Arafat 'teams up with Saddam to plot attacks'
By Charles Laurence and Inigo Gilmore in Ramallah and Philip Sherwell in
Nablus
Sunday Telegraph April 7, 2002
[With thanks to Laurie Mylroie]

COLIN POWELL, the US secretary of state, left Washington on his Middle East
mission last night amid reports that Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat were
planning to stage joint terrorist attacks in the region.

Senior officials of Saddam's General Intelligence Agency (GIA) are reported
to have held talks with Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority to identify
potential targets, according to Western intelligence experts.

Israeli soldiers help priests, evacuted from Bethlehem, out of an armoured
vehicle
They have been passed details of a meeting in Baghdad at the end of last
month when an Arafat aide is said to have provided a list of strategic sites
in Israel and Saudi Arabia that might be attacked in the event of American
air strikes on Baghdad. The list of possible targets was presented to
officials at the GIA, which is controlled by Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest
son.

Apart from agreeing to share intelligence, the Palestinians are said to have
provided Iraqi security agents with 37 blank passports, obtained from a
variety of Arab countries, that might be used by the Iraqis when mounting
terrorist attacks.

The disclosure that Saddam and Mr Arafat are trying to organise a
co-operation pact will complicate Mr Powell's attempts to arrange a
ceasefire between the Israelis and Palestinians. Washington is keen to call
a halt to hostilities so that it can concentrate on plans to tackle Saddam's
arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

As he left Washington last night Mr Powell said it would be at least a week
before he attempted to set up a meeting with the Palestinian leader. Before
flying to Tel Aviv Mr Powell will visit Morocco, Egypt and Jordan. He will
then travel to Madrid on Wednesday for a meeting of European Union
ministers. He was also planning to meet Russian officials.

A convoy of Israeli tanks roll into central Bethlehem
The Telegraph can disclose that, in advance of Mr Powell's visit, CIA agents
have held a series of meetings with Mr Arafat in the past week at his
Ramallah headquarters. The talks have been aimed at establishing a lasting
ceasefire. Mr Arafat has so far refused to accept the ceasefire terms,
however, claiming that they were "skewed" in Israel's favour.

Yesterday there seemed no end in sight to the fighting, despite President
Bush's protestation that "enough is enough" as he called on the Israelis to
withdraw from the West Bank territory they had reoccupied in the past week.
Israeli troops backed by helicopter gunships broke through Palestinian
defences around the old city of Nablus and heavy casualties were reported in
the besieged refugee camp at Jenin as bulldozers cleared pathways for tanks.

Nablus and Jenin, two hotbeds of Palestinian extremism, have become the
focus of the anti-terrorist operation launched nine days ago by Ariel
Sharon, Israel's prime minister. Both sides reported a high death toll in
Jenin, where one Palestinian gunman said that he had counted 30 bodies.

The commander of Israeli forces in the area, Eyal Shlein, said on Israel
Radio: "We trapped them in there, attacked them with the intention that they
should surrender. Those that don't surrender will be killed."

Four Palestinian militants were killed as they tried to plant bombs near a
checkpoint at Nablus, while a man wearing a belt packed with explosives was
shot dead in Jenin, according to the Israeli military. Two Israeli soldiers
were also reported dead in Jenin.

The Palestinian Authority called for international intervention to stop what
it called Israeli "massacres" in the Jenin camp, a militant stronghold.
Israeli officials dismissed the appeal as propaganda and denied targeting
civilians.

Palestinian gunmen moving through the ancient streets of central Nablus
handed out belts laden with explosives and threatened to blow up Israeli
soldiers entering the quarter after a two-day siege. The stench of tear gas
and the crackle of automatic rifle fire filled the cobbled alleys as
fighters scurried for cover and residents hid under tables.

Israel appeared to be using the time before the arrival of Mr Powell to
intensify its operations. Palestinian officials threatened to boycott the
visit if the secretary of state did not meet Mr Arafat.

In another development, it was suggested that one of the purposes of Mr
Powell's visit to Morocco was to discuss plans for Mr Arafat's exile. The US
is said to have suggested that Mr Arafat should move to Morocco unless he
can prove his ability to halt Palestinian violence and co-operate in
progress towards peace talks.

Both the Moroccans and the Israelis are reported to have baulked, however,
at Mr Arafat's demand for an entourage of 70 Palestinian officials to be
guaranteed safe passage with him, including some who are on Israel's
"wanted" list as terrorists.