09788

03/28/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09788

AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADE TERRORISM

Israelis continue to be subject to murderous attacks by Palestinian terrorists. On March 27^th, a suicide bomber killed more than twenty people and wounded more than one-hundred at a Jewish Passover observance in Netanya.

The terrorist group Hamas claimed responsibility for the Netanya bombing. Over the years, this group has perpetrated many acts of terrorism against Israelis. But it is far from the only terrorist group operating in Israel.

In recent months, a group called the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has committed many deadly acts of terrorism in Israel. They include a suicide bombing this month near a Jerusalem synagogue. Ten people were killed, including an infant and several other children.

Al-Aqsa terrorists have also carried out numerous shooting attacks on Israeli -- and American -- citizens. In January, six people in Hadera were killed and thirty wounded when an al-Aqsa gunman opened fire at a bat mitzvah, a young Jewish woman's coming of age celebration.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade includes an unknown number of small cells affiliated with Fatah. Fatah is a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian nationalist group headed by Yasser Arafat.

This week, the United States formally designated the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade a foreign terrorist organization. It joins thirty-two other terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and al-Qaida. All are prohibited from obtaining funds or material support from American citizens or within U.S. jurisdiction. U.S. financial institutions are required to block funds intended for al-Aqsa or other designated terrorist groups.

The U.S. condemns the terrorist campaign by al-Aqsa, Hamas, and other groups aimed at wrecking peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. As U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said, it is time for Yasser Arafat "to get on television, to get on radio, to speak to his people, to tell them that they are destroying their own desire and vision for a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel." The terrorism must be stopped.