Israel Had Access to almost every phone call, fax, e-mail out of Arafat's Headquarters

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday April 01, 2002 02:22 by drudgereport

Israeli intelligence officials claim they have had access to almost every phone call, fax or e-mail that has gone out of Arafat’s West Bank headquarters, it will be reported on Monday.

MAG: Israel Had Access to almost every phone call, fax, e-mail out of Arafat's Headquarters
Sun Mar 31 2002 12:36:25 2002

Israeli intelligence officials claim they have had access to almost every phone call, fax or e-mail that has gone out of Arafat’s West Bank headquarters, it will be reported on Monday.

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They also claim to have human intelligence, "moles," working the inside, TIME magazine has learned.

Israeli security sources say the phone and fax surveillance has supplied evidence that Arafat bankrolled groups that are part of his Fatah organization though he knew they would carry out terror attacks.

But the spying came up critically short in preventing attacks, because Arafat was never told precise details of any operation, say the sources.

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Hours before the assault on Yasser Arafat’s compound, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon informed members of his Cabinet that he wanted to send forces into Ramallah to arrest Arafat and expel him from the Palestinian territories, Israeli government sources tell TIME . "We should send Arafat away, out of the country," Sharon said. "We should not let him stay."

Cabinet ministers told TIME that at 5:30 a.m. Friday, Sharon settled on a different strategy: Israel would officially identify Arafat as an enemy, "isolate"him in his Ramallah headquarters, destroy the surrounding buildings and arrest or kill Palestinian militants they believed had holed up inside – but would stop short of raiding Arafat's bunker. "The only commitment we’ve made," Police Minister Uzi Landau told TIME "is not to kill him."

Before storming into Arafat’s compound, the Israelis blared over a loudspeaker to those inside, "Lay down your arms and come out." Israeli officials told TIME that the Egoz Battalion, a highly trained unit of commandos, led the room-to-room raid through Arafat’s compound.

The siege of Arafat’s headquarters was only the first part of the Israeli army’s plan. The army intends to keep troops in Ramallah searching for wanted gunmen and terrorists for another month, military sources tell TIME in the current issue (on newsstands Mon., April 1)

TIME's cover story also reveals: Ž If Arafat is killed, all hell will break loose," a senior Arab diplomat told TIME. "You can say goodbye to the peace process for 10 years."

Ž Arafat warned of a bloody battle between his forces and the Israeli army, hoping that prospect would prompt the international community to force the Israelis to desist, sources inside Arafat’s office told TIME.

Ž "He won’t be able to go to the toilet without us knowing about it," an Israeli intelligence officer told TIME about Arafat.

Ž Palestinian and Israeli sources told TIME that both Sharon and Arafat called Secretary of State Colin Powell as Israel mobilized its forces last Friday.

Ž Arab diplomats interviewed by TIME accused the Israeli Prime Minister of deliberately sabotaging the Arab peace overture with his attack on Arafat.

Ž After the Passover massacre Israeli officials told TIME that Cabinet ministers agreed at once to hit back militarily, then debated for six hours how to punish Arafat. The Israelis appreciate that Arafat cannot completely control Hamas, the Islamic group that carried out the Netanya massacre. But they complain that most of the time, he doesn’t even try.

Ž In an interview with TIME, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah called Sharon’s assault on Arafat "a brutal, despicable, savage, inhumane and cruel action." He continued, "The acts we are witnessing represent the views of a criminal who has blood on his hands," and vowed, "Palestinian resistance to the occupation will continue."

Ž The Israelis believe Arafat has been duplicitous in his talks with U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni over a ceasefire. U.S. officials tell TIME that before the Netanya attack, Zinni had made some progress toward a truce. He had asked the two sides to give him lists of conditions they wanted to see in place before they would agree to quit shooting. Early last week, Zinni whittled down the two sets of demands into a single "bridging" proposal, which he presented to Sharon and Arafat the day before Passover.

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