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March 29, 2002/Nisan 16 5762, Vol. 54, No. 28
Iran-P.A. alliance threatening
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
As details emerge of a burgeoning alliance between Iran and the Palestinian Authority, pro-Israel activists are urging the United States to reassess relations with both entities.
Evidence of Iranian-Palestinian collusion first came to light in early January, when Israel intercepted the Karine A ship carrying more than 50 tons of weapons from Iran to the Gaza Strip.
But Israeli and American sources now believe the weapons ship is part of a larger alliance between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and the Iranian government, which is seen to be aiding the Palestinian terror effort against Israel.
Among the findings, reported in this week's New York Times:
- Iranian and Palestinian leaders met in Moscow last May, renewing a relationship that had suffered since the Palestinians entered the Oslo peace process with Israel in 1993. Iran allegedly supports the Palestinian Authority and terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad with military training and financial support.
- Arafat is believed to have personally approved the relationship with Tehran. The Palestinian Authority offered Iran access to Palestinian intelligence on Israeli military positions and defenses in exchange for weapons and money.
- Intelligence reports show that Iran is harboring and possibly aiding members of the Al Qaida terrorist network. Al Qaida members have used Iran as a staging area for future attacks against Israel, according to reports.
- Iranian charitable organizations have begun funding Palestinian groups, and Palestinian wounded have been treated at Iranian hospitals, where they are recruited as militants.
"The crux is not so much in the details of the relationship, as in the larger picture," said Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum. "Enemies of the United States are increasingly finding it useful and necessary to work together."
Some pro-Israel activists in Washington, who have warned about Iran for years, say the United States should realize that the threat to Israel and the United States from Iran is equal to that from Iraq.
It also shows that Arafat is pursuing a terrorist option, said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
The concern over the alliance, and its implications for any cease-fire Arafat signs, has led pro-Israel activists to rethink legislation they have been pushing in Congress.
The Middle East Peace Commitments Act, introduced by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), currently calls for the Bush administration to assess whether the Palestinian Authority is in compliance with agreements it signed with Israel, and to impose sanctions if it is not.
There is very little the United States can do formally to curtail Iran's involvement with terrorist groups. The government has no relations with Iran and lists it as a state sponsor of terrorism. The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, renewed last year by Congress, prohibits foreign investment in the Iranian oil industry.
While the United States has acknowledged Iran's role in terrorism, the Bush administration has not thoroughly grasped the interconnectivity of terrorist groups in the Middle East, Pipes said.
"Iranians see themselves as leaders of anti-American forces in the area," he said. "We have not come to understand what threat to America radical forces in the Middle East constitute."
Despite the sometimes strained relationship between Iran and the Palestinian Authority, the two groups have come together because of shared interest against Israel. The Karine A, captured by Israel in January, was believed to be one of several attempts to smuggle weapons to the Palestinian territories.
It's unlikely the Bush administration will take military action against Iran, at the very least until any attack on Iraq is finished.
Patrick Clawson, research director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the information may lead to a reassessment of U.S. strategy toward Iran, which currently rests mostly on support for supposed reformers in the regime.
"Instead of thinking of how we can reach out to the Iranians, now we are looking at how to put more pressure on them,'' he said.
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