Arafat Says Israelis Are Terrorists

The Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Yemen, acting “upon instructions from my government,” has sent Secretary General Kurt Waldheim a letter from Yassir Arafat, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and has asked Waldheim to circulate it among member United Nations states.

The extraordinary move asking that a letter by a terrorist leader be circulated was made by Ambassador Abdul Malek Ismail. The letter assailed Israel for “pursuing their colonizing objectives through the use of institutionalized terrorism.” The letter, dated Nov. 22 and released today, was submitted in conjunction with the General Assembly’s Sixth (Legal) Committee’s ongoing discussion of ways to combat international terrorism.

Arafat declared that while Zionism had perpetrated a “record of aggression” against Palestinians and Arabs in Palestine and later in Israel, it was now seeking to thwart “acts of legitimate resistance” But, he added, “the vast majority of the world community have recognized the defensive nature of revolutionary violence as practiced by national liberation movements, in contradistinction to organized terror as employed by colonizing authorities.” Arafat suggests that terror has been “built into the structure” of Israel as part of a policy of egocentricity and exclusiveness.” Continuing, he said that “At this particular stage, terror becomes natural, necessary and desirable.”