Palestinians linked to weapons ship

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday linked the Palestinian Authority to a ship laden with arms that was seized in the Red Sea by Israeli commandos, but said there was no proof Yasser Arafat was involved. \nIf the ship had reached Palestinian territory and the weapons had been unloaded, Powell said, they "would have been put to the worst kind of use against Israel and others in the region." \nPowell was pleased Israel intercepted the ship last Thursday. \n"Now we have to find all those responsible and accountable for this incident," he said at a news conference. \nA senior Israeli security official Wednesday said the weapons would have been used most against reinforced buses that generally have not been penetrated in terrorist attacks. \nBut the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the rockets and mortar aboard could have threatened Tel Aviv, other large Israeli cities and Ben Gurion airport. \nThe official headed an Israeli delegation that briefed the Bush administration. \n"The information we are receiving and developing on our own makes it clear that there are linkages to the Palestinian Authority," Powell said Thursday. \nBut while the Israeli official said Arafat was directly involved in the episode, hatched last June, Powell said: "I have not seen any information that yet links it directly to Chairman Arafat."\nState Department spokesman Richard Boucher said there was "compelling evidence" that Iran and Hezbollah, a militant Islamic group fighting a guerrilla war against Israel from Lebanon, were involved in the operation. \nPresident Bush said he suspected the attempted smuggling of arms to the Palestinians was part of a terror campaign to derail peace efforts. He pledged to send American mediator Anthony Zinni to the region a third time and pressed Arafat to "work hard to get to the peace table"