OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 9 January — The Palestinian Authority launched a probe yesterday into a ship laden with weapons seized by Israel, as the United States remained cautious on the affair which has sent Palestinian ties with Israel back into the freezer after a slight thaw. Yasser Arafat, whose administration denied any knowledge of the ship, announced late Monday the creation of a commission of inquiry into the cargo of some 50 tons of weapons seized by Israeli commandos in the Red Sea last week.
An Israeli military source charged that "there were 1,500 kilos of high-quality explosives that can be used only for one purpose, not for any kind of self-defense ... the only reason they were there was to give them to Islamic Jihad."
The official said on condition of anonymity the planned donation of explosives to radicals released from Palestinian jails during the course of the 15-month-old Palestinian uprising explained the sudden cooperation between Tehran and Arafat’s administration, which the Iranians have slammed for making peace with Israel.
Top Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said that "all those who are implicated in the affair will be punished if proof is established." "We will pass on the results of our internal inquiry to the Americans, Europeans, Russians and the United Nations," he said.
Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told reporters the committee would comprise the heads of Gaza Strip and West Bank public security, Gen. Abdel Razzaq Al-Majaida and Gen. Haj Ismail, the head of military intelligence Moussa Arafat, and military attorney Khalid Al-Qidrah.
Washington, which had remained silent over the affair, in a bid to preserve its peace drive in the region, finally defended Israel’s capture of the ship, with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying it was similar to US maritime interceptions in its "war on terrorism".
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said yesterday after talks in Jordan that he still hoped for progress toward a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks despite Israel’s seizure of an arms shipment. Solana and Jordan’s Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Al-Khatib discussed ways to build on the recent drop in violence in the uprising against Israeli occupation to restart negotiations, said a Jordanian official. "Our hope is ... that the incident of the ship will not" ruin efforts to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, the EU official told reporters after the meeting.
"Solana has been here to give us his assessment" after his latest talks with both sides and US envoy Anthony Zinni, said Khatib.
