Saudis say they persuaded U.S. to stop Israeli assassinations

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.