Peres Asserts Iran Armed Hezbollah
Alan Friedman International Herald Tribune
Sunday, February 3, 2002
He Says 8,000 Missiles Were Sent
NEW YORK Israel said Sunday that Iran had supplied Hezbollah militants in Lebanon with 8,000 missiles that could hit Israeli cities, and warned Lebanon it would not tolerate any missile attacks from its territory.
Citing what he called reliable intelligence information, Shimon Peres, the Israeli foreign minister, made the allegation in an interview with the International Herald Tribune.
He also contended that North Korea had supplied Iran with a medium-range missile and that the two countries were cooperating to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting North America.
Mr. Peres, who is attending the World Economic Forum meetings here, also distanced himself from a remark by the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who a few days ago said he regretted that Israel had not killed the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, 20 years ago.
In making the charges against Iran and North Korea, Mr. Peres appeared to be providing a timely backup to President George W. Bush, who sparked anger in the Middle East last week when he charged that Iran, North Korea and Iraq formed an "axis of evil" and were developing weapons of mass destruction.
Diplomats who asked not to be named said Mr. Peres had discussed the intelligence data on Iran's alleged role in providing missiles to Hezbollah during a meeting with Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary of state.
"Iran has given Hezbollah a collection of 8,000 Katusha missiles with a range of between 20 and 70 kilometers over the last six months, and those missiles pose a direct threat to Israel," Mr. Peres contended in the interview.
In a warning that singled out Lebanon but may actually have been aimed at Syria, which exercises suzerainty over Lebanon, Mr. Peres went on to say that "if Hezbollah thinks that they will fire those missiles at Israel from the Lebanon, then we have to warn Lebanon" that Israel would not stand for it.
The Israeli foreign minister, who held two hours of talks in New York with aides to Mr. Arafat and also met King Abdullah of Jordan, said that Iran was working with North Korea on medium-and long-range missiles that could threaten Europe and North America.
"Iran has received an old North Korean Shihab-3 missile with a range of 1,200 kilometers," Mr. Peres said. "And now Iran, in collaboration with North Korea, is trying to build a missile with a range of 10,000 kilometers that could threaten North America."
The missile allegations come at an extremely delicate moment in domestic Israeli politics and in the region. Mr. Sharon is facing a threatened resignation from a rightist member of his cabinet because the prime minister met with a Palestinian delegation last Wednesday.
On Sunday in New York, when asked to rate the chances of a cease-fire between Israelis and Palestinians on a scale of one to 10, Mr. Peres said "between three and four on a scale of 10."
Mr. Peres grew visibly uncomfortable when asked whether he agreed with the statement by Mr. Sharon last week in which the prime minister said he regretted that Israel had not killed Mr. Arafat 20 years ago.
"I didn't make that statement. Mr. Sharon did, and I don't wish to comment on Mr. Sharon's statements," he replied at first.
But when pressed to offer his personal opinion as to whether Israel should have killed Mr. Arafat in the early 1980s, Mr. Peres offered a less cryptic response. "No, I was against killing Mr. Arafat then, and I am against it today," he said.
"At the time, Arafat had passed an Israeli Army position and our soldiers had their rifles trained on him and could have easily shot him. But Begin gave the order not to shoot Arafat, and Begin should be praised for that decision," he said, referring to then Prime Minister Menachem Begin. It was not clear if the episode occurred in 1982 or 1983.
A spokesman for Mr. Peres said the minister still saw Mr. Arafat as the Palestinian leader.
Israel has virtually confined Mr. Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Asked if this was constructive for the peace process, Mr. Peres quoted Mr. Sharon as saying, "if he becomes a partner for peace then he will not be confined."
Mr. Peres, when pressed whether he thought confinement was the best approach, said, "I think it would be wise for Arafat to arrest the people who killed an Israeli minister." He was referring to Rehavam Zeevi, the Israeli minister of tourism who was shot and killed by Palestinian gunmen on Oct. 17.
"The confinement," he added, "is more a matter of pressure than punishment. We said that people in Ramallah had murdered an Israeli minister in Jerusalem and we are telling Arafat who did it, and we demand that he arrest them."
When asked if such an arrest could place Mr. Arafat at risk, Mr. Peres said, "My answer is that to be a leader is sometimes not so easy."
Even as Mr. Peres spoke in New York, there appeared to be modest signs that, despite his prudent assessment, a cease-fire might be becoming more feasible. Among these sings were more moderate tones from Mr. Arafat and Mr. Sharon.
Mr. Arafat on Sunday said in a statement that he condemned Palestinian "terrorist groups" that attack Israeli civilians and said he was "determined to put an end to their activities."
Mr. Peres, on Sunday, welcomed those remarks as a step in the right direction.
Separately, Mr. Sharon defended his meeting with senior Palestinian leaders and said he planned more such talks. This is despite harsh criticism of Mr. Sharon from hard-liners in his cabinet.
In New York, Mr. Peres said that contacts with Palestinian officials "always" brought progress, but he cautioned that real talks aimed at establishing a cease-fire would resume only after Mr. Sharon returned home from a visit to Washington, where he is expected to meet President Bush on Thursday.
Secretary Powell was expected to meet with senior Palestinian officials in Washington on Sunday.
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