The Baltimore Sun
JERUSALEM – A nighttime raid by Israeli commandos against a cargo ship in the Red Sea has thwarted a Palestinian arms smuggling operation linked to top Palestinian officials, the Israeli army said Friday.
At least 50 tons of weapons, including rockets that could easily reach Israeli cities when fired from Palestinian areas, were found Thursday hidden in 83 crates aboard the ship, which the army said was owned by the Palestinian Authority.
Army officials said they arrested a Palestinian naval officer and several other Palestinian Authority security officers aboard the Karine A. The ship, flying the flag of the South Pacific nation of Tonga, was seized in international waters about 310 miles south of the Israeli port city of Eilat.
Israeli officials described what they said was a sophisticated smuggling attempt, which included the transport of Iranian-made guns and mortars. They were packed in pressurized, water-tight pipes attached to buoys, which apparently were intended to be floated in the sea and then hauled to shore by boaters.
Palestinian officials denied any connection to the vessel and dismissed Israel’s claims as propaganda to divert attention from the relative calm that has settled over the deadly conflict in the past two weeks.
Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli army chief of staff, said he believes the Karine A planned to sail north through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea and travel near Palestinian-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip. He described the arms seizure as one of the largest during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mofaz said Friday that the incident demonstrated that Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, was not yet ready for peace.
“We are witnessing a double game played by the Palestinian Authority leadership,” Mofaz said at a news conference in Tel Aviv. “It is a terrorist network, infected from head to toe with terror. The smuggling attempt emphasizes and points directly at the Palestinian Authority’s intention to continue a strategy of terror and violence.”
The ship seizure lends support to Israel’s claim that top Palestinian officials are tied to the violence.
If the Karine A was indeed owned by the Palestinian Authority and captained by a Palestinian naval officer, the Palestinian Authority may have violated agreements outlining how it is to spend its money, much of which is contributed by the European Union.
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