Posted on 01/09/2002 6:09:03 PM PST by Orion78
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Iran the "center of world terror" and said Tuesday a recently captured arms shipment showed that Iran and the Palestinians were collaborating to strike at Israel.
Israel said it would soon release documents that show the Palestinian Authority was responsible for the 50 tons of weapons captured by Israeli commandos last Thursday on a cargo ship in the Red Sea. "We have all the evidence and it will unfold, and we will present it soon," said Sharon adviser Daniel Ayalon.
The Palestinian Authority insists it had nothing to do with the arms shipment and said its senior security officials would question those accused by Israel of trying to smuggle the weapons.
Israel is sending intelligence officials to the United States and Europe to press its claim that the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were behind the weapons smuggling, said Defence Ministry spokesman Yarden Vatikay.
While Mideast violence has dropped sharply since Arafat's Dec. 16 speech calling for an end to attacks against Israel, the dispute over the weapons-laden ship has kept the two sides exchanging heated words.
The weapons included 62 Katyusha rockets that could reach Israeli cities from Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described as "credible" the Israeli allegations that the Palestinians were trying to smuggle the weapons.
"We have some evidence," Boucher said, adding that U.S. diplomats had examined a number of the weapons. "The quantity and quality of these weapons are of serious concern."
Sharon said that if the Palestinians had obtained the weapons, it would have put the country "in an impossible situation where all of Israel becomes hostage to Yasser Arafat."
A senior Israeli military official, speaking on a condition of anonymity, said Israel believed Iran sold the weapons to the Palestinians for $10 million - far below their actual worth - in hopes it would allow Iran to threaten Israel by proxy.
At a meeting Sunday, Israel demanded the Palestinian Authority punish those involved in the shipment. U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni was present at the meeting, the Israeli military official said.
Israel has accused Arafat himself of direct involvement in the arms shipment, saying an operation of this magnitude, involving millions of dollars worth of rockets, rifles and anti-tank missiles, could not have taken place without the approval of Arafat, head of the Palestinian Authority.
Arafat needs no help in being discredited, he manages that all by his lonesone. You should change your screenname to Lacunae; holes.
"the consensus" among Al-Qaida rejects? who makes up this "consensus?"
Arafat and his gangs were caught with their pants down.
They do what Arabs do:LIE,LIE,LIE!!
Oh, that revered font of all wisdom again, "the rest of the world." Do you hate living among the stupid Americans? Land is cheap in lots of other countries.
They are also saying that the Osama Bin Laden video is a CIA fake, and that we are killing children in Afghanistan.
That would mean the PA should punish Arafat. What gives with this suggestion?
Only lunatics, Arab Islamics and those without craniums buy this kind of nonsense. Which category do you belong to?
The consensus is
Consensus of who?
to derail the peace talks
The "peace talks" have been derailed by Hamas and the other lunatic fundamentalists for quite some time--- as was there stated intention with all of their terrorist acts
that's what the rest of the world, including Europe,is saying
easy to say anything if you won't or can't document it. I have yet to see you post such an article.
A search of free republic found these two interesting threads:
"Israel faces tide of scepticism after ship seizure"
in which the only skepticism was the level of PA involvement:
"Some unanswered questions posed by journalists: Who owned the ship? Where was the proof Arafat ordered the weapons? Where did they come from? Who were the actual intended recipients? Perhaps the Palestinians on board were renegades? Maybe they worked for the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah?"
NO INDICATION OF MOSSAD OR ISRAELI DUPLICITY!
and
"World: Saddam Hussein lashes out at Israel over seizure of arms ship"
in which Saddam shoots holes in your idiotic statement by accusing Israel of Piracy saying:
"its seizure of an arms ship was "criminal piracy" in violation of international laws, the official Iraqi News Agency reported"
Apparently he doesn't believe it was a Mossad plot either--maybe you need to tell him.
You are going on a tangent. The point is that we are in the right.
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