(Ha'aretz) - Ze'ev Schiff What are the Palestinian Authority leaders telling the Americans that they are not telling Israel? The Palestinians have told Washington that for a terrorist to cease his activity there is no need to kill him. The method is to buy him off with money. The Palestinians are asking the Americans for lots of money to neutralize terrorists. Who can promise that the money the Americans are being asked to fork over in order to "buy" the terrorists' weapons will not be diverted to corrupt Palestinian officials? As in other cases of bribery, those who make the cash payoffs don't want to be examined too closely. Yet some see this as paying bribery or a ransom to terrorists no less than conducting negotiations with terrorists to obtain the release of hostages with money.
2003-06-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive