WASHINGTON, Jan 10: The seizure of a ship loaded with arms allegedly meant for Palestinians has hardened even further Bush administration attitudes to President Yasser Arafat.
An Israeli delegation of intelligence officials came to Washington this week with evidence purporting to link the seized arms with the Palestine Authority, and President George Bush on Thursday said while he wanted to make sure that the evidence was definitive, he was “beginning to suspect that those arms were headed in the wrong — to promote terror”.
Talking to reporters at the White House, Mr Bush said once the evidence was in, those responsible should be “held to account”. But he discounted suggestions that the US would consider breaking off relations with the Palestine Authority, saying the US must remain engaged in the peace process in the Middle East.
Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed the president’s remarks, and said Mr Arafat needed to “get to the bottom” of the incident, and find all those responsible.
Even before the ship incident, the Bush administration had adopted a tough anti-Arafat stance, saying the Palestinian leader was not doing enough to reign in terrorists, which is how militants fighting Israeli occupation are described here.
IRAN: Since the arms seized were said to have come from Iran, the uneasy US-Iran relationship has also come under fresh strains. Iran is on the official US list of state sponsors of terror, but since Sept 11 there was grudging appreciation of the Iranian role, and its importance as a key player in Afghanistan was also recognized. Iran was close to the Northern Alliance and was bitterly opposed to the Taliban, and the US needed Tehran’s backing for efforts to install an interim administration in Kabul.
But now, following the ship seizure incident, some of the old reservations seem to be coming to the fore again, and The New York Times on Thursday had a story suggesting that Iran was “flexing its muscles” in the border areas of Afghanistan and could be sheltering small numbers of Al Qaeda fighters.
The story offered no explanation about the implied U-turn in Iran’s policies from being anti-Taliban to a provider of shelter to Al Qaeda except to say that Tehran was worried about the pro-Western tilt of the Kabul interim administration.
It quoted an unnamed US military official as saying: “Iran is trying to stir up mischief. So far we haven’t taken any action, but we’re keeping a very close eye on it.”
In terms of Afghanistan, Mr Bush said, “We would like to work with the Iranians, as well as other neighbouring countries.’’