New York, NY, May 16, 2001 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said the Mitchell Commission report’s conclusions, however well intentioned, are being used by the Palestinian side to link the stoppage of violence to the end of all settlement activity.

"As the Mitchell Commission itself has acknowledged, there is no direct link between Israeli settlements and the spiraling Palestinian violence against Israel," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Unfortunately the Mitchell Report is being used by the Palestinian side to link the stoppage of violence to the end of all Israeli settlement activity."

The Mitchell Commission this week responded to ADL’s initial concern that the report, in concluding that Israeli settlement activity is a barrier to peace, "seemingly equates Palestinian terrorism with Israeli settlement activity." In a letter to ADL’s national director, commissioners Sen. George J. Mitchell and Warren B. Rudman stated: "We categorically reject any attempt to impute to us a view we do not hold and which does not appear in our report.

"Our view that settlement construction activity is an obstacle to resolution of the conflict is consistent with the policy of the United States Government over the past quarter century," the commissioners said.

ADL responded that the commission should have made this message clearer in the report. "We agree with you that confidence-building on all sides is important, but the ending of the violence is the paramount issue that should precede anything else," Mr. Foxman said in response to Messrs. Mitchell and Rudman.

ADL noted that the Palestinian side is using the report in an attempt to have the U.N. Security Council adopt a resolution linking the stoppage of violence to the end of all Israeli settlement activity.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.