Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HH who wrote (4389)	5/16/2002 10:27:37 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

Report: Israel sank Gaza-bound arms ship and 20-member crew By Ha'aretz Service and Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondent The arms-laden ship apparently bound for the Gaza Strip which was recently sunk by the Israeli Navy, was carrying a crew of 20 armed men and a cache that included Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles, according to a report in the weekly British-based defense magazine, Foreign Report. According to the report, details of which were published Thursday in the daily Yediot Aharonot, Israel's original plan was to seize the boat and publicly display its contents, however, after IDF intelligence reported that the boat was heavily guarded by 20 armed men who were primed for a possible attempt to intercept the ship, the decision was taken to sink the boat rather than capture it. This was reportedly done with the use of a missile. According to the report, IDF intelligence did not succeed in uncovering who was behind the arms ship, but was certain it was headed for the Palestinian Authority. The plan was for the boat to reach the Gaza coast where the crew would throw the weapons overboard in waterproof containers, and Palestinians disguised as fisherman were to pick them up. The sinking of the ship was first reported in Sunday's edition of the New York Post. Uri Dan, a long time close associate of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, reported in the Post that the IDF had sunk a weapons ship off the coast of Gaza. The IDF refused to comment on the report. Palestinian efforts at weapons smuggling via the sea were stymied after the Karine A weapons ship affair, but military sources say there has been a recent upsurge of Palestinian efforts at such smuggling, especially after the capture of large stockpiles of arms during Operation Defensive Shield last month. Last May, the IDF captured a small weapons-smuggling boat, financed by Iran, called the Santorini. Previous to that, the PA apparently managed to bring in a number of smaller vessels carrying weapons. Hezbollah and Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front General Command, are the main players in the effort to smuggle arms into the PA via the Mediterranean. At the same time, various Palestinian security services and other terror groups try smuggling via land, with the main route along the Egyptian border with Rafah, though there are also efforts, often with the help of Israeli underworld groups, to smuggle arms through Jordan and across the Egyptian border in the southern Negev.