Arafat's cover for terror

New York Post, September 15, 2001

Throughout the Arab world - and especially in Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority - thousands of people took to the streets this week and lustily cheered the work of the suicide bombers who destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon.
Even as thousands of Americans lay buried in the rubble of the Twin Towers, hordes of Palestinians in Nablus and Bethlehem and Jericho handed out sweets, a traditional sign of celebration, and danced in the streets.

Arafat insists it never happened.
How could he say that?
Because he has every reason to believe that much of the news footage of those celebrations will never see the light of day.

And how does he know that?
Because his thugs and security "police" kidnapped an Associated Press photographer who shot the most incriminating film and threatened his life if it ever aired.

And lest anyone claim that these strong-arm threats came from "rogue" elements, the AP officials were specifically warned by Arafat's own cabinet secretary, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, that the Palestinian Authority "cannot guarantee the life" of the cameraman if the footage ever aired.

Indeed, an AP still photographer at the scene decided not to take pictures after being warned by Palestinian security forces not to do so.
To its credit, the AP and other foreign journalists in Jerusalem forcefully protested this intimidation - a tactic the PLO has used for decades throughout the Middle East.
This led to the cameraman's release.

But, as of this writing, key footage of 3,000 cheering Palestinians in Nablus still hasn't aired.

Arafat and his aides insist that any celebrating was isolated and done by "a few children" - because that's the only footage that's been released.

Americans need to see these scenes witnessed by dozens of journalists to put the lie to Arafat's denial.

Indeed, Palestinian newspapers - whose any deviation from the Arafat line is met with swift closure, and sometimes worse - hailed the Trade Center terrorists as "the most honorable [people] among us."

It's hardly surprising that Palestinians are cheering on the terrorists. For Arafat has never convincingly sent a signal that he has repudiated terror.

His followers - by letting the Osama bin Ladens know that they enjoy popular support - are keeping terrorism alive. And no death threats from Yasser Arafat's hoodlums will permanently keep that message from being heard in this country.

Palestinians withhold pictures of Hamas rally

Reuters, September 16, 2001

JERUSALEM, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Palestinian authorities have seized photographs and video tapes taken by Western news agencies at a rally by the militant Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza strip.

Officials on Saturday did not respond to protests by the agencies or return the photographs and television footage, which were taken at a rally on Friday held by about 2,000 Hamas reporters at the Nusairat refugee camp.

The Palestinian Authority said police had confiscated the pictures, including photographs taken by Reuters, because Hamas had not received permission for the rally.

Some reporters said they had seen a person after the rally carrying a portrait of Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in terror attacks on the United States on Tuesday.

The confiscations followed anger by Palestinian officials over celebrations by some Palestinians about the attacks, which attracted negative publicity abroad. The officials said the celebrations were an aberration by a thoughtless few which did not reflect real Palestinian opinion.
The Palestinian Authority has condemned the attacks and militant Palestinian groups have denied involvement.

The protesters on Friday also urged Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to spurn talks with Israel and said there could be further attacks on Israelis as part of the almost one-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel accused the Authority this week of harassing journalists and failing to stop gunmen suppressing coverage of Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus celebrating the attacks on the United States.