U.S. sends Arab leaders evidence - PA involved in arms ship

haaretzdaily ^ | Saturday, January 26, 2002 Shvat 13, 5762 Israel Time: 05:26 (GMT+2) | By Agencies

[IRtorqued]

Last update - 13:54 25/01/2002 U.S. sends Arab leaders evidence - PA involved in arms ship

President George W. Bush sent proof to three key Arab leaders that the Palestinian Authority was engaged in a weapons smuggling plot and asked them to put pressure on Yasser Arafat to make arrests, according to senior administration officials.

Israeli commandos early this month intercepted a ship carrying the 50 tons of rockets, mortars, explosives and other arms in the Red Sea and informed the Bush administration.

However, most of the evidence Bush included in his letters last week to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan was gathered by U.S. intelligence, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

That underscored the Bush administration's conviction that Arafat's Palestinian Authority was involved. Arafat himself has denied any role in the scheme and the Bush administration has hesitated to contradict him directly.

But Israeli security officials say it was impossible for senior Palestinian Authority members to be involved in the plot first hatched in June without Arafat's personal awareness.

They also said the weapons, if delivered to Palestinian militants, could have been used against Israel's Ben-Gurion airport and especially to pierce the reinforced surface of buses that carry tourists and Israeli civilians.

Bush also asked the Arab leaders' help in persuading Arafat to make more arrests connected to the smuggling and to combat terrorism generally. The officials didn't describe the evidence.

Burns to meet with Arab ambassadors On Friday, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns will summon two dozen Arab ambassadors to provide them with more information about the smuggling incident and to underscore U.S. insistence that Arafat combat terrorism more vigorously, another U.S. official said.

The Palestinian Authority, under U.S. urging, has detained several suspects. But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher repeated on Thursday that Arafat had neither provided an explanation of the smuggling nor arrested the key figures.

Israel's account, given to the administration by top security officials who came to Washington, had Arafat directly involved and said Iran supplied the weapons and the ship was loaded at an Iranian port.

While Arafat has denied any role, Secretary of State Colin Powell publicly has demanded an explanation from him. At the same time, Powell has said he has seen no evidence against the Palestinian leader.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president understands why Israel has confined Arafat to his West Bank headquarters. Fleischer, on Bush's behalf, demanded Arafat eliminate terrorism, which he said posed a threat not only to Israel, but also to Arafat.

"The president understands the reason that Israel has taken the action that it takes, and it is up to Chairman Arafat to demonstrate the leadership to combat terrorism," Fleischer said.

A decision depends largely on what Arafat does about combating terrorism, a senior U.S. official said. No option, including closing the Washington office, is being ruled out, the official said.

Arafat has been under virtual house arrest on the West Bank for nearly two months. From his office window in Ramallah, he can peer out at Israeli soldiers who are posted down the street.

[IRtorqued]

That underscored the Bush administration's conviction that Arafat's Palestinian Authority was involved. Arafat himself has denied any role in the scheme and the Bush administration has hesitated to contradict him directly.

here gw let me do it for you; yasser you are a liar!