Sunday January 6 9:52 AM ET

Sharon Hits Out at Palestinians Over Arms Ship By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking after Israel's capture of what it said was a Palestinian arms ship, accused the Palestinian Authority on Sunday of being ``completely infested with terror.''

Sharon's angry comments cast another cloud on a truce mission by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, who told reporters that eliminating terrorism and restoring Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation must be the first steps toward renewed peacemaking.

Israel flew foreign diplomats and military attaches to the Red Sea port of Eilat to view the ship, the Karine-A, and its cargo while at the same time Israeli, U.S. and Palestinians prepared to hold security talks in central Israel.

Israel used its Red Sea seizure Thursday of what it said was a Palestinian Authority-purchased freighter carrying 50 tons of munitions to drive home accusations Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat supported terrorism despite his cease-fire calls.

The Palestinian Authority has denied any link to the alleged attempt to smuggle what Israeli officials said were mainly Iranian-supplied Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles, explosives, mines, small arms and ammunition into its territory.

The Hizbollah guerrilla movement Sunday denied any involvement in an attempt to deliver weapons to Palestinians.

``There were no members of Hizbollah on the ship,'' said a Hizbollah spokesman without elaborating.

Iran has also denied any connection with the vessel.

``This is a very grave affair which unveils the true face of the Palestinian Authority, an authority which is completely infested with terror,'' Sharon told reporters at the weekly cabinet meeting.

``The authority operated now, under the cover of efforts for a cease-fire, to improve the capabilities of Palestinian terror to strike at Israel and its citizens,'' he said.

In Eilat, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer used the backdrop of the ship and what the military said was a cache of weapons taken from the vessel to repeat comments he made last week that anti-Israeli militants were to step up their attacks.

``We said we are sitting on a powder keg, and that powder keg is behind us,'' he told reporters taken by the military to see the ship, which was seized by naval commandos some 300 miles off Israeli shores and now flies the Israeli flag.

Israel said senior Palestinian financial and security officials planned the operation and that it had in its custody an undisclosed number of Palestinian naval police officers it alleged were commanding the boat.

ZINNI SAYS LONG ROAD AHEAD

While Israel continued to fume over the ship, Zinni held meetings aiming to end more than 15 months of violence and put into motion a U.S.-backed truce-to-talks plan.

At least 800 Palestinians and 234 Israelis have died since a Palestinian uprising began after peace talks crumbled.

Zinni was on his second visit to the region after a first trip was cut short last month due to a surge in violence. He was due to return home Monday.

``The focus is on security and building confidence, ensuring that we create a situation and environment that eliminates terror, that we begin a process that will lead us to beyond the cease-fire'' into peace talks, he said after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

``It is a long road and a long path ... and it has to start with countering terrorism and it has to start with security cooperation,'' said Zinni.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was due to arrive in the region late Sunday to meet officials from the two sides before traveling to Egypt and Jordan Tuesday.

ISRAEL BANS ARAFAT FROM ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS

Israel cut off ties with Arafat and left him stranded in his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah in December after Palestinian bombing and shooting attacks killed over 40 Israelis.

The ban prevented Arafat, a practicing Muslim, from attending Western rite Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem on Dec. 24 and kept him from participating in Greek Orthodox Christmas mass Sunday.

Under international pressure, Arafat called on militant groups to end anti-Israeli violence on Dec. 16. His security forces have arrested dozens of militants and shut some of their offices since.

But Israel insists he has yet to dismantle groups behind the deadliest attacks and said he can only leave Ramallah after arresting the suspected killers of an Israeli cabinet minister in October.

The Palestinians say they are doing everything they can to curb violence and view continuing Israeli blockades on their territories and restrictions on travel as collective punishment which is crippling their economy.

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2002

Answers

Response to ISRAEL - Sharon his out over arms ship

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/006/world/Israel_releases_detailed_acc ou:.shtml

Israel releases detailed account of its seizure of an arms shipment at sea

By Jack Katzenell, Associated Press, 1/6/2002 05:12

JERUSALEM (AP) Israel offered a detailed account Sunday of its seizure of a shipload of Iranian-made arms traveling through the Red Sea, saying the evidence proves the weapons were intended for the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli naval commandos stormed onto the vessel Karine A early Thursday, seizing 50 tons of weapons and arresting 13 people on board. Israel said the weapons were to have been delivered to the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip.

''This is an extremely grave incident which exposes the true face of the Palestinian Authority, an authority which is totally contaminated with terrorism,'' Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning.

The Palestinian Authority denied any connection with the weapons and accused Israel of making accusations in an effort to undermine the current visit of U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni.

On Sunday, an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Karine A was purchased in Lebanon by Adel Mughrabi, who it said buys arms for the Palestinian Authority.

The ship sailed to Sudan, where it picked up a cargo of ''innocent merchandise'' that it took to Yemen, the official said. In Yemen's port of Hudayda, the original crew was replaced by a crew headed by Omar Akawi, a colonel in the Palestinian naval police, the official said.

Last month, on orders from Mughrabi, the vessel sailed to a point near the island of Qeys, off the coast of Iran, to a prearranged meeting with a ferry that had brought the weapons in about 80 large crates, the official said.

The arms included Katyusha rockets, guided anti-tank missiles, mortars, anti-tank mines, machine guns, assault rifles, explosives and large quantities of ammunition.

Inside the crates the weapons were packed in watertight plastic cylinders that were manufactured in Iran and can be set to float at whatever depth is desired, the official said.

One crew member, a Palestinian diver, had been trained by the Iranian- backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon on how to operate the cylinders, the official said, adding that a Hezbollah instructor was on board the ferry and gave the diver a last-minute refresher course.

The Karine A was to have passed through the Suez Canal and was to have transferred the arms to three smaller vessels in the Mediterranean, the Israeli official said.

Those vessels were to have lowered the cylinders into the sea at a spot off the Gaza coast to be picked up by the Palestinian naval police, the official said.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in Washington that the United States had no conclusive evidence that the arms were intended for the Palestinian Authority, and suggested that they may have been destined for Hezbollah or the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

An Israeli official challenged the American statement Sunday.

The United States has ''precise information on what was on that ship and for whom it was intended,'' said Gideon Meir, deputy director general of the foreign ministry. ''Therefore it will be very hard to refute the information that the ship was intended for the Palestinian Authority.''

Israel planned to display the munitions Sunday afternoon at a press conference in the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat, with Sharon among those in attendance.

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2002

It's hard to believe the US spokesman since no ID is offered.

The negotiations will no doubt be interesting, if they start. I suspect that something will happen just before to keep Sharon from attending.

I also still wonder if Israel really wants to negotiate...

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2002