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.
