International
PA procured weapons, says Israel
By Kesava Menon
MANAMA, JAN. 6. As the saying goes, the story of the weapon-laden ship gets curioser and curioser. Israel, which virtually pirated the ship in the Red Sea insists that the vessel was conveying a cargo of illicit arms from Iran to the Palestinian Authority, both of which have denied the charge, and U.S. officials have added yet another angle to the story. As things stand all that can be said is that the story is a West Asian thriller full of intrigue, mystery and a commando operation.
News about the Tonga registered vessel, Karine A, surfaced on Friday when the vessel docked in the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat. The Israeli military has let out that the vessel contained 50 tonnes of war materiel including Katyusha rockets of two different calibres, mortar shells, automatic rifles and specially made water-tight containers. If the Katyusha's in particular had reached the hands of Palestinian militants they could have been used to attack Ben Gurion airport and various Israeli cities from well within Palestinian Authority-controlled territory. The Palestinians are banned by treaty from brining into their territories arms of the types said to have been loaded onto the vessel.
The Israelis claim that after the interrogation of the crew, they have confirmed that the $15 millions that the arms would have cost had come from the Palestinian Authority with the express approval of the Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat. They also claim that ship was captained by the deputy head of the Authority's naval security forces and that at least some among the crew belonged to the same security outfit. Israel also claims to have tracked the vessel soon after it got information that the Authority had purchased it and were therefore able to know that the arms, which bore Iranian markings, were loaded in the Persian Gulf island of Kish.
According to the Israeli military, Katrine A stopped at Aden but failed to pick up another cargo of arms before it proceeded onwards up the Red Sea. It was while the ship was between the Saudi Arabian and Sudanese coasts that a troop of Israeli marine commandos boarded it with no resistance from the crew.
The commandos were brought to the interception point by naval patrol boats while fighter planes and combat helicopters flew shot-gun overhead. Israel's chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, and the respective heads of its air and naval forces were said to have directly supervised the operation from a command airplane flying overhead. With a sense of satisfaction, sections of the Israeli media have noted the comparison to the Entebbe raid.
Iran and the Palestinian Authority have, rather contemptuously, dismissed any knowledge or involvement with the ship and its contents. For what it is worth the Authority has added the insinuation that the whole matter has been fabricated by Israel to derail the new round of negotiations that have just been kicked off by the U.S. mediator, Anthony Zinni. An un-named U.S. official has added another angle to the whole story by informing The New York Times that the shipment was probably a transfer from Iran to the Lebanese Hizbollah. There are other puzzling aspects to the affair.
If the ship (indeed if the Israeli story is true up to this point) was indeed headed up the Red Sea en route the Suez Canal the arms on it could have been destined for the Gaza Strip, the Lebanese coast or perhaps any other point on and off the Mediterranean basin.
Israeli officials maintain that the existence on board of water-proof containers proves that the shipment was indeed destined for the Gaza Strip. The idea apparently is that the weapons would be packed into the containers and dumped overboard so that the Palestinian fishing fleet could pick it up at leisure. These containers would not be needed if the shipment was to be off-loaded in a Lebanese port.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
International
|
