27 January 2002

Ship Incident "Raises Questions" about Arafat's Interest in Peace

Washington -- Vice President Dick Cheney said it is hard to believe that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was not involved in an aborted attempt to smuggle weapons from Iran to terrorists trying to destroy the Middle East peace process.

"In my mind, and based on the intelligence we've seen, the people that were involved were so close to him [Arafat] it's hard to believe that he wasn't [involved]," Cheney said in an interview on Fox television January 27.

Israeli naval forces captured a ship carrying weapons in the Red Sea in early January. Cheney said the Karine A was carrying 50 tons of military equipment -- weapons, C-4 explosives, and new extended-range rockets -- which would have enabled terrorists trying to subvert the peace process to escalate their violence against Israel if the weapons had been delivered.

Cheney said Arafat's letter to President Bush saying that he did not have knowledge of the smuggling attempt is "not credible." Cheney added that the incident "raises serious questions" whether Arafat is interested in moving forward with the peace process.

The vice president said President Bush has done everything he can to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"He's called for a Palestinian homeland, first president to ever do that. [Secretary of State] Colin Powell made a very important speech in Louisville, [Kentucky] a few weeks ago on the whole Middle East situation. We sent General Zinni to the area to try to get negotiations re-started again," Cheney said.

The Bush administration has appointed retired General Anthony Zinni to try to help arrange a cease-fire between Israelis and Palestinians, but Cheney said it is very hard to see how progress could be made until Arafat demonstrates "that he is really serious" about peace.

"[H]e would move aggressively to rout out the infrastructure of the terrorist organizations in Palestine. He would arrest those who are known to be perpetrating those acts and planning them and providing and supporting them. He would do everything he could, make a 100 percent good-faith effort to put an end to terrorism. So far he hasn't done that," Cheney said.

Cheney said at the heart of the current problems are the suicide attacks against Israeli citizens by terrorists. He said the U.S. government needs to see some positive signs from Arafat about controlling the violence before making a decision on sending General Zinni back to the region.

Cheney said he believes that the Palestinian Authority is cooperating with Iran and the Hezbollah to oppose Israel.

"What he's done is [he has] gone to a terrorist organization, Hezbollah, and a state that supports and promotes terrorism, that's dedicated to ending the peace process, Iran, and done business with them," Cheney said.

The vice president said the Bush administration believes that the Palestinian people probably suffer more than anyone else in the current turmoil. He said the Bush administration is working for the establishment of a Palestinian homeland as part of its ultimate vision for the Middle East.

"[T]hat's a dream, I think, for many of the Arab leaders in that part of the world, certainly for this administration and, I think, for many Palestinians," Cheney said.