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State Dept. report discounts Arafat's link to terrorism

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, May 20, 2002

The U.S. State Department has failed to find evidence that the Palestinian Authority has been engaged in terrorism.

A department report released last week said neither PA Chairman Yasser Arafat nor his aides were directly involved in terrorist attacks against Israel. But the report acknowledged that some low-level PA officials were involved in what the report termed "violence," Middle East Newsline reported.

"There is no conclusive evidence that senior leaderships of the PA or PLO were involved in planning or approving specific acts of violence," the report said.

The State Department report was discussed last week in a closed session of the House International Relations Committee. The committee heard testimony from Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, who was questioned regarding the discrepancy between the latest report and Palestinian documents captured by Israel that linked Arafat and his aides to the financing of suicide bombers.

The report covered the period of June 16, 2001 to Dec. 15, 2001. The State Department is required to report to Congress every six months on whether the PA or the PLO are involved in terrorism.

Earlier this year, the United States listed the Arafat-aligned Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade as a terrorist group. The report said that neither Arafat nor his aides knew of planned attacks by the umbrella organization dominated by the ruling Fatah party.

"While there is no conclusive evidence that the senior PA or PLO leadership approved or had advanced knowledge of planned attacks, the weight of evidence would indicate that they knew of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Tanzim and elements of Force 17 involvement in the violence and did little to rein them in," the report said.

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