Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Advisor Jerusalem, 4 August 1997 Prime Minister Netanyahu meets with US Senator Phil Gramm Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today (Monday), 4.8.97, with US Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas). At the start of the meeting, the Prime Minister raised several issues. Regarding the fulfillment of Israeli demands on the Palestinian Authority in the wake of last week's attack, Prime Minister Netanyahu said: "We are for peace, we are also honoring the peace agreements which we have signed with the Palestinians, but we expect them to respect all the agreements, especially the first article of the war against terrorism. The Palestinian Authority must decide what kind of regime it is: a regime that fights terrorism, like Jordan and Egypt, or a regime that encourages terrorism, like Iraq or Iran -- the decision is in its hands. If it decides to continue to be a regime which does not fight terrorism, and which encourages terrorism, we will continue with our [current] steps. I hope that they will turn in a more positive direction so that we can continue the peace process." Responding to Palestinian reports that the attackers came from abroad, the Prime Minister said: "We still do not know where they came from. It is probable, as in the past, that no matter where they came from, they were helped by local residents, organizations and infrastructure. It is very difficult to believe that this action was carried out without local help, and we know that in many cases, it is this infrastructure which is decisive. This infrastructure is located and organized in, and operates out of, the Palestinian Authority areas. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations, are located in the Authority areas. The Authority is not operating against the infrastructure which we are talking about." Regarding reports of opposition within the government to President Ezer Weizman's expected visit to the US, Prime Minister Netanyahu said: "I first read about this in today's newspaper, and I would like to correct two aspects of what was reported. First, no one in my office has any opposition to President Weizman's visit to the US, nor did we have any information about it. We knew nothing about it until we read about it in the paper. Second, I welcome President Weizman's visit to the US. I have been there myself five times in the past year, and I think it is quite proper for our President to visit there." Regarding the arrival of Dennis Ross in the region, the Prime Minister said: "I think that it is proper that Dennis Ross deal mainly with the security issue; perhaps not just mainly, but solely, with the security issue on this visit. I think it is proper to devote all our attention to seeing that the Palestinian Authority fights terrorism; without this we will not be able to move forward."