Obviously Israel orchestrated the shipment of arms, and now are trying to create the belief that the western media doesn't want to report it accurately, which discerning people like you and I perceive as bias towards the Palestinians, thus elliciting sympathy for Israel from us...
You should charge Arafat for your strategic consulting:
dailynews.yahoo.com
Tuesday February 12 7:21 AM ET
Arafat Says Arms Ship an Israeli Ploy
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat accused Israel Tuesday of trying to destroy his ties with Washington by orchestrating a shipment of arms that Israel says Palestinians sought to use against it.
In an interview with Lebanon's An-Nahar daily published on Tuesday, Arafat offered no evidence to back his charge about the shipment which Israel charges the Palestinian leadership organized with help from Iran and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.
``The indications and evidence are that there was an Israeli hand in the ship incident, which targeted us, Iran and Hizbollah,'' he said.
``These are all baseless accusations aimed at turning the United States against us, and against Iran and Hizbollah,'' he said.
Both Iran and Hizbollah have denied any links to the ship, which Israel seized in the Red Sea last month with 50 tons of weapons it says were headed for Palestinian-ruled territory in violation of interim peace deals.
The incident has boosted pressure on Arafat to crack down on militants and strained his ties with Washington, which demands that Arafat explain the shipment of weapons. The United States is traditionally the main broker in Middle East peacemaking.
A senior Palestinian official said Sunday that Arafat had written to Secretary of State Colin Powell to assure that there are no Palestinian military ties to Iran and promise to punish those responsible for the arms shipment.
Arafat said he still had a working relationship with Washington, and that he was indispensable to efforts to negotiate a halt to violence in which at least 836 Palestinians and 256 Israelis have been killed since September 2000.
``The alternative to me are Palestinian lions who face Israeli tanks with rocks, and are ready to martyr themselves in front of them,'' he said. |
