Jeff Flake: “Yasar Arafat says that he cannot control the terrorists. It seems that we have a relatively easy decision to make. Why…”

“Yasar Arafat says that he cannot control the terrorists. It seems that we have a relatively easy decision to make. Why do we not take him at his word? If he cannot control the terrorists, then he should not pretend that he can bring peace, and we ought to stop negotiating with him. We need to look elsewhere among the Palestinians for negotiating partners. If Yasar Arafat is responsible, then terrorists under his control over the weekend killed 26 Israelis. If he is responsible, he needs to be held accountable for his actions. We need to remember that Arafat has never outlawed Hammas, he has never confiscated its weapons, he has never shut down its training camps, and he has never even publicly condemned it by name. In 1997, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that Arafat had a revolving door justice system when it came to handling terrorists. Things have not changed. Again, the U.S. simply needs to determine, is Arafat in control, or is he not? I would suggest that, in either case, we ought to stop negotiating with him. Further, there are better uses for taxpayer dollars than to prop up terrorists and their regimes. If we find that he is not in control, stop negotiating with him. If he is in control, hold him accountable. We ought to begin the post-Arafat era.”