A report in the Washington Post yesterday prompted Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton Klein to dispatch an urgent telegram to US President George W. Bush. According to the Post, the Bush administration is pressing Israel \"to turn over an estimated $54-million in tax money owed to the Palestinian Authority and urgently needed to pay the salaries of its security forces and civil servants.\" The Post added that both Secretary of State Colin Powell and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, have also been exerting pressure on Israel to release the funds.
In his communique to Bush, Klein writes: \"Arafat\'s Preventive Security Forces have been engaged in constant shooting attacks and other violence against Israel. How can Israel be asked to provide funds for the salaries of those who are murdering its citizens?\" Klein proposed that if need be, the tax money be held in escrow pending the outcome of lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority by victims of PLO-sponsored terrorism. Four such suits are currently pending in Israel and the U.S., Klein observed, adding that \'\'if any of them end in judgment in favor of the victims, the Israeli-held tax money should be attached to satisfy such judgments, just as U.S law was recently amended to allow American citizens victimized by terrorism sponsored by Iran and Cuba to attach Iranian and Cuban assets held by the U.S. government.\"
In his communique to Bush, Klein writes: \"Arafat\'s Preventive Security Forces have been engaged in constant shooting attacks and other violence against Israel. How can Israel be asked to provide funds for the salaries of those who are murdering its citizens?\" Klein proposed that if need be, the tax money be held in escrow pending the outcome of lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority by victims of PLO-sponsored terrorism. Four such suits are currently pending in Israel and the U.S., Klein observed, adding that \'\'if any of them end in judgment in favor of the victims, the Israeli-held tax money should be attached to satisfy such judgments, just as U.S law was recently amended to allow American citizens victimized by terrorism sponsored by Iran and Cuba to attach Iranian and Cuban assets held by the U.S. government.\"