Author: David Bedein
Publication: Israel Resource Review
Date: August 12, 2003
At a time when Israel is freeing
terrorists as a confidence building measure to the Palestinian
Authority, Abu Mazen and Arafat had made a special request
of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that Israel free Ahmad
El- Sukar, because of their special relationship with El
Sukar, which spans more than fifty years.
El Sukar had been sentenced to 14
life sentences.
Ahmad El-Sukar was the Arab terrorist
responsible murdering 14 and maiming 70 in a Zion Square bombing,
when he placed a refrigerator bomb there on July 4, 1975.
I was there in Zion Square that
day, guiding a student group who witnessed the massacre.
My social work teacher. Mira Berger,
was one of the people who was murdered that day.
Mira's profession was working with
concentration camp survivors, thirty years after World War II.
El Sukar, had lived in Chicago for
many years and who also holds U.S. citizenship, worked for the Fateh
under the cover of a U.S. businessman, and returned to his village
near Ramallah in the mid- sixties, where he continued his activity in the
Fateh.
And so, at the express demand
of U.S. Secretary of State Powell, Israel freed El-Sukar, 28 years
after his crime. El Sukar signed a declaration that he would
not engage in terror or incite to terror.
That declaration also stated that
if he violated the declaration that he understood Israel could put
him back in prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
I specifically asked the spokesman
of the Israeli Prime Minister on the day of El-Sukar's release
if the return to terror would mean his endorsement of terror
activity on the official media of the PA.
The PM spokesman responded in absolute
terms, saying that if El Sukar would incite to murder, then he would
be re-arrested. After all, since El-Sukar, at age 68, might
not be able to schlep refrigerators, he might inspire others
to emulate his act.
And yet, only a few weeks after
his release, El-Sukar called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers
at a rally in Bethlehem that was widely reported on Palestinian Authority
radio and Palestinian Authority TV, reminding the crowd that "in
return for three soldiers, Israel released 1,150 prisoners in the
famous (Jibril) exchange." He also praised the Palestinians
for killing one Jew for every three Palestinians killed.
On August 7th, a meeting was held
at the office of the Israeli Prime Minister. Ariel Sharon. Sharon's
staffers discussed the fact that El Sukar had violated the terms
of his release with his clear call to terror on the "Voice of Palestine"
of the Palestinian Authority.
The PM office informed the media
that the matter of re-arresting El Sukar would now be discussed.
It remains to be seen whether that will happen.
David Bedein is the Bureau Chief
of the Israel Resource News Agency.
