::Bushehr Reactor, Iran::
Posted on 01/12/2002 5:16:58 PM PST by College Repub
Iran using PA as proxy against Israel - senior official
By Herb Keinon
JERUSALEM (January 13) - Iran's involvement in the Karine A arms smuggling affair is part of a larger effort to deter Israel from militarily trying to scuttle Teheran's nuclear program, according to a senior diplomatic official.
According to the official, Iran wants to use the Palestinians as proxies, much as it used Hizbullah as a proxy to wage war against Israel in Lebanon.
"Iran wants a base and stronghold in the PA to threaten Israel," the official said. "They feel the way to counter an Israeli threat to their nuclear program is through the use of terrorism. They feel this will deter any attack on Iran."
In addition to Hizbullah in the North and its developing ties with the PA, the official said there is intelligence showing that, since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, the Iranians have exploited the "frustration and anger of Israeli Arabs" to gain recruits for intelligence gathering and to funnel money and arms.
The growing Palestinian-Iranian connection figured prominently in a conversation between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday.
According to Sharon's office, the prime minister briefed Putin on the developing ties between Iran and the Palestinians, and Iran's direct involvement in arms smuggling.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, meanwhile, issued a statement last night saying Iran is the source of world terrorism, adding that everything must be done to make this clear to the world.
"Iran is initiating and funding terror against Israel, and the ayatollahs, who are the source of real power in Iran, call openly for Israel's destruction," said Peres, who added Israel should not underestimate this threat.
Peres wrote UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan two weeks ago to protest against comments made by Iranian leaders calling for Israel's destruction.
Former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani implied last month Israel could be the target of an "Islamic" nuclear attack.
The Iranian connection also came up during Peres's visit last week to India. According to Israeli officials, Iranian fingerprints can also be found on the terrorism facing India.
According to the senior official, the US has evidence of Iranian involvement in the Karine A affair.
The official said evidence of ties with Iran comes at a particularly bad time for the PA, since the US is increasingly seeing Iran as being on the wrong side of the battle against terrorism.
US President George W. Bush warned the Iranians last week against trying to undermine the fledgling interim Afghan government, and US officials said Iran has become a refuge for a number of al-Qaida members.
In his conversation with Putin, Sharon said the PA - in violation of various agreements - continues to try to arm itself with large quantities of weapons.
In a related development, Sharon's office issued a statement last night saying PA claims it has arrested three top officials involved in the Karine A affair were false.
The PA on Friday said it had arrested three men: Fuad Shubaki, a key PA financial figure, and Palestinian Naval Police officers Fathi al-Razem and Adel al-Mughrabi. Last night the Palestinians corrected themselves, saying only Shubaki was being held for questioning, while "arrest warrants" had been issued for the other two.
The Prime Minister's Office said Shubaki was in Ramallah, while the other two are not in PA-controlled areas.
Before being in charge of the financing and supply of the Palestinian Police, Shubaki was in charge of the financial department of Palestinian armed forces in Arab countries. A PA source said he has good connections to Hizbullah and other groups.
"So far we have no evidence linking Shubaki and the others to the smuggling of weapons on the Karine A," the PA source added.
Bassam Abu Sharif, an adviser to Arafat, said Shubaki was placed in "detention for the purpose of investigation."
The order does not necessarily mean that Shubaki would be jailed, nor does it mean that he must be placed under house arrest, the PA source said.
It could also mean that he had to give his identity papers to the Palestinian Police, that his freedom of movement was restricted, and that he has to be available for questioning.
A PA court and investigation committee ordered all three suspects placed under this kind of detention, Abu Sharif said. "It is the first step to gather information, and once there is evidence they will be tried," he said.
Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin, said the Palestinian announcements of the arrests and arrest warrants were intended to appease the US.
"They panicked," he said of the PA, "when they realized the [US] president and secretary of state were convinced of the PA's involvement."
(Lamia Lahoud contributed to this report.)
The Jerusalem Post is not Debka. First you say they don't have reactors. But with many historical articles to the obverse you switched to saying they don't have the missiles, but with references to the arms sales by Russia, you say they don't have the warheads. Then this article shows they also have the warheads. Now you are left in denial by trying to dismiss the history of the last few years by saying it is Debkaesque.
Face it, Facts, references and proof is of no value to you. You want perhaps Prophecy? Try reading Isaiah 14-19. It describes the complete destruction of Israel’s neighbors in one evening.
I think the combined efforts of the worlds newspapermen is more valuable than your dismissive speculation. I also think the Israeli Government thinks the same. So next war, when all the Arabs fire their missiles like they are threatening to do, Israel will fire hers. They have no choice. The only difference is that Arabs glory in death on the battle field and Israeli's want to live. So Israel has invested in anti-missile systems, whereas the Arabs have not. Both sides are Nuclear. Guess who lives and who dies. And guess who is blamed for the deaths, the surviving Jews. Go figure.
Informed sources in Washington tell NewsMax that when Israeli Defense Minister Director General Amos Yaron visited the Pentagon during the last week of August, he raised Israeli concerns about Iran's growing capabilities to build nuclear weapons.With the help of Russian scientists, Iran has made dramatic advances - and is believed to be far ahead of neighbors like Iraq in building new weapons of mass destruction.
That worries the Israelis.
The last time Israel was confronted with such a problem, it acted. In 1981, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered air strikes against Iraq's Osirak nuclear facilities.
One source reveals that an Israeli strike on Iran's facilities is all but certain and that Yaron has hinted strongly it may just happen.
Israel will likely tie any action against these facilities with a broader air attack on Iranian-backed missile units now operating in Lebanon.
In recent months, the Israeli government has been carefully linking Iran to anti-military activities in Lebanon in a carefully crafted PR strategy to demonstrate to the world that Iran is no innocent bystander, but a partner with key Arab countries, like Syria, bent on destroying Israel.
Take, for example, New York Post Uri Dan's column of Aug. 26, entitled "Iran Exporting Its Brand of Terror to the Border." Dan is considered a long-time member of Ariel Sharon's kitchen Cabinet.
Dan begins, "Iran has turned central and southern Lebanon into a powder keg with a devastating arsenal of 8,000 Katyusha rockets."
He adds that Iran has actually put members of its Revolutionary Guard in control of missile units that have a long range and can hit Tel Aviv.
Dan also alleges that Iran and Syria are coordinating military moves to "open a second front" against Israel if the Palestinian crisis blows.
When Israel strikes against these missiles, expected a broader sweep, which will include air strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran.
Iran on Wednesday deplored the stance of the United States that called some participants in the ongoing Tehran international conference on Palestine "terrorist," the official IRNA news agency reported."Those fighting for liberation of their homeland could not be called terrorist. Not only Iran but also all other Muslim nations condemn the U.S. backing for Israeli state terrorism," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by the agency.
The two-day conference, which opened on Tuesday, aims to " attract financial and spiritual support in defense of the Palestinians," Asefi said.
It has brought together some of Israel's worst enemies as well as delegates from more than 30 Muslim nations that had until now eschewed calls for confrontation with Israel.
U.S. State Department Spokesman Philip Reeker on Tuesday warned the nations attending the Tehran conference that they would be designated "terrorist" in the U.S. annual report on international " terrorism" due to be released next week.
Asefi noted that the Middle East crisis could not be resolved by one-sided support of Israel whose terrorist operations are clear to all.
"The Islamic republic of Iran does not need the US approval for its humanitarian and spiritual aid for the oppressed Palestinians and the Lebanese resistance movement," he said.
"Iran and other Muslim nations feel obliged to support the Palestinian combatants," he stressed, calling for a democratic solution to the conflict which enforces the very basic rights of the Palestinians.
According to organizers, the conference is expected to provide support for the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, and make decision on practical steps to help the Palestinians succeed in restoring the rights of Palestinians.
The latest string of clashes between Israeli forces and the Palestinian protestors have so far killed 470 people, most of them Palestinians, since last September.
According to the official, Iran wants to use the Palestinians as proxies, much as it used Hizbullah as a proxy to wage war against Israel in Lebanon.
"Iran wants a base and stronghold in the PA to threaten Israel," the official said. "They feel the way to counter an Israeli threat to their nuclear program is through the use of terrorism. They feel this will deter any attack on Iran."
This one-meter resolution, satellite image of the Bushehr Reactor, Iran was collected by Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite at approximately 10:30 a.m. on May 19, 2001. The image shows the Iranian Nuclear facility located approximately 17 kilometers south of the city of Bushehr. The reactor complex occupies a 2.5 Square Kilometer site area, which includes assembly halls, a concrete channel for cooling water that runs from the reactors to the Gulf, and a the harbor which supports loading and unloading of foreign materials needed for construction and reactor operation. There are two reactor buildings at Bushehr, one is in an advanced stage of completion while the other has remained dormant for some time.
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