PA ship's Katyushas would have threatened Israel's cities
By Arieh O'Sullivan
TEL AVIV (January 6) - A freighter carrying 50 tons of Iranian-supplied weapons captured by Israel Navy commandos in the Red Sea on Thursday was carrying long-range Katyusha rockets and other offensive weapons destined for the Palestinian Authority, senior government officials said over the weekend.
The ship, the Karine-A, a 4,000-ton freighter owned by the PA and captained by a PA naval policeman, was boarded by naval commandos without firing a shot some 500 nautical miles from Israel in an operation codenamed Noah's Ark.
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz said the arms shipment was intended for the PA.
The PA denied any knowledge of the ship and said it considered the announcement an Israeli effort to sabotage the visit by US envoy Anthony Zinni.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin, said yesterday interrogation of the ship's crew leaves "no doubt" the attempt to smuggle the arms was planned, financed, and carried out by the most "senior echelons" of the PA.
Gissin rejected as "total nonsense" claims by the PA it had nothing to do with the smuggling attempt.
"[PA Chairman Yasser] Arafat is in a bind right now," Gissin said, dismissing the PA's denials. "While Arafat was talking about a cease-fire and peace, he was planning the next stage of the fighting, using the lull in the fighting to rearm, regroup, and prepare for an escalation once the fighting starts again."
Arafat called for a trilateral commission of investigation - comprising Israelis, Americans, and Palestinians - into the affair.
He assured Zinni during their meeting on Friday he had nothing to do with the vessel and its cargo, although three members of the crew, including the captain, are members of the PA Naval Police.
Gissin denied suggestions the arms were not headed for the PA in the Gaza Strip, but rather for Hizbullah in Lebanon. "There are much better and safer ways to provide weapons to Hizbullah than sailing through the Suez Canal and landing off the beaches of Lebanon," Gissin said. He also denied reports one of the men on the ship is a member of Hizbullah, saying instead he is a PA man trained by Hizbullah.
The government announced the capture of the arms freighter at a press conference in Tel Aviv Friday afternoon. Naval commandos took control of the vessel before dawn on Thursday. It was the most extensive attempt to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian Authority to date.
"This was a daring and complex raid that took place very far from Israel's shores," Mofaz told reporters Friday.
Under missile-boat escort, the Karine-A docked at the small navy base in Eilat Friday night. Its entire cargo was dismantled and examined and the commandos debriefed.
"From the weapons we examined, it appears that most of [the cargo] was Iranian and included both short- and long-range Katyushas, many Sagger and LAW anti-tank rockets, mortars, mines, explosives, sniper rifles, bullets, and many other weapons," Mofaz said. "Remember the San Torini? This vessel has close to 50 times more weapons."
Last May, the navy intercepted the San Torini fishing boat, which was filled with large quantities of weapons en route from Lebanon to the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. That catch included Katyusha rockets, SA-7 (Strella) anti-aircraft missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank grenades, mortars and shells, mines, Kalashnikov assault rifles, and ammunition.
"Use your imagination," he said. "If, God forbid, they had a 122mm Katyusha inside the Palestinian Authority, with a range of 20 kilometers, just where they could reach and what kind of damage they could cause to Israeli civilians and soldiers. If these weapons had reached terrorists acting against us, it would have dramatically... widened the scope of terror against us for a long time."
The IDF chief stressed these weapons are in violation of the existing agreements between Israel and the PA.
"Again we see that the PA is not honoring its obligation to agreements and is ready to create a threat from long-range weapons for which it has no justification to arm itself, whether for defensive purposes or in order to enforce the law," Mofaz said. "The link between the PA and the smuggling operation is unequivocal, clear, and undeniable. Official figures in the PA were involved, among them senior officials in the Palestinian Naval Police," including the ship's captain and other crew members.
"This smuggling attempt confirms the PA's intentions to continue its policy of terror and violence, to escalate it over time, and to make the attacks more deadly, as well as deeper inside Israel," Mofaz charged.
Mofaz also lambasted the PA for using its money to purchase weapons, while at the same time complaining to the world of its people's distress.
"The PA claims that its people are in economic distress because of the conflict," he said. "At the same time, however, they are using vast resources for purchasing weapons, instead of for solving internal economic distress. This is again proof of the cynical use of the suffering of the Palestinian people."
Military officials declined to estimate the cost of such an arms shipment.
Mofaz said the smuggling effort belied any attempt by the PA to show it is reducing terror attacks. "Once again, we are witness to the PA leadership's double standards," he said.
Mofaz said the incident demonstrated the close links among the PA, terror groups and Iran, all of whom want to annihilate Israel.
"We will fight terror everywhere and at all times, not just in Judea and Samaria and Gaza," he said. "We will hit terror wherever it threatens us Éno matter how far away from us."
According to security sources, the PA purchased the ship a few months ago.
OC Navy Adm. Yedidya Ya'ari said the commandos boarded the vessel in international waters and no nation's maritime sovereignty was violated. Ya'ari said the weapons were packed in special waterproof containers designed to be dropped into the sea and picked up by smaller craft.
Ya'ari said the operation in international waters, which included both navy vessels and air force helicopters, "stretched the envelope of Israel's deterrent capability a few inches more."
He said the IDF is not aware of other vessels that have been able to slip past the navy to deliver weapons to the Palestinians.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US condemns any attempt by militants to escalate the tensions and the conflict in the region.
Boucher said Zinni had expressed US condemnation to Arafat and pressed Arafat to find an "explanation of the situation." Zinni also urged Arafat "to take immediate steps to prevent future attempts to bring in additional weaponry or escalate the current conflict."
Boucher said the US was not involved in the seizure of the vessel, but American media quoted senior US officials as saying the US had participated in tracking the ship.
An Israeli official in Washington said Mofaz had canceled his trip to Washington last Wednesday in order to be on hand to oversee the seizure of the ship. Officials originally said Mofaz had canceled his visit in order to be in Israel while Zinni is here.
A senior PA security official said PA officers involved in the smuggling incident committed a "shameful act" that harms the PA.
"There is no need for these weapons," the PA source said. "If it were true that the PA was smuggling these rockets into the Gaza Strip, it would give Israel a reason to finish off the PA."
He suggested those from the PA on the vessel might have been involved in smuggling Katyushas to Hizbullah in Lebanon for money.
The PA official said there are unanswered questions that shed doubt about the ship's destination and Israel's claim the money and vessels were bought with Arafat's money and intended for the PA.
Another PA source did not rule out the vessel's belonging to a Palestinian company or having been bought with Palestinian money, while yet another PA source said the Palestinians knew about the vessel before Zinni's arrival.
Palestinian sources said Iran, Iraq, and Syria want violence to continue in the PA to divert attention from their own involvement in supporting groups labeled by the US as terror organizations and thus delay any strike or sanctions against them. Those countries are behind the smuggling of weapons to the Palestinians and Hizbullah, one PA source said.
Palestinian officials urged Zinni to use his influence with the Gulf states and to pressure Iran to stop channeling money and weapons to extremists.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres plans to ask world leaders today to declare Iran - which, according to security officials, is the source of the weapons on the ship - a nation that abets terror, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Iran yesterday denied any involvement with the vessel captured by Israel.
(Lamia Lahoud, Herb Keinon, and Janine Zacharia in Washington contributed to this report.) |
