09 January 2002

U.S. Seeks Palestinian Explanation for Arms Shipment

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has again called on the Palestinian Authority to provide a full explanation of the shipment of arms intercepted by Israel January 3.

Speaking at his regular press briefing in Washington January 9, Boucher said Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat January 9 about the urgency for an account of the incident from the Palestinian side.

"We're looking for information, and as I mentioned, I don't think we have -- we don't have that yet from the Palestinian side. We're getting more and more information from the Israeli side," said Boucher.

"There's more and more information coming out, and anything they have to say we think they should say soon," he added.

Boucher also condemned the January 9 attack on an Israeli military base near Gaza by Hamas that killed four Israelis, including three Bedouin volunteers, plus two Palestinian attackers. He called upon Chairman Arafat to take steps immediately against terrorist organizations.

"Hamas and other terrorist groups clearly oppose peace and oppose a better future both for the Palestinians and for Israelis. The attack is another in a series of direct challenges to the authority of Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. And once again we think it makes clear that Chairman Arafat must immediately take steps against terrorist groups by arresting the leaders and dismantling terrorist infrastructure," said Boucher.

Following are excerpts from the January 9 State Department briefing:

Question: Unless there are questions about that, I would like to see if you have a comment on the incident at the Israeli military base. The Israelis are blaming the Palestinian Authority for it.

Mr. Boucher: Let me make clear we condemn this attack. The attack, I think as far as we know, was carried out by the terrorist group Hamas. They killed four Israeli soldiers today. We find this attack particularly disturbing at a time when the situation on the ground had been relatively quiet, and when we have been working very intensively, including through General Zinni's mission, to help the parties achieve a durable cease-fire and move towards implementation of the Tenet recommendations and the Mitchell steps to build confidence and return to talks.

Hamas and other terrorist groups clearly oppose peace and oppose a better future, both for Palestinians and for Israelis. The attack is another in a series of direct challenges to the authority of Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. And once again, we think it makes clear that Chairman Arafat must immediately take steps against terrorist groups by arresting their leaders and dismantling terrorist infrastructure.

We also, in this particular situation, believe he needs to arrest those responsible and act decisively to prevent these particular groups from conducting further attacks.

Question: Also on the Middle East, have we reached any further conclusions about Palestinian Authority involvement in the shipment of arms that were seized last week?

Mr. Boucher: I don't have any new information for you at this moment. As you know, we have been working closely with the Israelis. We are meeting this afternoon with an Israeli team to learn more of the details from their investigation.

But, once again, I would say that we think the Palestinian Authority and Chairman Arafat need to take immediate steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure that perpetuates the violence and terror. They need to prevent serious situations such as this Palestinian arms smuggling. We condemn this effort to escalate the violence and we look to the Palestinian Authority to take immediate steps to prevent future attempts to bring in additional weaponry.

Question: And one follow. Do we have any indications of whether this was an authorized shipment from Iran?

Mr. Boucher: Again, I don't have any further information for you at this point. Certainly there is -- let me say there is credible information that indicates the arms were of Iranian origin. That is as far as I can go based on what we have -- what I am able to say about what we have at this point.

Question: Has General Zinni come to Washington to brief the Secretary yet? Is he coming today?

Mr. Boucher: No, he hasn't yet. I think he is on the West Coast because he had some other obligations. The Secretary still expects to see him in coming days.

Question: And has there been any change in his vague plan to return to the region in one or two weeks, starting Monday?

Mr. Boucher: Nothing particular to announce at this point. That remains our intention, for him to go back to the region in the near future, and I am sure he will be seeing the Secretary before he does.

Question: I just have a question about American Muslim organizations in Washington recently said that they contacted the State Department for the US to submit an inquiry to the Israeli army over the mutilation deaths of three Palestinian teenagers, one of whom was run over by a tank and the other two were mutilated.

Do you know anything about that?

Mr. Boucher: I don't personally know anything about this. I'll have to check for you and see what we know.

Question: Has the State Department issued a statement perhaps condemning Israel for --

Mr. Boucher: Not that I know of. I'll have to check and see if we know anything about this and what we might have done.

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Question: On the meeting today with the Israeli intelligence officials, are they meeting someone in this building, and do we know what time approximately that is going to happen?

Mr. Boucher: This afternoon is the meeting. They will be meeting with Assistant Secretary Burns, Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs. They'll be meeting with Assistant Secretary Carl Ford of our Intelligence and Research Bureau and the team of analysts that we have that work on these issues. And so it will be a good discussion, I am sure.

I guess I should mention in this context also that the Secretary did talk to Chairman Arafat this morning and reminded him of the seriousness that we attach to this issue and the need, the urgent need, for a full explanation.

Question: How about -- the attack on the base, or on the ship?

Mr. Boucher: On the ship. We're talking about the need for information on the ship and what was going on.

Question: What did Chairman Arafat -- did he repeat his denial of any involvement?

Mr. Boucher: Yes, he repeated --

Question: Did he provide an explanation that you found convincing?

Mr. Boucher: Yes, he provided -- as he said before, he said that they were -- that he was not involved, the Palestinian Authority was not involved. He said that they would fully investigate. But we don't have any new information from them at this point.

Question: Okay. Did the Secretary -- the Secretary told the Chairman the need for a full explanation was urgent, yes? That's what you said?

Mr. Boucher: Yes. He talked to him about the urgent need for a full explanation.

Question: And the urgency is because why? Just because?

Mr. Boucher: The urgency is because I think we all want to know. There's more and more information coming out, and anything they have to say we think they should say soon.

Question: Did the Secretary tell Chairman Arafat what you told us yesterday, that there was -- that you believe that there was evidence that at least some Palestinians, maybe not the PA, were involved?

Mr. Boucher: Yes, that he -- certainly, told him that the indications of Palestinian involvement were deeply troubling to us, and that that's what we felt required a full explanation.

Question: Okay. But he didn't make any judgment as to Chairman Arafat's response? He didn't say, well, we don't believe you or anything like that?

Mr. Boucher: No.

Question: He said that we're still waiting to hear more? And, from you?

Mr. Boucher: Yes. That we're looking for the full explanation.

Question: Did Chairman Arafat offer any rebuttal of the Israeli accusations and what the captain of the ship said the other day at all?

Mr. Boucher: I know the various Palestinian Authority -- officials of the Palestinian Authority have made statements, but at this point we are looking for an explanation, we are looking for information, and as I mentioned, I don't think we have -- we don't have that yet from the Palestinian side. We are getting more and more information from the Israeli side. We continue to learn what we can about the incident with the ship and the arms being smuggled. And as I have said before, and as the Secretary said to Chairman Arafat, the indications of Palestinian involvement, the involvement of Palestinians is seriously troubling, and that we think it deserves a full explanation from the Palestinian Authority.

Question: Richard, all the signs from Israel -- at least our reports from Israel -- suggest that the Israeli Government have realized that they have milked this affair for all it's worth, and they are getting ready to move on. Is the State Department willing to sort of follow their lead on this and stop flogging this dead horse?

Mr. Boucher: Is that a question?

Question: Yes, sure. I mean, that's what the -- if you read the Israeli press, they are saying it's --

Mr. Boucher: That's different than what you asked. We are supposed to follow the lead of the Israeli press? Is that what we're in fact --

Question: And the Israeli ministers, too, are saying --

Mr. Boucher: We're talking to a group of Israelis this afternoon. I just told you what the US position is. We are looking for information on this. The introduction of this kind of arms shipment into the region offers a serious potential for escalation. It's a real concern of the United States, it should be a real concern of all in the region, and we need to look into this matter and do something about it. And we have made quite clear that Chairman Arafat needs to do something about preventing these kinds of shipments, dismantling the groups, organizations or people that are involved.

Question: Okay, let me put it this way. Even if it turns out that all these allegations are absolutely accurate and the Palestinian Authority some time back did order this consignment of weapons, what effect does that have on the future of the peace process?

Mr. Boucher: Well, to some extent, that is speculative, but obviously the things that General Zinni has been working on to try to get the parties to take steps to stop the violence, the things that we have been encouraging, urging, pressing Chairman Arafat to do in terms of dismantling terrorist groups, stopping the production of weapons in the Palestinian areas, closing down mortar factories, stopping the potential for violence, of course that remains important and that's the only way forward. But this is part of it, but it certainly is deeply troubling to see this quantity and quality of weapons being brought towards the area, and it reminds us, I guess I would say, of the urgency of taking those steps to stop the violence and to crack down on the terrorist activities.

Question: Yes, but does it also remind you of the urgent need to get the peace talks moving?

Mr. Boucher: That's the first part, stopping the violence and cracking down, stopping the terrorist activities. Making it impossible for people to carry out terrorist acts is the first step of getting into the building of confidence and a return to talks, which is the ultimate goal that we all have.

Question: Did Secretary of State Powell address Chairman Arafat's concerns that the weapons might fall into the cache of Israel's ammunitions and that they may later on be used against the Palestinians?

Mr. Boucher: I don't know if Chairman Arafat raised anything like that.

Question: If the Israelis are providing all this evidence as they go, or their information anyway, is it troubling that the Palestinians haven't also been providing information as they get it to you? Doesn't that seem like then you're only getting -- or, as you say, you're getting only one side of it now? Why aren't they coming up with more - -

Mr. Boucher: No, I didn't say that either. I said we're hearing --

Question: Well, you say you haven't gotten an explanation yet. Well, you've got plenty of explanations from the Israeli side, so are you asking the Palestinians to show you more information as they go along through the investigation?

Mr. Boucher: I think we are interested in hearing whatever anyone has to say about this. Obviously we are looking at our own sources too to see what information we might have. We remain in close contact with the Israelis and we're awaiting a full explanation from the Palestinians. That is the factual situation where we stand right now.

Question: Have you gotten some partial explanations?

Mr. Boucher: I don't think I'd even go that far at this point.

Question: Can we move on to -- can you explain -- yes, no?

Mr. Boucher: One more over here.

Question: What is the response through other governments, from the Iranians, and is there a worry that with Hizballah trying to undermine the PA? In other words, they go off on a tangent, which is --

Mr. Boucher: Don't know and won't speculate. Sorry, I haven't seen anything from the Iranians, and I'm not their spokesman.

Question: If you have other sources, which means in US intelligence sources of various kinds --

Mr. Boucher: I wouldn't talk about intelligence.

Question: No, of course not. But hardly a dhow can move in the Arabian Sea or out of -- particularly out of Iranian ports without being monitored by the US Naval presence, which is massive in that area. Why didn't the United States pick up this ship instead of the Israelis?

Mr. Boucher: You're making assumptions and asking questions about an entire area that I can't deal with. I don't talk about the ability of our intelligence to monitor things in the Persian Gulf.

Question: Would they have picked it up if --

Mr. Boucher: I don't talk about the ability of our intelligence to monitor the Persian Gulf.

Question: What would be your policy on picking up ships like that?

Mr. Boucher: Our policy is we want to know everything.

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Question: Yes. Is Zinni definitely going back next week, or is that still being decided?

Mr. Boucher: I don't have a date for Zinni's return to the region. It will be in the near future, though.

Question: There have been reports that Israel is planning to sell military aircraft to India. The Phalcon has some American-made systems. And that follows an attempt earlier -- well, last year -- when Israel tried to do this with China, but didn't succeed. Does this building have any position on that, or is that a bilateral --

Mr. Boucher: I don't know. I haven't looked into it. Let me check on it for you.