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Israel says Hezbollah bomb maker on seized boatPalestinian PM meets with Hamas
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A Hezbollah bomb maker and computer disks containing information "necessary to carry out terrorist attacks" were found aboard a fishing boat seized by the Israeli navy off the coast of Lebanon earlier this week, Israeli sources said Thursday. In a telephone call to CNN, Hezbollah denied any involvement. A senior Israeli official said the ultimate goal of the boat's cargo appeared to be "trying to upgrade the deadly nature of Palestinian terrorism." Israeli security sources said 36 CD-ROMs were found, containing information about how to make more effective bombs for suicide attacks and how to deploy suicide bombers. Also onboard, Israeli officials say, was other high-tech equipment, including bomb-making devices, initiators to blow up bombs and 25 detonators for Katyusha rockets. Israeli security sources said the alleged Hezbollah-trained explosives expert was hiding when Israeli sailors boarded the ship. And after searching through his belongings, Israeli naval forces realized he was a "big catch," Israeli security sources said. Hezbollah, or Party of God, is based in Lebanon and has waged a campaign for 18 years against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon as a self-declared security zone. Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon two years ago, but maintains a heavy military presence on Israel's northern frontier. Hezbollah is blamed for anti-Western and anti-Israeli terrorist acts dating from the early 1980s and is on the U.S. State Department's official list of terrorist organizations. The alleged bomb maker is not talking to investigators and, therefore, Israeli intelligence officials have little information so far about who he is, the security sources said. The belief is that he was planning to make his way to the Gaza Strip, along with his materials, to train Palestinians to carry out suicide bombing and other attacks against Israelis. "There is only one thing more deadly than terrorist weapons and that's terrorist know-how," said Daniel Taub, a spokesman with the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The Israel Defense Forces, in a statement, said the Israeli navy found "suspicious objects" aboard the fishing boat and "evidence of ... the know-how and directive to carry out terror attacks." The IDF would not specify exactly what was found on the boat, which was towed to the Israeli port city of Haifa. PLO denies connection to shipIsraeli security sources said they have information that two high-ranking Palestinian Authority officials, including a close aide to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, are linked to the fishing boat and its shipment. Asked where the ship was going, an Israeli official pointed the finger at Arafat, saying, "The shadow part of the Palestinian Authority, that half which is run by Yasser Arafat, the same people who were involved in previous ship-smuggling operations like the Karine-A and the Santorini, the same people are involved here and are on Yasser Arafat's payroll." Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Arafat, denied any involvement. "We have nothing to do with this, with this ship. This is part of the Israeli campaign to smear the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] and to avoid implementing the road map. We have nothing to do with this." Palestinian Minister of Information Nabil Amr told CNN he could not comment because he did not know the details of the incident. Another Palestinian official, who did not want to be named, said officials within Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' office are still waiting to get more information but deny any Palestinian Authority involvement. An Israeli source said the ship, with a crew of seven, left Egypt May 16 for Beirut, but raised the suspicions when it did no fishing. On the night of May 19, the source said, a speedboat took the Hezbollah bomb maker to the boat. The vessel was intercepted on the night between May 20 and 21 by Israeli naval forces. Israeli authorities said the captain of the seven-member crew was "Hezbollah-trained," but the other six members of the crew appeared to have no connection to the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia. Other ships and bombingsSources in Israel say the cache aboard the fishing boat is much smaller than the 50 tons of weapons found on board the Karine-A, a ship intercepted in January 2002 in the Red Sea. Israeli and American officials said those weapons came from Iran and were headed for the Palestinian Authority and that Arafat was aware of the shipment. Arafat said he knew nothing about the arms boat, but did take indirect responsibility for the incident as leader of the Palestinian Authority. After an investigation by a Palestinian committee, Arafat dismissed Brig. Gen. Fouad al-Shoubaki, who was in charge of military financial affairs. The Santorini, another arms ship, was intercepted in the Mediterranean in May 2001, carrying Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles, mortars, small arms and ammunition. Israeli security officials say Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are providing money and expertise to radical Palestinian groups, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed offshoot of the Palestinian Authority's main political party, the Fatah movement. Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group, has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization. Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has claimed responsibility for three of a spate of five suicide bombings in Israel and Palestinian territories from Saturday through Monday. Islamic Jihad and the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have claimed responsibility for one of the attacks. There has been no claim of responsibility for one of the bombings. Three of those attacks resulted in the deaths of 11 Israelis and one Palestinian. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the bombings "a clear declaration of war by the Islamic radical groups." Israeli officials say they have been seeing stepped-up involvement by Hezbollah, as well as Iran and Syria, in supporting Palestinian attacks against Israel.
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