This is a fascinating piece of manipulative garbage. I wonder how the Paris-based Iranian author can hold his or her head up by the end of the day. It is clear that the almost limitless stash of Jewish gold goes to the care of feeding of several of the individuals named in this article. Israel's is a simple case of psychological projection.--externalizing their own inner stuff. Just listen to whatever they say and hear the exact opposite and it will be the truth.
January 5, 2002, (Iran Press Service)
http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2002/Jan_2002/israel_pa_cargo_5102.htm
PARIS 5 Jan. (IPS) Lebanese Hezbollah and Ahmad Jibril, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) were actively involved in the shipment of weapons Israel claimed Friday it seized from a ship captured in the Red Sea on Thursday, according to a well-informed Iranian journalist in London. The seizure of the 4000 tons freighter, "Karine A", transporting 50 tons of weapons, including anti-tank, anti-helicopter "Law" and "Sager" missiles and different types of Katyushas and other weapons, was announced to the press Friday by General Shaul Mofaz, Chief of Staff of the Israeli army. "From the weapons we examined, it appears that most of [the cargo] was Iranian and included both short- and long-range Katyushas, many Sagger and LAW anti-tank rockets, mortars, mines, explosives, sniper rifles, bullets, and many other weapons.
Military sources confirmed that Iran was producing both Law and Sager-types anti-tank and anti-helicopter rockets, as found on the ship. General Mofaz claimed that the arms are of Iranian origin and accused Yaser Arafat and some of his close aids of "direct knowledge and involvement" in the smuggling attempt that some senior Israeli officials said it was to date "the most extensive operation to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian Authority to be foiled by Israel".
"The connection between the Palestinian Authority and the smuggling operation is unequivocal, clear and undeniable" Mofaz pointed out, adding that not only senior officials in the Palestinian naval police were involved in the smuggling operation, but also the ship's captain was an officer in the Palestinian naval police he identified as Colonel Omer Icawi.In an attempt to fully exploit the public relations potential of the weapons catch, Israel has invited ambassadors, military attaches and foreign journalists to tour the boat Sunday in Eilat. But Mr. Alireza Noorizadeh, an independent Iranian journalist told Iran Press Service that the operation had been worked out by a section of the Iranian Revolutionary guards under the control of the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Mr. Jibril "without the knowledge or Arafat and Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, the Iranian President". Observing that the lamed and widely unpopular Khameneh’i, Mr. Jibril and the Lebanese Hezbollah, an organization that is controlled by the Iranian leader, are all staunchly against the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Noorizadeh said the three had smuggled arms into the PA-controlled areas in the past using same methods "hence, he said, the presence on the ship of a member of theLebanese Hazbollah and Palestinians belonging to the PFLP-GC".
Navy Admiral Yedidya Ya’ari told the press that the weapons were packed in special floating waterproof containers designed to be dropped into the sea and picked up by smaller craft.
According to Mr. Noorizadeh, one of the reasons the arms were "shipped" instead of using the "usual" land and air, via Damascus, is because both Turkey and Syria have shut down these routes.
Citing Iran as the "departure point" of the ship and its load of weapons, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said the operation shows "clearly that not only Iran supports actively groups that are on the American list of terrorist organizations like the (Lebanese) Hezbollah, but also provides the Palestinian Authority with arms and therefore, the Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres would make call on the international community to declare Iran as a "terrorist State." "Since the ship was carrying Iranian weapons, Peres will next week call upon the leaders of the international community to declare Iran a terror-supporting State", a statement by the Ministry said.
Iran immediately denounced Israeli claim as "baseless accusations" and said that Iran had no military co-operation with the Palestinian Authority.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi attributed the Israeli accusations against Iran to "Israel's new effort to mislead the world public opinion from paying proper attention to the Zionists' ruthless massacre of the innocent Palestinian nation", the official news agency IRNA said.
Two Weeks ago, one of Iran’s most senior leaders had called for the destruction of Israel with nuclear bomb, saying that while one atomic bomb would destroy Israel completely, it would cause only minor damages against Muslims.
The Palestinian Authority also denied any connection to the captured vessel and its arms shipment. "We know nothing about this and we are going to investigate it," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, calling the vessel's capture "Israeli propaganda" intended to torpedo the mission of U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni to bring about a cease-fire between the two sides.
U.S. Envoy for the Middle East, Anthony Zinni, who met Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat on Friday as part of his latest mission to broker a cease-fire, was informed of the boat's capture on Thursday. Zinni, who cut short his first visit last month after a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks, said afterwards that U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian security meetings would resume. He did not give a timetable. "I am optimistic, hopeful and feel that we have the conditions that are right to make progress this time. And I am looking to return often and very shortly after this mission to keep the process moving," Zinni said.
In Washington, the official spokesman Richard Boucher said Zinni had demanded "explanations" from the PA Chairman Arafat when he met him. "Zinni expressed firm condemnation of any attempt, by any group, to increase tension", Boucher said, adding that he had "nothing to say for the moment" concerning the alleged Iranian involvement in the affair.
Arafat called for a trilateral commission of investigation - comprising Israelis, Americans, and Palestinians into the affair and assured Zinni during their meeting on Friday he had nothing to do with the freighter and its cargo. Palestinian officials urged Zinni to use his influence with the Persian Gulf States and to pressure Iran to stop channeling money and weapons to extremists. From what can be revealed, the vessel set out from Dubai, and then docked at the Iranian island of Qeshm, where it apparently loaded the arms. It sailed past Yemen and Sudan, but it is not clear whether it called at any of the ports there. Palestinian sources said Iran, Iraq, and Syria want violence to continue in the PA to divert attention from their own involvement in supporting groups labeled by the US as terror organizations and thus delay any strike or sanctions against them. Those countries are behind the smuggling of weapons to the Palestinians and Hizbollah, one PA source said.
Security sources said that the size and scope of the cargo captured on the "Karine-A" was far more troubling than the weapons found on board the "San Torini," a ship the navy intercepted off the coast in May last year. That ship also was carrying arms supplied by the Islamic Republic to Mr. Jibril’s organization inside the PA-controlled zones, sources said.
"The aim of the Iranian (leader-led conservatives) leadership is simple: to stop at any cost peace between Israel and Palestine. That’s why not only Mr. Khameneh’i and his men not only interfere in Palestinians affairs, but also have become more Catholics than Pope by telling the Palestinians what to do or not to do", he told IPS in a telephone interview. A senior PA security official said PA officers involved in the smuggling incident committed a "shameful act" that harms the PA. "There is no need for these weapons" the PA source said. "If it were true that the PA was smuggling these rockets into the Gaza Strip, it would give Israel a reason to finish off the PA".
The PA official said there are unanswered questions that shed doubt about the ship's destination and Israel's claim the money and vessels were bought with Arafat's money and intended for the PA. Reminding also that the policy of Mr. Khatami and his government concerning the Palestinian issue is "very different" from that instructed by the leader, who has the upper hand in the conduct of the regime’s foreign policy, Mr. Noorizadeh pointed to recent speeches by three reformist personalities criticizing the "Palestinisation" of the Iranian foreign policy.
Speaking at a recent a seminar on the "Palestinian issue from Iranians views" Mr. Mohammad Reza Tajik, an adviser to President Khatami and Director of the President’s Center for Strategic Researches observed that while the Palestinians had adopted the strategy of dialogue (with Israel), Iran on the contrary advises the strategy of "war, war until victory, a position that is not progressive nor approved by any other nation". Intervening at the same occasion, Professor Hermidas Bavand of the Tehran University noted that relations between Iran and the Jews dated from more than 2000 years ago and Mr. Ahmad Zeydabadi, a journalist close to the Nationalist-Islamist groups said Western and chiefly American assertions that Iran is an obstacle to the peace in the region and accusation that Iran supports terrorism stems from Tehran’s policy towards the Palestinian problem.
The radical evening daily "Keyhan", a mouthpiece of Mr. Khameneh’i sharply attacked the three men, but mostly Mr. Tajik, alleging that his presentation was the view of the government and asked "were such a conference was held, in Tel Aviv or in Tehran?" ENDS ISRAEL PA CARGO 5102
No comments:
Post a Comment