[iwar] [fc:Ship.seizure.gives.timely.ammunition.for.Sharon's.propaganda.war]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-01-07 07:24:03
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] News to Use from Infowar.Com 01-07-02 (fwd)"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Sharon.brands.Arafat.a.'terrorist']"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Message-Id: <200201071524.g07FO3W04150@red.all.net>
To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List)
Organization: I'm not allowed to say
From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 07:24:03 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Ship.seizure.gives.timely.ammunition.for.Sharon's.propaganda.war]
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

   Ship seizure gives timely ammunition for Sharon's propaganda war

                           Brian Whitaker
                      Saturday January 5, 2002
                             The Guardian

 The interception of the Karine-A, a vessel said to be owned by the
Palestinian Authority, with Palestinian naval police among its crew
and a cargo of illicit weapons in its hold, could not have come at a
more fortunate moment for Ariel Sharon.
It was just in time for the Israeli prime minister to mention the
dramatic discovery to Anthony Zinni, the US peace envoy, before Mr
Zinni shuttled over to the West Bank for a meeting with the
Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
Full details of what the Israelis have found are likely to be delayed
for a while: the ship did not arrive at the Red Sea port of Eilat
until late last night. Even so, the lesson the Israelis would like the
world to draw from the incident is that Mr Arafat cannot be trusted.
At least part of the cargo, which is reported to include Katyusha
rockets with a 12-mile range, anti-tank missiles and explosives, goes
beyond the weaponry that the Palestinian Authority is allowed to
acquire under its agreements with Israel.
The Israelis also seem confident that they have established a clear
link between the weapons and officials - possibly senior ones - in the
Palestinian Authority.
"We are witnessing a double game played by the PA leadership," the
army chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, said.
"It is a terrorist network, infected from head to toe by terror, that
doesn't understand that it cannot make achievements using terror,
especially after September 11."
The scale of the smuggling operation is unclear, and pre vious
interceptions, such as the seizure of a boat off Gaza last May, have
turned out to be less sensational than their initial presentation.
Mr Zinni was not sufficiently ruffled to cancel his meeting with Mr
Arafat yesterday or to comment on the incident to the press.
Instead, he declared himself "optimistic" that conditions could be put
in place for a ceasefire and an eventual return to political
negotiations, as laid down last year in plans by the CIA chief, George
Tenet, and the former US senator George Mitchell.
As a first step he announced that there would be a meeting of
Palestinian and Israeli security chiefs tomorrow, which is precisely
the path Mr Sharon does not want to take.
One intriguing question is why the vessel was intercepted so far from
Israel - 300 miles, according to reports, which would place it between
southern Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
According to Admiral Yedidya Ya'ari at yesterday's press conference,
the seizure took place at or slightly beyond the limits of the Israeli
military's normal operating range.
The timing may have been dictated less by operational necessities than
by news management. To inform Mr Zinni of the discovery at a critical
moment during his visit was certainly a smart move, and to hold a
press conference the following day in the certainty that it would
overshadow news of his talks with Mr Arafat was even smarter.
On the other hand Israel may have believed that the cargo was about to
be unloaded. Adm Ya'ari said the weapons were packed in floating
waterproof containers, ready to be dropped into the sea and picked up
by smaller craft.
An alternative view is that Israel is trying to cash in on the "war
against terrorism" and smear other Middle Eastern countries in the
eyes of the US, thereby forcing it to distance itself from the
Palestinian cause.
Earlier this week there were reports that the militant Palestinian
organisation Hamas had been seeking weapons in Saudi Arabia.
Before news of the ship's seizure broke, Major-General Amos Gilad
spoken of unusual efforts" by the Palestinians to smuggle high-quality
arms, but he gave no details.
Meanwhile Israeli security sources told the newspaper Ha'aretz that
Palestinian officials, some of them personal assistants to Mr Arafat,
had embarked on weapons-buying trips to Arab states.
News agencies reported yesterday that the weapons seized were mainly
supplied by Iran. Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East,
has long complained of a nuclear threat from Iran.
The war of words between the two countries flared up at the end of
last month after a speech by the former Iranian president Hashemi
Rafsanjani, which the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres,
described as "bone-chilling".
Iranian newspapers quoted him saying: "If one day ... the world of
Islam is mutually equipped with the kind of weapons which Israel
presently possesses, the world's arrogant strategy will then come to a
dead end, because the use of an atomic bomb on Israel won't leave
anything."

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Tiny Wireless Camera under $80!
Order Now! FREE VCR Commander!
Click Here - Only 1 Day Left!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/WoOlbB/7.PDAA/ySSFAA/kgFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] News to Use from Infowar.Com 01-07-02 (fwd)"
Previous message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Sharon.brands.Arafat.a.'terrorist']"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2002-12-31 02:15:02 PST