Israelis: Captured documents show bio-chem 'interest'
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Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
TEL AVIV Ñ The Palestinian Authority is said to have discussed
projects for research and development of weapons of mass destruction.
Israeli intelligence officers said PA documents captured by Israel's
military contains interest in developing biological and chemical weapons.
The officers said that no such program was actually launched.
"We see at this stage an interest [to develop WMD]," Col. Miri Eisen, an
intelligence officer, said. "We have to distinguish between biological and
chemical and nuclear weapons. We're not talking about nuclear weapons. We
see the interest in research and development in chemical and biological
weapons."
Over the last week, Israel carted off three truckloads of official
Palestinian documents seized from government offices in Ramallah and other
West Bank cities. The documents included details of PA funding to insurgents
and weapons facilities.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops began withdrawing from the West Bank cities
of Kalkilya and Tulkarm. The withdrawal was prompted by a written request
from U.S. President George Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Fighting, however, continued in the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday, with
heavy Israeli and Palestinian casualties.
The colonel told a briefing on Sunday that the documents do not contain
evidence that the PA or its allied militias have completed biological or
chemical weapons. Earlier, Israeli intelligence sources asserted that Hamas
sought to develop a chemical bomb and might have received
assistance from Al Qaida.
But Ms. Eisen said that the captured PA documents so far translated and
deciphered do not exhibit a link between the Palestinian regime and Al
Qaida. She said the documents, being shared with the United States, do not
disclose foreign funding of the Palestinian war against Israel.
"We, too, are looking at the issue of Al Qaida," the colonel said. "We
have not found any links to Al Qaida, and I don't think that we will find
them."
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