LONDON Ñ Saudi Arabia is financing the relocation of thousands of Al
Aqaida insurgents to the West Bank and Gaza strip, Western intelligence
sources said.
The German daily Die Welt reported on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia has
financed the escape of 4,000 agents of Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden to
Lebanon. The newspaper, quoting CIA and Western intelligence sources, said
the operation is meant to provide the Palestinian Authority with trained
combatants to fight in the war against Israel.
The sources were quoted as saying that Saudi Arabia has offered $5,000
for each Al Qaida member who resettles in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
Already 4,000 Al Qaida insurgents have fled from Afghanistan to Lebanon,
with many of them being harbored in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein
Hilwe.
Die Welt also reported that the Saudi intelligence service paid Iran $10
million to buy weapons for the Palestinian Authority. The weapons were
confiscated in wake of the capture by Israel of the Karine-A freighter on
Jan. 3 in the Red Sea.
The report was the latest to assert that Al Qaida members intend to
relocate to the Palestinian areas. Last week Western diplomatic sources in
Ankara confirmed a report in the Turkish Daily News that Bin Laden agents
are seeking to escape to the Palestininan Authority.
In a related development, the United States has warned Egypt against
disputing claims by Washington that the Karine-A was headed for the PA.
Israeli diplomatic sources said that the Bush administration warned
President Hosni Mubarak that Washington was ready to publicize its dispute
with Cairo regarding strategic issues unless the leadership in Cairo halted
public expressions of doubt regarding Palestinian smuggling of weaponry.
Mubarak met Israel Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer in the Sinai
resort of Sharm-e-Sheik on Wednesday. Diplomatic sources said Mubarak agreed
to meet Ben-Eliezer to improve relations with
the United States, ahead of the president's visit next month.
