Communicated by the Israel Government Press Office Jerusalem, 3 June 1998 Jibril Rajoub: Hamas has Green Light to Attack Israel The Agreement - Under the terms of the Oslo accords, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is obligated to take "all measures necessary" to combat terrorism. Article XV (1) of the September 28, 1995 Interim Agreement ("Oslo 2") states, "Both sides shall take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crime and hostilities directed against each other, against individuals falling under the other's authority and against their property, and shall take legal measures against offenders." Article II (1b) of Annex I to the Oslo 2 accord states, "The Palestinian Police will act systematically against all expressions of violence and terror." Paragraph 3c of the same article obligates the Palestinians to "apprehend, investigate and prosecute perpetrators and all other persons directly or indirectly involved in acts of terrorism, violence and incitement." - In the Note for the Record of the January 15, 1997 Hebron Protocol, the Palestinians reaffirmed their commitment concerning "Fighting terror and preventing violence". The Violations - The Palestinian Authority has failed to wage a systematic campaign against terrorist groups. The terrorist infrastructure remains in place and the PA openly approves of terrorist attacks against Israel as long as they do not implicate the Authority. - This was confirmed by Col. Jibril Rajoub, head of the PA's Preventive Security Service. Following are excerpts of his May 27, 1998 interview with Al- Jazira television: "We view Hamas as part of the national and Islamic liberation movement... Outside of the 3 percent [of the West Bank under complete Palestinian control] they can do as they wish... They can go to Jordan to carry out armed operations and they can also carry out such operations from Syria.... At the top of my list of priorities is the [Israeli] occupation and not Hamas... We are not interested in arrests." - The PA's failure to detain or arrest Hamas terrorists in the areas under its control was confirmed by Tayeb Abd al-Rahim, Secretary of the PA "Presidency", in a May 22, 1998 interview with the official PA Television. Abd al-Rahim said the PA had recently released Hamas members and that only 27 remain in PA detention. Following are excerpts of Abd al-Rahim's remarks: "According to the opposition newspapers, 401 Hamas members are being detained. This is very far from the truth. There are only 27 Hamas detainees, and most of them are not actually being detained. Rather, they are being investigated in connection with the murder of Muhi a-Din Sharif. There were 38 detainees, but we released some of them recently and there remain 27 detainees."