Arlen Specter: “I think it appropriate to take a few minutes to comment on a historic ceremony which will take place at the White House…”

“I think it appropriate to take a few minutes to comment on a historic ceremony which will take place at the White House at 12 noon today when the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization are scheduled to sign a historic agreement. I must say that was a difficult day for me personally to watch Yasser Arafat honored at the White House after the long record of terrorism in which the PLO had engaged, including being implicated in the murder of the charge d'affaires at the United States embassy in the Sudan in 1974, the No. 2 United States official in that country, the hijacking of the Achille Lauro and the death of Mr. Klinghoffer, and many other acts of terrorism. It seemed to me, as I think it did to most other Americans, that if Israel--the prime victim of the terrorist attacks by the PLO--through its leaders, Prime Minister Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres, were willing to shake hands with Yasser Arafat under those circumstances, that the United States should do what it could to facilitate the peace process.”