Ya'alon: Iran, Syria smuggling arms into Rafah

Jerusalem Post ^ | May. 18, 2004 | NINA GILBERT

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Chief of staff Lt.-Gen Moshe Ya'alon told a press conference Tuesday, "we are in the midst of an operation in Rafah, which is aimed at improving our ability in fighting against weapons smuggling The aim of the operation is to uncover as many tunnels as possible."

The weapons have been arriving at Sinai beaches, and from there they are transported to the Gaza Strip. "The operations are being financed almost entirely by Iran and organized via Damascus and Lebanon with the aid of the Hizbullah," Ya'alon continued. There has recently been an improvement in the quality of arms being smuggled in, he said, including Katyusha rockets, and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

According to the chief of staff, Egyptian efforts are not sufficient, and although Israel is holding a dialogue with Egypt to improve their operations, only Israel can do this job.

"The absence of control by Israel over the (Philadelphia) route will result in the Gaza Strip's saturation in arms, which will make it difficult for us to operate in the future," Ya'alon observed. He said he does not see any other force besides the IDF that can prevent this from happening.

Concerning allegations of human rights abuses, Ya'alon stressed that the IDF does not shoot at ambulances in spite of a lengthy history of Palestinian abuse. "Palestinians have always exploited Israel's humanitarian sensitivity, he said, and even recently had used UNRWA and Red Cross ambulances to transport arms and IDF soldier body remains to their strongholds.

Earlier, Ya'alon said Israel is advancing cautiously, systematically and with intent. "Despite our efforts to stop the flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians have succeeded in obtaining dangerous weapons like rocket-propelled grenades. They shouldn't have RPGs, but they have a large amount of them," he added.

"We know that on the Egyptian side of the border, in the Sinai, there are weapons that have been brought there and are waiting to be brought into Gaza. There have been recent attempts to smuggle in even more dangerous weapons through these tunnels in the border area with Egypt, the Philadelphia Corridor."

"Those who place a higher price on smuggling weapons than on the civilian population of Rafah have forced us into the steps we are taking now. The operation will last more than two days. We have begun arrests. We intend to arrest terrorists and smugglers and to destroy tunnels."

Ya'alon said that Israel is operating in the corridor under existing agreements as sovereign Israeli territory. "In the past three-and-a-half years tunnels have been dug underneath the corridor. The area has turned into the gate through which weapons are transferred to the Palestinians. Despite our efforts to dissuade the Palestinian authorities against this policy, we have been forced to put a stop to this ourselves.

Ya'alon also referred to the explosion of two armored personnel carriers last week, in which 11 IDF soldiers had been killed.

It is not correct to describe everything as a blunder, Ya'alon said. "There is no vehicle that is immune to every threat." Nevertheless, he had given an order that no explosives may be carried on APCs forthwith without his personal approval.