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Posted on 09/30/2002 9:14:47 AM PDT by Valin
Israeli intelligence officials tell Lesley Stahl they can now prove that Iraq and Iran are secretly financing and directing acts of terrorism against Israel.
The proof, they say, was found in files confiscated during raids earlier this year on the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and gleaned from prisoner interrogations. Stahl’s report will be broadcast on the premiere of 60 Minutes’ 35th season, Sunday, Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m ET/PT.
The documents, obtained from the Ramallah compound earlier this year, are from the Palestinian Authority’s most secret files, says Col. Miri Eisen of Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence. “We went into what is the equivalent of the Palestinian CIA, the Palestinian FBI, the Bureau of Education, the Treasury,” Eisen tells Stahl. “We’ve taken their database.”
Israeli intelligence officials acknowledge that they have captured members of a terrorist cell who admitted during interrogation that they were trained by Iraqi officials to use weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles that could be shot at airliners. Eado Hecht, a senior intelligence official, told Stahl that the cell was operating in the area of Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport.
“Ben Gurion is a civilian airport,” he said. “So, the obvious target would be a civilian airliner.” The Israelis say the cell was recruited by Abu Abbas, the notorious terrorist responsible for the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro during which an American traveler was murdered.
Abbas’ group, based in Baghdad, was recently reactivated by Saddam Hussein, say the Israelis, adding that there are documents showing that Arafat approved payments to members of Abbas’ group operating in the West Bank.
The Israelis say they also have learned that the Palestinian Authority is earning kickbacks by illegally selling smuggled Iraqi oil. Israel believes that Palestinian officials are using the kickback money to help buy weapons like those confiscated from the freighter Karine A last January, including two tons of C-4 plastic explosive.
Those weapons and explosives, say the Israelis, come from Iran. Additional documents show how Iran is helping to finance terrorist organizations operating inside Israel. Some of those terrorists have been captured, say the Israelis, and they admit an Iranian connection. “We have been interrogating hundreds, thousands of Palestinians from April of this year, and talking to them, says Eisen. “We’ve found some that have been trained in Iran.”
© MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Stahl attempted a "what-if-they're fake" approach and interviewed a high-ranking palistinian prisoner. She read to him from the document and he sputtered "Where did you get that document? That is a secret document!"
Lastly they went to the border to try to see some Iranians. No one would talk to poor Leslie. Who would? They regarded the wacky American woman following the fence shouting "Excuse me!" "Hello? Can I ask you a question?" to the armed guards on the other side with funny looks.
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