World Tribune.com

Universal Orlando

U.S. backtracks Ñ confirms arms ship headed for Palestinians

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, January 9, 2002

WASHINGTON Ñ The United States has quietly acknowledged a Palestinian link to a shipload of weapons captured by Israel.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration has agreed with Israel that the Karine-A vessel was heading from Iran to the Palestinian Authority. The ship was loaded with about 50 tons of weapons, explosives, rockets and missiles.



The U.S. acknowledgement came after Israeli officials met on Tuesday with several representatives of the State Department, including Richard Armitage and William Burns. On Wednesday, Burns will meet a visiting Israeli military delegation to discuss the ship and its sponsors.

A U.S. government source said U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Palestinian ship was funded by Arab states rather than from money donated by the West. The source said one concern is that Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen were involved in the weapons deal.

"We are talking about information that involves U.S. allies in the Middle East in the smuggling of weapons to the Palestinian Authority," the source, who deals with intelligence issues, said.

For five days, the State Department refused to confirm the Israeli assertion that the PA was the destination for the Karine-A. Boucher said the United States was probing reports that the ship was linked to the UAE.

"We have approached the government of the United Arab Emirates about reports that the ship was loaded in Dubai," Boucher said. "They have initially told us that they had no information but that they would look into the report further and fully investigate."

The PA has acknowledged that Omar Akawi, the captain of the Karine-A, was a senior officer in the PA navy. But PA officials said Akawi did not operate on orders of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Print this Article Print this Article Email this article Email this article Subscribe to this Feature Free Headline Alerts