Saudis say they persuaded U.S. to stop Israeli assassinations
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, April 12, 2001
NICOSIA — Saudi Arabia maintains that it saved Palestinian
security chiefs from Israeli assassination.
Saudi sources said Riyad pressured Washington to stop Israel from
assassinating a PA security delegation last week. The Bush administration
then contacted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the plans were
shelved at the last minute.
The Saudi daily Okaz said Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar
Bin Sultan contacted Secretary of State Colin Powell and briefed him on the
purported Israeli assassination plan. The newspaper did not say exactly whom
the Israelis were planning to kill.
But Saudi sources said the reference was to a delegation of PA security
chiefs led by Col. Mohammed Dahlan, head of the Preventive Security
Apparatus in the Gaza Strip. Dahlan said Israeli soldiers shot at his convoy
last week when he and his aides returned from a meeting with Israeli
security officials.
The Israeli military said Dahlan was not a target. Military sources said
Palestinians were engaged in a shootout with Israeli troops when the convoy
passed.
Okaz said Powell telephoned Sharon on the night of the Israeli shooting
and stopped soldiers from completing the assassination attempt. Okaz
reflects the position of the Saudi kingdom, which pledged $225 million to
the PA during a meeting of donor nations in Stockholm.
On Wednesday evening, Palestinian gunners renewed mortar attacks on
Israeli positions in the Gaza Strip. Several mortars fell toward Jewish
settlements in the northern Gaza Strip. Nobody was injured.
Israeli sources said the PA produces mortars at a secret factory. But
military sources also acknowledged that dozens of anti-tank missiles have
gone missing from an arsenal in the Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif in
the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian gunners launched grenade fire on early Thursday toward
Jewish settlements in the northern strip. Unlike previous attacks, Israeli
forces withheld fire. Later in the day, three soldiers were injured in
Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A Palestinian was
killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian sources said Israel and the PA have agreed to resume their
security dialogue. Israeli and PA security officials met in a U.S.-sponsored
meeting in Herzliya on Wednesday night and another session is expected on
Monday. PA intelligence chief Amin Hindi said the Israeli delegation pledged
to lift security restrictions relating to the current siege on PA areas.
Thursday, April 12, 2001
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