FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 11, 2000

SCHUMER TO STATE DEPARTMENT: STOP OMITTING PALESTINIANS FROM TERRORISM WEBSITE

Schumer Urges Albright To Include Palestinian Terrorists on State Department Website That Offers Rewards For Information That Helps Capture Terrorists

US Senator Charles E. Schumer today wrote Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright to urge her to stop omitting Palestinian terrorists from the State Department's website for information leading to the capture of terrorists suspected of killing American citizens.

The State Department website, www.heroes.net, offers monetary rewards for information leading to the capture of perpetrators of terrorist acts against American citizens abroad. While the website lists rewards for a wide variety of terrorist incidents - including $5 million offered in connection with the 1998 bombings of two American Embassies in Africa and a $2 million reward offered in connection with recent killings of Americans in Pakistan - it does not offer rewards to capture Palestinian terrorists suspected of murdering Americans. The Israeli government has publicly identified 23 suspects connected to the murders of 14 American citizens in Israel since 1993.

"I am writing to express my disappointment with the State Department's unwillingness to include Palestinian terrorists suspected of killing American citizens on its international website," wrote Schumer. "I urge you to begin including suspects of all nationalities as soon as possible. Anything less maintains an unusual double-standard, and harms American counter-terrorism efforts overseas."

In his letter, Schumer called the website "an important tool in America's fight against terrorism," and predicted that offering rewards for Palestinian terrorists would "certainly help entice those with knowledge of these terrorists whereabouts to come forward."

"It is my understanding that the possibility of our government offering rewards for the capture of
Palestinian terrorists has been under consideration by the State Department for almost two years now," Schumer wrote. "We have waited long enough. It is time to act. Every American who cares about our nation's fight against terrorism deserves to see our government make every effort to bring terrorist killers of Americans to justice."

Schumer's letter to Albright is attached.

# # #