VINCENT SNOWBARGER: “Again this morning the world is horrified by terrorist violence in Israel. Once again, terrorist bombers have murdered…”

“Again this morning the world is horrified by terrorist violence in Israel. Once again, terrorist bombers have murdered civilians at a Jerusalem marketplace. When I traveled last month with several of my colleagues to Israel, we met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and PLO Chairman Arafat. In our meeting with Mr. Arafat, we questioned him about the Palestinians' authority, failure to crack down on terrorists, and their continuing incitements and encouragement of violence against Israelis. He claimed to be doing all that he could to prevent terrorism. But this assertion rings hollow when we contrast the Palestinian Authority's actions or the lack of them with the chairman's words. The Palestinian Authority is obligated to cooperate with Israeli security services but it refuses to extradite known terrorists, and officials of the Palestinian police are themselves implicated in terrorism. It has agreed to refrain from inciting violence and try to prevent others from doing so, and yet key Palestinian officials unleash violent assaults against Israelis, Jews, and Americans. And Arafat himself has praised terrorists as martyrs. This leads me to question what his words are actually worth.”