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Israel
Claims Five Egyptian Sailors Aboard Karine A
With
additional reporting by Khaled Mamdouh
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies)- Israel claimed in
its widely circulated daily newspaper, Ha’aretz, that five Egyptian sailors
were on board Karine A in an attempt to use Egyptian venues and facilities en
route to the Gaza strip.
On
the eve of the departure of two top Israeli Defense officers to Washington to
brief their U.S. counterparts on the "Karine A" affair, the Israeli
Army is proposing that Israel should offer to trade the five Egyptian sailors
captured on board the ship for Azzam Azzam, an Israeli serving a prison sentence
in Egypt for espionage, Ha'aretz reported Wednesday.
“According to those behind the proposal, the ship's operators planned to use
Egyptian venues and facilities during the transfer of weapons on board to
Gaza,” the Israeli newspaper claimed.
However,
the paper then added that the “Egyptian sailors were not maliciously involved
in hostile activity against Israel, while Azzam also was [allegedly] not
involved in hostile activity against Egypt."
Ha'artez
said that the proposal has cropped up within the Israeli defense circles, but
has yet to be discussed at the political level.
The
Israeli delegation to the U.S. includes naval intelligence commander, Admiral
Yehezkel Mashita, and head of research in Israel’s military intelligence,
Yossi Kuperwasser.
Meanwhile, Egyptian analysts have refuted the allegation, describing it as
“nothing but a typical Israeli attitude.”
“Israel is trying to implicate Egypt’s involvement in the ship matter, as a
means of getting the United States to pressure the Egyptian leadership into
convincing the Palestinians to stop their Intifada and accept any Israeli
settlement offer,” a Cairo-based political analyst, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told IslamOnline Wednesday, January 9.
"Having
failed to convince the world, especially its closest alley – the U.S. – of
its claims, Israel is now trying to reshuffle cards in a way meant to put every
Arab regime on the defensive,” the analyst said. “Israel seeks to eventually
get all Arabs to stop their support of the Palestinian cause.”
Israel claims the ship’s crew also included four Jordanians and four
Palestinians, according to Ha’aretz.
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