Excerpt: U.S. Seeks Explanation from Arafat about Arms Smuggling

(State's Boucher says similar incident must not recur) (1150)





The U.S. government has again called on Palestinian leader Yasser


Arafat to provide a full explanation for a thwarted arms smuggling


operation and take action to make sure that it does not occur again,


State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.





"[W]e do believe there's a compelling case to say that senior


Palestinian officials, as well as officials from Fatah, were involved


in this arms smuggling operation, and we do think that Chairman Arafat


has a responsibility for senior officials of the Palestinian


Authority," Boucher said, briefing reporters at the State Department


in Washington January 11.





Boucher said the U.S. government does not have evidence that directly


links Arafat to the arms smuggling operation that was discovered


January 4 when Israeli forces intercepted a ship carrying weapons in


the Red Sea.





Boucher said the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Ron Schlicher has


met with Arafat to convey U.S. concerns about the incident.





The United States, he added, will remain engaged with both parties of


the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a commitment to work for a


restoration of calm and the implementation of the Tenet security work


plan and the Mitchell Commission recommendations for a lasting


resolution.





Following is an excerpt from the transcript of the Boucher briefing


with his comments about the Israeli-Palestinian issue:





(begin excerpt)





QUESTION: Double-edged question also. Has the Palestinian Authority


asked for the US to participate in the investigation of the "ship of


fools" -- that is the ship? And secondly, the captain is now being


reported in Jerusalem to have been on the staff of the security


officer for the Palestinian Authority and the West Bank. Are you aware


of any of the other backgrounds? He disappeared 15 months ago,


according to the report out of Jerusalem.





MR. BOUCHER: I think that is all quite interesting, but I'm going to


have to maintain the position today about not talking about other


people's information. And to the extent that the Israelis have such


information, it would be up to them to talk about it.





What I would tell you once again is that based on the information that


we have seen, but also on information that we ourselves have been able


to acquire and assess, we do believe there is a compelling case to say


that senior Palestinian officials, as well as officials from Fatah,


were involved in this arms smuggling operation, and we do think that


Chairman Arafat has a responsibility for senior officials of the


Palestinian Authority. He needs to give us a full -- provide himself a


full explanation of what went on, and take action to ensure that it


doesn't reoccur.





QUESTION: Can you give us any more details about Arafat's meeting with


Schlicher yesterday? And secondly, can you tell me about the visit by


Bebe Netanyahu to Jonathan Pollard earlier this week, and whether the


State Department has any role in approving who gets to see Mr.


Pollard?





MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we do. Would we? I don't think we do at


all.





QUESTION:  I don't know.





MR. BOUCHER: I will double-check that, but neither one is in our


custody at this point.





The question of the meeting yesterday. Our Consul General in


Jerusalem, Ron Schlicher, met yesterday with Chairman Arafat. They


really discussed what I have been discussing with you. Schlicher made


clear that the information that we have indicates a compelling case,


that Chairman Arafat has a responsibility as leader of the Palestinian


Authority to provide a full explanation, and a responsibility to take


immediate action against those responsible, and to ensure that no


activities of this type can occur again.





So it was really conveying that message directly, and discussing it


with him.





QUESTION:  Did Arafat say anything?





QUESTION: Can you tell us anything about what Arafat conveyed to Mr.


Schlicher?





MR. BOUCHER: He conveyed I think -- indicate a willingness to


investigate, a willingness to look into it, an understanding of the


seriousness of the matter. And we will see what further information


might be forthcoming.





QUESTION:  Did he repeat his disavowal of any involvement?





MR. BOUCHER:  I'm not sure if he did yesterday.  I think -- 





QUESTION:  That's what I mean; I mean yesterday.





MR. BOUCHER: But I would say that in the meeting yesterday he


understood the seriousness that we attach to it, and did say that he


was looking into it, and would get us more information.





QUESTION: -- the Administration that suggests that this operation was


of such magnitude that Arafat had to have known about it. Does the


State Department believe that Arafat could have been involved in this,


and if so, what -- how do you think he can man an investigation that


perhaps would implicate him?





MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to speculate at this point on any -- I


don't have any further information on Chairman Arafat's personal


responsibility in this, except to say that he is responsible as the


leader of the Palestinian Authority for the actions of Palestinian


Authority officials, and therefore he has the logical responsibility


to come up with information. But as we have made clear, that's not the


sole source of our information on this matter.





QUESTION: Can I ask you if you think the United States can accomplish


anything through mediation while this matter is as unsettled as it


seems to be?





MR. BOUCHER: Well, first, we would hope that this matter would not


remain unsettled for very long. We want to see immediate action to


hold people responsible and to ensure that no further activities of


this kind can occur in the future. But the President said yesterday we


must remain engaged, we intend to remain engaged, and we do remain


committed to achieving a restoration of calm, the implementation of


the Tenet work plan, and of the Mitchell Committee recommendations.





QUESTION: Clearly that's the goal, but I wondered if you could


actually do anything useful. I'm not going to ask you if General Zinni


is going back next week or whatever, because I know you'll announce


that when you'll announce it, but is there anything practical that the


US can do, except express an overall interest in seeing all these


goals met?





MR. BOUCHER: Well, let me put it this way. There are still practical


steps the parties can take to ease tensions. There are still practical


steps they can take to end the violence, to prevent the actions by


violent groups, to prevent arms smuggling, whether it is inside or


outside of any particular group or authority. So we do think that


there are practical steps that the parties should be continuing to


take, and to the extent that the United States has always had a role


in trying to make that come about, we will continue to have that role


and we do continue to have that role.





(end


            


excerpt)