The U.S. State Department declared Monday it did not know who hired the vessel seized by Israel in the Red Sea last Thursday. "We don't know. We don't know who hired it, who was the recipient. Those are the kind of pieces of information we're looking for," the department spokesman Richard Boucher asserted.
Boucher added the State Department was trying to find out if the cargoship was loaded in the Gulf port of Dubai, and said that the facts largely were not known to the United States.
While the State Department said it lacked the facts on Israel's interception, Boucher praised Israel for what it did on the high seas. "Any law enforcement operations or other operations that are able to prevent terrorists or violent groups from acquiring the means of carrying out there violence is good," the spokesman conveyed.
Palestinian Response
According to the American reports of the Arafat-Zinni meeting - which took place on Friday, shortly after Israel revealed the ship's existence - Arafat responded to the news stammeringly and did not have much to say, other than that he had learned of the affair only from Israel’s Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz's press conference on Friday. According to Haaretz, Arafat added there would be a comprehensive investigation and "mumbled something" about how it must be understand that there are things outside his jurisdiction, the report said, noting that he specifically mentioned Hezbollah's involvement in the affair in this context.
On Monday, the Palestinian Leadership (PL) issued an official statement regarding this issue quoted by Wafa. The official statement emphasizes the following points:
First: The PL was absolutely surprised for the publications concerning this ship, because the PL is not involved in such case.
Second: The Israeli use of weapons especially the internationally forbidden kinds has brought suffering to both sides the Israeli people and the Palestinian people, and that was exactly what President Arafat has foreseen and warned of single sided by the famous speech of December the 16th, in which Arafat restricted all uses of violence and force.
Third: The PL attitude at this stage is to change the atmosphere that dominated the region since September 28th 2000, and the results are seen on the ground of single sided ceasefire and calmness.
Fourth: The Israeli authorities have not filed any official accusations with the PNA, and President Arafat has informed Gen. Zinni the need to form an investigating Committee with the participation of the USA, Russia, the E.U., Arab representatives, Israeli and Palestinian officials, to reveal the truth.
Fifth: The PL will never allow any one to sabotage the Palestinian security and commitments that have been defined by President Arafat’s speech on Dec. 16th 2001.
Sixth: The Israeli inflation to this incident reveals the Israeli consistency on abetting against the Palestinian People and the PL, thus avoiding the implementation of the Israeli commitments and blasting the calmness created by the Palestinian side and the rest of the internationally exerted efforts to establish peace in this region. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
