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U.S. News Criticizes Clinton For Not Seeking Prosecution of Arabs Who Killed Americans

NEW YORK - The prestigious newsweekly U.S. News and World Report has criticized the Clinton administration for failing to demand that the PLO hand over Palestinian Arab terrorists who were involved in murders of American citizens.

In a lead editorial in the September 15, 1997 issue, U.S. News editor-in-chief Mortimer Zuckerman wrote:

"America has been too quick to forget Palestinian violations in order to move on to business as usual. Instead of coming down harder on Arafat, instead of demanding that the terrorists who have killed U.S. citizens be extradited to America for prosecution, we have essentially adopted the defense of the Palestinians that Israel is to blame."

The Zionist Organization of America has been leading the nationwide campaign to persuade the Clinton administration to demand that the PLO hand over the killers of Americans. ZOA National President Morton A. Klein praised U.S. News editor Morton Zuckerman for his "courageous and forthright" statement challenging the Clinton administration's failure to seek the transfer of killers.

Eight Americans have been murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in Israel or the Administered Territories since the Oslo accords were signed in 1993:

1. Yael Botwin, age 14, a dual American-Israeli citizen from California, was one of four people killed in the September 4, 1997 bombing on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem. In addition, 6 American citizens were injured in the attack. Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing.

2. Leah Stern, a dual American-Israeli citizen from Passaic, New Jersey, was one of the 15 people killed in the July 30, 1997 bombing of the Mahane Yehuda marketplace in Jerusalem. In addition, a number of American citizens were injured in the attack. Hamas is believed to be responsible for the bombing.

3. David Boim, age 17, a dual American-Israeli citizen from New York, killed in a drive-by shooting by Arab terrorists near Beit El, in May 1996. Another American citizen, Moshe Greenbaum, age 17, was wounded in the attack.

Israeli government officials have identified Islamic Jihad member Amjad Hanawi, a resident of PLO-controlled Jericho, as a prime suspect. There were reports that he was being held in detention by the PLO. A report on Arutz 7 on May 8, 1997, stated that Hanawi was given a vacation from prison in February 1997, and never returned to mail.

4&5. Matthew Eisenfeld and Sara Duker. They were killed in the February 25, 1996 bus bombing in Jerusalem, carried out by Hamas. Eisenfeld, 25, was a second-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, who was spending a year of study at the JTS campus in Israel.

Duker, 22, a native of Teaneck, New Jersey, and a recent graduate of Barnard College in New York, was Eisenfeld's fiancee. At the time of her death, she was working as a research technician in microbiology at Hebrew University.

According to a May 13, 1997 Israeli government report, Nafez Sabih, who is suspected of helping to plan the attack, is one of 31 terrorists whose extradition Israel has requested from the Palestinian Authority.

6. Joan Davenny, age 46, a teacher at the Ezra Academy, a Jewish school in New Haven, Connecticut, was one of three people killed in the August 21, 1995 bus bombing in Jerusalem, carried out by Hamas.

According to a May 13, 1997 Israeli government report, two terrorists who were involved in the attack are among the 31 terrorists whose extradition ISrael has requested from the PLO.

One is Muhi a-Din a-Sharif, suspected of transporting the explosives to the terrorist who carried out the attack. The Rabin government requested his extradition on March 13, 1996.

The other is Abd al-Majid Dudin, a Hamas member from the village of Dura, suspected of training the terrorist who carried out the attack. The Rabin government requested his extradition on March 12, 1996. Dudin was arrested by the PA police in July, 1996 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. However, since the sentencing postdated the extradition request, the PA is still obliged to extradite him to Israel immediately.

7. Alisa Flatow, a native of New Jersey and a student at Brandeis University, was one of seven people killed in an April 9, 1995 bus bombing in Kfar Darom, Gaza Strip, carried out by Islamic Jihad.

An Israeli government report on July 20, 1997, stated that in recent months, the PLO "has released dozens of terrorists from detention, including...Nabil Sharihi, who helped prepare the bomb used in the April 1995 Kfar Darom attack in which seven Israelis and one American [Alisa Flatow] were killed."

8. Nahshon Wachsman, an Israeli soldier with dual American-Israeli citizenship, was kidnapped on October 9, 1994, and murdered by Hamas. The mastermind in the kidnap- murder, Muhammad Deif, resides in Gaza.