With the recent terrorist murder of Sarah Blaustein, a new American immigrant to Israel, the issue of the U.S. government\'s attitude to the Palestinian murderers of its citizens has again come under scrutiny. It seems that though the State Department has a well-advertised policy of offering large monetary rewards for information leading to the capture of terrorist killers of American citizens abroad, this does not apply to Palestinian terrorists who have murdered Americans. PLO killers have murdered 18 Americans since the signing of the first Oslo agreement in 1993, and 6 since the beginning of the current war - yet no rewards are publicly offered for information about them.
This past Thursday, a reporter asked State Department spokesman Richard Boucher about this policy, and Boucher replied, \"There is general award money available for anyone that can provide us with information on the terrorist activities against Americans. So it exists already. We don\'t have to post a special reward for anybody.\" However, The ZOA, which has been leading the campaign to get the State Department to publicize its search for Palestinian terrorists, claims that this reply is misleading, because the Department posts plenty of \"special reward\" offers where the killings took place and where there might be potential informers; why, then, does it not do so in the case of Palestinian terrorist murders, asks ZOA President Morton A. Klein. Klein writes,
\"Once again, the State Department is offering flimsy excuses to cover up its failure to take any serious steps to capture Palestinian Arab killers of Americans. The real reason for the State Department\'s position is clear: it wants to protect Arafat\'s image so that it can continue pressure Israel to make one-sided concessions to Arafat; continue giving Arafat $100-million each year; and make it possible to have future negotiations with him - all of which would be impossible if the American public were to realize that Arafat is sheltering killers of Americans.\" At least five U.S. Senators (Specter, Schumer, Smith, Santorum, and Clinton) are in favor of the campaign, as are some 16 Congressmen from both parties.
This past Thursday, a reporter asked State Department spokesman Richard Boucher about this policy, and Boucher replied, \"There is general award money available for anyone that can provide us with information on the terrorist activities against Americans. So it exists already. We don\'t have to post a special reward for anybody.\" However, The ZOA, which has been leading the campaign to get the State Department to publicize its search for Palestinian terrorists, claims that this reply is misleading, because the Department posts plenty of \"special reward\" offers where the killings took place and where there might be potential informers; why, then, does it not do so in the case of Palestinian terrorist murders, asks ZOA President Morton A. Klein. Klein writes,
\"Once again, the State Department is offering flimsy excuses to cover up its failure to take any serious steps to capture Palestinian Arab killers of Americans. The real reason for the State Department\'s position is clear: it wants to protect Arafat\'s image so that it can continue pressure Israel to make one-sided concessions to Arafat; continue giving Arafat $100-million each year; and make it possible to have future negotiations with him - all of which would be impossible if the American public were to realize that Arafat is sheltering killers of Americans.\" At least five U.S. Senators (Specter, Schumer, Smith, Santorum, and Clinton) are in favor of the campaign, as are some 16 Congressmen from both parties.