyelids.
Each and every part of your soil I have drenched with all my blood. And we shall march as warriors of Jihad (Holy War). Oh, my exalted martyr, you are my example. Oh, my companion, you are beside me. Oh, my sister, sing constantly about my life as a suicide warrior, how we remain steadfast. Oh, my country, you are my soul. Oh, my dawn, you are my heartbeat.
The Children's Club, 20-24 February, 1998
My heartfelt conviction to launch a Jihad (Holy War). A Teacher's Poem - "The Shout", 26 February, 1998
Oh, to those who achieved eternal glory and to the lovers of exalted martyrdom Oh, steadfast leaders, we bless you with the most fitting tribute of all, for you have reached the highest summit, together with the righteous and the prophets. Do we say to you good-bye? No, instead we declare, see you again in heaven! For this is the meeting place, the loving faithful one.
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Other "highlights" of the "Children's Club":
Groups of children are gathered together, shouting for "Jihad against Israel."
One girl, who appears to be in a Palestinian school classroom, sings of donning "battledress" to "attack the Zionists."
A small girl chants the now-familiar ditty, "When I wander into Jerusalem, I will become a suicide bomber."
An adult narrator reads material in a Palestinian school pamphlet: "I have raised my children for jihad and on the principle that they never give up on their land."
One segment depicts a small boy on the street chanting, "Revolution until victory."
Another boy is shown in class proclaiming, "We will settle our claims with stones and bullets."
This is terrible. No wonder this children grow up with such hate. In America we can't put blood on our video games for kids, and here they chant about killing innocent people. It truly saddens me.
$120,000,000 tax bucks to the PLO in the first three months of this year.
Now that will buy ONE HELLUVA BOAT LOAD OF RPGs!
In addition, the State Department funds schools of Middle Eastern Studies at universities in the US which are run by Arabist, pro-palestinian faculty advocating for the terrorists.
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