A ship carrying weapons intended for the Palestinian Authority was captured in the Red Sea by Israel’s Navy and Air Force. The boat’s cargo included 50 tons of advanced weaponry including Katyusha rockets, rifles, mortar shells, mines and a variety of anti-tank missiles. Senior figures in the Palestinian Authority were involved in the smuggling.

Communicated by the IDF Spokesman:

On January 3rd, the Israeli Navy seized control over the Karine A ship that was sailing in international waters on its way to the Suez Canal.

The shipment included both 122 mm. and 107 mm. Katyusha rockets, which have ranges of 20 and 8 kilometers respectively. It also contained 80 mm. and 120 mm. mortar shells, various types of anti-tank missiles, anti-tank mines, sniper rifles, Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition. From Gaza, the 122 mm. Katyushas could have threatened Ashkelon and other coastal cities; while from the West Bank, Ben-Gurion International Airport and several major Israeli cities would have been within their range. The shipment also included rubber boats and diving equipment, which would have facilitated seaborne attacks from Gaza against coastal cities.

Preliminary investigation of the crew members has revealed so far that the commanding officer of the ship is Colonel Omar Akawi. The ship was purchased by the Palestinian Authority, loaded with weapons by the Iranians and the Hizbullah, manned by Palestinian Authority personnel, with the aim of transfering the weapons it carried to the Palestinian Naval Police near the Gaza beaches.

Since October 2000, Adel Mughrabi, a major buyer in the Palestinian weapons purchasing system (with the assistance of the Palestinian Naval Police Commander Juma’a Ghali and his executive Fathi Ghazem), has been in contact with the Iranians and Hizbullah regarding a vast weapons smuggling operation for the use of the Palestinian Authority. This operation included the testing and purchase of ships, forming a sailing crew and appointing a commander for the team, as well as making arrangements as to how the weapons would be stored, loaded onto the vessels, and its journey until delivery to the Palestinian Authority.

Preliminary investigation of the team members arrested revealed that the Karine A ship was purchased by Adel Mughrabi in Lebanon, sailed to Sudan where it was loaded with regular cargo. The crew was then switched with the team members and in November 2001 sailed to Hodeida port in Yemen.

In December 2001 the ship sailed according to detailed instructions from Adel Mughrabi to the beaches of Iran near Qeshm Island. There a ferry approached it, most likely arriving from Iran, from which the weapons stored in 80 large wooden crates were transferred and loaded onto the ship. These weapons were stored in special waterproof containers produced only in Iran, which are floatable and are set with a special configurable system that determines how deep they are submerged, were prepared by Hizbullah personnel for smuggling to the Palestinian Authority. Included in the ferry team which transferred the weapons crates to the ship was also a Lebanese trainer, a Hizbullah operative who trained a diver from the ship’s crew in configuring the floatation devices in Lebanon. The trainer was present for yet another refreshing training session prior to the sailing.

After completing the loading process of the weapons onto the ship, the ship had to divert to Hodeida port in Yemen due to technical problems. After crossing the canal, the ship was supposed to meet with three smaller ships that were purchased in advance and to unload the weapons onto them. According to the plan, the smaller ships were to leave the weapons near El Arish in Gaza, where the weapons were to be taken by the commander of the Palestinian Naval Police Juma’a Ghali and his executive Fathi Ghazem.

Weapons Seized on the Karine-A Ship
Statement by IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz regarding interception of ship Karine A – Jan 4, 2002
Reaction of FM Peres to seizing of the Karine A – Jan 4, 2002
Address by PM Sharon following the seizing of the ship Karine A – Jan 6, 2002
DM Ben-Eliezer: PA invests in terrorism, not welfare of Palestinian people – Jan 6, 2002
DM Ben-Eliezer to Solana and Moratinos: Karine A managed and funded by Palestinian Authority in cooperation with Iran – Jan 7, 2002

Seized Weapons Ship Linked to Palestinian Authority -
U.S. State Department, Jan 10, 2002
U.S. Seeks Explanation from Arafat about Arms Smuggling – U.S. State Department, Jan 11, 2002

Prison interview with Palestinian ship captain smuggling 50 tons of weapons (Fox News) – Jan 7, 2002
Selected Photos

by  Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

“The Jews poisoned him [Arafat] and I hate them very much.
Allah will repay them what they deserve.”
[Video of Palestinian girl shown at Arafat memorial,
PATV (Fatah), Nov. 10, 2009]

A televised memorial ceremony for Yasser Arafat included a video clip of Palestinian children delivering messages in honor of Arafat. It is noteworthy that even though this clip was prerecorded and edited, the organizers of the PA’s official ceremony chose to include hate speech and libels that demonized Jews and glorified violence and Martyrdom.

Several of the chosen messages featured children repeating the ongoing Palestinian Authority libel that Arafat was poisoned by Jews. None of the children spoke about peace; in fact, the opposite was the case. One boy praised Arafat because he was a “fighter” who “did things through [violent] struggle,” and who “did not make peace.” The Martyrdom (Shahada) ideal was also selected as a message for the ceremony, with one boy quoting Arafat: “They want me dead, they want me prisoner but I say: Martyr, Martyr, Martyr!”

This children’s section in the special memorial indicates the PA’s success in transmitting to the next generation of Palestinian children hate libels that demonize Jews. Including these hate messages in the ceremony also shows that the PA approves of, and wants to publicize, the values of hatred, violence and Martyrdom that the children have adopted.

To view the children’s hate speech included in the Arafat memorial, click here.

The following is the transcript of excerpts of the children’s messages:

Ceremony host: “Blessings to Yasser Arafat, and here are messages from the children of Palestine.”
Boy: “I was very, very sad when Arafat died as a Shahid (Martyr), because he was a good man and he was a fighter. He did things through struggle, he participated in the struggle and did not make peace and so on. He wanted to fight.”
Boy 2: “Yasser Arafat was a very, very important president. He stood up to all the enemies and was not afraid of anyone. And anyone who approached – he managed to stop him. All the Jews and the Israelis and the people who are against us, were afraid of him. When he died, he died of poisoning.”
Girl wearing pendant in the shape of Israel: “I say that he died from poisoning by the Jews. That’s what I say.”
Boy 3: “Arafat used to say: “They want me dead, they want me prisoner, but I say to them: Martyr! Martyr! Martyr!”
Girl 2: “He [Arafat] was our former president. He was under siege in Ramallah, and when he was under siege we were very upset. The Jews poisoned him and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve.”
Boy 4: “He [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. Well, I don’t know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews.”
Boy 5: “They destroyed his whole house and he was left in one room and in the end the Jews poisoned him and blamed someone else.”

[PATV (Fatah), Nov. 10, 2009]

To see PMW’s recent bulletin on the repeated PA libel that Israel was responsible for Arafat’s death, click here.

The official memorial ceremony for Yasser Arafat was held at the Ramallah Cultural Palace on Nov. 10, 2009, the fifth anniversary of his death, and broadcast live on PATV. Speakers included Salaam Fayyad (PA Prime Minister) and Nasser Al-Qidwa (Chairman of Board of Directors, Institute for Commemoration of Arafat, and former PA Foreign Minister).
Several senior PA, Fatah and PLO personnel attended, including Al-Tayeb Abd-Al-Rahim (Secretary General of the PA Presidency), Tayseer Al-Tamimi (PA Chief Justice of religious court and Chairman of Supreme Council of Islamic Law), and Fatah Central Committee members Muhammad Dahlan, Sultan Abu-Einin and Nabil Shaath.

The UN agency that administers a school in Gaza – where Hamas operatives firing mortars at Israelis led to the deaths of civilians by Israeli return fire last week – has admitted to employing terrorists to work at its Palestinian schools in the past, has no system in place to keep members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad off its payroll, and provides textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information.

There is evidence that students educated in UNRWA schools are much more likely to become homicide bombers, said Jonathan Halevi, a former Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer who specializes in Palestinian terrorist organizations. Halevi has spent several years building an extensive database for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs of terrorist attacks by Hamas and other Islamic extremist groups. Halevi estimated that over 60% of homicide bombers were educated in UNRWA schools.

The Persian Gulf remains a major source of funding for al-Qaeda and its affiliates, with millions of dollars being sent from the region to terrorist groups.

Recipients of this largesse include the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), suspected of perpetrating the recent attack in India.

LeT operatives and supporters are particularly active in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. LeT’s finance chief, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, has traveled to the Gulf to raise funds for LeT. In 2003, he helped LeT leaders in Saudi Arabia increase fundraising there.

Similarly, the Saudi-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was designated as a terrorist-supporting entity in part because its office in Pakistan supported LeT.

Suspicions in the devastating Mumbai terror attacks are centering on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based jihadi terror organization whose objectives include destroying India and Israel, and establishing an Islamic caliphate.

On Sunday, Indian Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the only gunman captured by police admitted the group was behind the attacks and had intended to hit even more targets.

Lashkar-e-Taiba – or Army of the Pure or Righteous – is the armed wing of a Pakistani-based religious organization founded in 1989. The organization is banned in India and Pakistan.

During the 1990s, the group received instruction and funding from Pakistan’s intelligence agency in exchange for a pledge to target Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir and to train Muslim extremists on Indian soil, according to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.

The group is suspected of being involved in the December 2001 attack on New Delhi’s Parliament and the 2006 Mumbai train bombings.

See also Pakistan-Based Group Accused in India Carnage Thriving Despite Ban:

Since 2002 when the government of Pakistan banned Lashkar-i-Taiba, the group has expanded its membership, its operational reach and its influence among radical Islamist networks seeking to spark a revolution in South Asia.

Inside Pakistan, Lashkar still operates training camps for militants and runs a large charitable and social-services organization that has been embraced by Pakistani officials.

Some of its fighters have traveled to Iraq and East Africa, and it has nurtured a mutually advantageous alliance with al-Qaeda.

One of the British suicide bombers in the July 7, 2005, London transit attacks spent time at a Lashkar-affiliated religious school in Pakistan.

See also Lashkar-e-Taiba “Backed by Saudi Money”

According to the respected journalist and diplomat Husain Haqqani, who is now Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Lashkar-e-Taiba is a jihadi group of Wahhabi persuasion, “backed by Saudi money and protected by Pakistani intelligence services.”

See also The Ideologies of South Asian Jihadi Groups for information on the origins of muslim jihadists and what compels them to kill others.

With this amassed WMD, Iran has enough material for 1 atom bomb.  Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.

The question is, when will Iran take those next steps it needs in order to satisfy its bloodlust and Jew-hating hunger and design the bomb intended to destroy Israel and the rest of the neighboring Arab Islamo-theocracies?

There is no “State of Palestine” at present and there was no Palestinian state controlling the West Bank and the Gaza Strip prior to 1967.

According to Alan Baker, Legal Advisor to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, use of the language “Palestine” contravenes the carefully crafted language in the Oslo Accords and UN Security Council Resolution 242.3.

Regardless of this typical Arabist talkspeak eking out of The Telegraph, we will agree that the EU is indeed funding Jewicide. Via The Telegraph:

# The EU is to increase its aid to the Palestinian Authority by €40 million, in order to pay the salaries of government employees. The EU’s generosity with our money – it has paid the Palestinian Authority €256 million so far this year – creates two problems. First, the PA in Gaza is run by Hamas, which is on the EU’s list of designated terrorist operations. Under Brussels rules, funding such an organization is a criminal offence. Euro-lawyers have sought to circumvent the letter of the law by funneling aid money through NGOs, but this is sheer sophistry.

# Second, it is becoming increasingly clear that overseas aid is arresting a political settlement in the region. Palestinians receive more assistance, per capita, than any other people on Earth, and live in one of its most violent spaces. The two facts are connected.

# The idea that aggression can be buried under a landslide of euros sounds reasonable, but it is based on a false premise, namely that political violence is caused by economic deprivation.

# Palestinians are a naturally enterprising people who, in other Arab states, often form the professional and administrative class. A capitalist Palestine, in which citizens looked to themselves rather than to the state, would be more stable. Its propertied classes would have a stake in civil order. Its businessmen would have an incentive to remain on cordial terms with their customers, including those in Israel.

# None of this will happen, however, as long as Palestinians remain trapped in the squalor of dependency.

The author is a Conservative Member of the European Parliament.