Jerusalem, 21 January, 2003

PA Intramural Soccer Tournament Honors Terrorists
(Communicated by the Foreign Minister's Bureau)

The Palestinian daily, al-Hayat al-Jedida, the official organ of the Palestinian Authority (PA) published under the auspices of Yasser Arafat, reported today (21 Jan) on a soccer tournament being held at a PA school in Tulkarm.

The student teams participating in the tournament have been named after suicide terrorists, who are responsible for the murder of dozens of Israelis. For example, one of the teams has been named after Abd al-Basset Oudeh, the terrorist who carried out the Passover Eve Massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya in which more than thirty Israelis were killed.

This carnival of incitement is being conducted under the auspices of official PA educators - among them the school principle and the PA's regional superintendent of education.

This is the nature of education provided by the Palestinian Authority. This is also the nature of the PA reform, which while supposedly includes a cessation of incitement, is in actuality encouraging profound hatred and terrorism.

As long as Arafat's regime of terror and incitement remains in place, there will be neither genuine reform of the Palestinian society nor an opportunity for a genuine peace process.