In an interview with Israel and international media, the
captain of the Karine A, captured by Israel Navy
commandos last Thursday, said Palestinian Authority officials
were directly involved in the purchase and smuggling of the
50 tons of arms it carried. He also said the initial
preparations took place after the September 11 terror attacks
in the US. Israeli authorities said that the ship was
purchased by the PA on October 10.
The PA has denied it had anything to do with the ship.
"The weapons were a donation by the Islamic world to the
Palestinian people . . . from Iran, Hizbullah," the captain
said. He said the entire operation was supervised and
overseen by PA official Adel Awadallah, also known as Adel
Mugrhabi, based in Greece. He allegedly purchased the
freighter for $400,000.
In the interview, the captain said he last spoke to his
handler a week before the ship was seized, shortly after PA
Chairman Yasser Arafat called for a halt to anti-Israeli
violence. "I expected to receive an order [to] stop it . . .
But he [Awadallah] did not tell me to stop it," he said.
He said Israel Navy commandos raided the boat at 4:45 a.m,
when most of the crew was asleep. He said he heard a noise,
but thought it was due to a technical failure. Then he opened
his eyes and was confronted with armed men.
Israeli security sources say Awadallah is a senior arms
purchaser for the PA.
A source at the PA Ministry of International Cooperation said
he had never heard of Awadallah. However, an Arab-American
arrested by Israeli police in 1995 while bringing in funds
for Hamas, related that Hamas terrorist Adel Awadallah "gave
information about the assassination of a doctor from Bir Zeit
university." Dr. Albert Glock, American born, was the first
foreigner murdered during the first intifadah. He was shot in
January, 1992.
While US officials say privately that they found Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's explanation of the
Karine A unconvincing, the State Department refused to
endorse Israel's version that the ship was commissioned by
the PA. It said it is still studying the incident.
Israel says it has supplied the US with adequate intelligence
to show that the PA arranged for the ship.
State Department spokesman Boucher did praise Israel for
seizing the ship. "It's definitely good that Israel stopped
the weapons. Any law enforcement operations or other
operations that are able to prevent terrorists or violent
groups from acquiring the means of carrying out their
violence is good," he said.
Israel is disappointed that the story has not generated more
outrage from world leaders. A controversy was touched off
within Israel over whether Israel had failed to fully
capitalize on the media impact of the ship. There was
criticism of the initial press conference held on Friday
afternoon and the larger press briefing in front of the ship
on Sunday. Undoubtedly it could have been held better, but
some of the criticism seems to be coming from political
opponents of the government possibly trying to minimize the
triumph. The full impact is certainly not evident after three
days, but will become clear only in the weeks ahead.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "promoted" Palestinian Authority
Chairman Yasser Arafat from the status of "irrelevant" to
Israel's most "bitter enemy." He and Defense Minister
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer also had some tough remarks about Iran,
which they called the "center of world terror."
Speaking before the captured arms freighter Karine A,
Sharon said the time had come to reassess the relationship
with the PA. Sharon also charged that in attempting to bring
in the kind of weapons carried by the ship, Arafat sought to
set off a regional war.
Sharon said, "Arafat has taken another step by linking
himself with the center of world terror -- Iran. [Arafat] is
behaving like an enemy in every way. Anyone who is preparing
these sorts of destructive weapons understands that their
sole intention was to put Israel in an insufferable
position."
Israeli intelligence sources said the arms had cost $15
million, plus another $400,000 for the ship itself, adding
that such an expensive deal would almost certainly have been
personally approved by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
The arms included more than two tons of high explosives. The
arms also included long-range Katyusha rockets such as 122mm
Katyushas with a range of 20 kilometers. The rockets and
missiles could have reached Ben-Gurion International Airport
and major Israeli cities from PA territory. Antitank rockets
on the ship could also be used against armored buses,
Rachmono litzlan. The shipment also included rubber
boats and diving equipment, which would have facilitated
seaborne attacks from Gaza against coastal cities such as
Ashkelon. Many of the arms included in the shipment were
forbidden to the PA under its agreements with Israel.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin, said
interrogation of the ship's crew leaves "no doubt" the
attempt to smuggle the arms was planned, financed, and
carried out by the most "senior echelons" of the PA. Gissin
rejected as "total nonsense" claims by the PA it had nothing
to do with the smuggling attempt.
"[PA Chairman Yasser] Arafat is in a bind right now," Gissin
said, dismissing the PA's denials. "While Arafat was talking
about a cease-fire and peace, he was planning the next stage
of the fighting, using the lull in the fighting to rearm,
regroup, and prepare for an escalation once the fighting
starts again."
Last May, the navy intercepted the San Torini fishing
boat, which was filled with large quantities of weapons, en
route from Lebanon to the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.
