Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof - NO information PA prevented
attacks after disco bomb

12 June 20001

IMRA: Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof told Israel Radio this
morning that contrary to the impression left by reports yesterday about the
testimony of a senior officer in military intelligence before the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense committee, she is not aware of ANY recent
terrorist attacks thwarted by the Palestinian Authority.

Rabin-Pelossof explained that there had been confusion over the testimony
and that what the officer reported was that the PA detained some people who
had been associated in the Tel Aviv disco bombing and that IN THE PAST the
PA has thwarted some terrorist attacks.

Ha'aretz also reported this morning that "PA Minister for International
Cooperation Nabil Sha'ath, who was in Luxembourg yesterday for a meeting of
the EU Council of Foreign Ministers, denied that there has been any security
cooperation between the PA and Israel since Yasser Arafat declared a
cease-fire 10 days ago. Specifically, he denied that the PA had given Israel
information that enabled it to thwart two potential suicide bombings - in
direct contrast to what a senior IDF intelligence officer told the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday. Sha'ath also reiterated
that the PA refuses to arrest terrorists. "

Teh article below does not reflect this information.
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Ha'aretz: PA prevented attacks after disco bomb
By Gideon Alon
Ha'aretz Knesset Correspondent 12 June 2001

A senior officer in military intelligence told the Knesset Foreign Affairs
and Defense committee yesterday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) had
prevented a number of serious terrorist attacks against Israeli targets,
following the suicide bombing at the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium two weeks ago
that left 20 people - mostly teenagers - dead.

The same source said, however, that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's approach to
the prevention of terrorism is "superficial," in spite of several arrests
carried out by the PA against Islamic radicals.

These recent arrests have been termed by Palestinian authorities as
constituting "defensive-administrative" actions.

The intelligence officer said Arafat is not exercising a policy of
preventing terrorism in general, and merely had acted to stop planned
actions at a sensitive moment in time. The source said Arafat continues to
maintain that the Palestinians must carry on with terrorist activities in
parallel with diplomatic efforts.

"Arafat has not changed one iota his demands and aims: the establishment of
a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,
with control over the Temple Mount and the implementation of the right of
return," the intelligence officer said.

"We are convinced that he is using terrorism as a strategic weapon in order
to achieve these goals," he added.

The officer listed three ways Arafat carries out his policy: a direct
approach, through Fatah, the Tanzim paramilitaries and the various security
organizations of the PA; the indirect approach, by "granting a green light"
to the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, to carry out strategic strikes inside
Israel; and external sources, such as the Hezbollah, who are trying to use
Palestinians in attacks against the borders of Israel and in the
territories.

According to the officer, Arafat's recent actions in the territories,
including the arrests of Islamic radicals, are meant to signal to the world
that he is in full control of the PA.

"Arafat enjoys strategic control in the territories. The debate whether he
did or did not control the territories, no longer exists," he concluded.

The intelligence officer pointed to Arafat's terrorism-prevention actions
immediately following the hugely fatal suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv
nightspot near the Dolphinarium, and noted that "these were actions which
were previously believed to be beyond his grasp."

He also characterized Arafat's declaration of a cease-fire as an effort to
lift part of the heavy international pressure he faced as a result of
Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

Israeli Military Intelligence holds that Arafat is deeply concerned at the
united front that Palestinian attacks have forged inside Israel, and the
formation of a government of national unity in response to them.