Israel puts weapons seized from ship on display

Israel today displayed 50 tons of missiles, mortars, and mines seized on a ship and accused the Palestinians of plotting ‘‘the next wave of terror’’.

Standing in front of the captured weaponry at a naval yard in the Red Sea port of Eilat, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon alleged that Yasser Arafat was directly responsible for the arms shipment, and condemned the Palestinian leader as ‘‘a bitter enemy of Israel’’.

Sharon was joined by several senior Israeli security officials at the naval yard for the nationally televised event that emphasised the importance Sharon’s government placed on the arms seizure.

Palestinians have denied any connection to the Karine A, a ship seized on Thursday by Israel in the Red Sea, some 300 miles south of Eilat.

But the dispute over the ship overshadowed the mission by US envoy Anthony Zinni, who wrapped up four days of talks today with Israeli and Palestinian leaders without announcing any breakthroughs.

The three weeks of relative calm that preceded Zinni’s visit prevailed during his stay. But he was not able to persuade the sides to begin implementation of a ceasefire plan drafted last year by CIA director George Tenet.

No Israelis have been killed in more than three weeks, the longest such stretch since the Palestinian uprising began more than 15 months ago. And the Palestinians say they are making a good faith effort to halt attacks against Israel.

In an early morning operation today, about 200 Palestinian police swept into the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank and arrested six members of the militant Islamic Jihad.

Among those detained was Ali Saffouri, who Palestinian security officials said was the second most-wanted man on a list of 33 suspected militants whose arrest Israel has demanded.

Israel says the Palestinians have arrested only about 10 people on the list, and those detained were not being interrogated.

After meeting today with Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Zinni appeared to acknowledge the Israeli demand that more needed to be done on the security front.

‘‘It is a long road and a long path,’’ Zinni said. ‘‘It has to start with security and it has to start with countering terrorism.’’

Zinni, who did not comment on the Israeli arms seizure, is expected to return to the region in about two weeks to determine if there’s been any progress.

Israel, meanwhile, said most of the seized weapons were made in Iran and would have significantly boosted Palestinian firepower. Israel’s Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the shipment was worth $100m (129.2m euro).

The weapons were laid out in neatly aligned rows of machine guns, mines, mortars, Katyusha rockets, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles and more than 400,000 rounds of ammunition for the rifles.

The Katyusha rockets, with a range of 12 miles would allow Palestinian militants in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to strike at Israeli cities. The Katyushas are much more powerful than the relatively small mortar rounds that Palestinians have fired at Jewish settlements in Gaza. The mortars rarely cause serious damage or injuries.

‘‘The Palestinian Authority has been focusing all its efforts on terrorism and preparing the operational infrastructure for the next wave of terror,’’ Sharon said.

Israel claims the Palestinians purchased the ship in Lebanon, and that four of the 13 crew members belonged to the Palestinian naval police. All have been arrested.

While Israel commandeered the Karine A during a pre-dawn raid in international waters, no one has claimed ownership of the boat or its weapons, most of which were made in Iran.

A US official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that it was possible the weapons were headed for Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese group, or Hamas, the extremist Palestinian movement.

However, Hezbollah has long received its weapons overland, from Iran through Syria and onto Lebanon, according to the Israelis.

A Hezbollah official in Beirut, Lebanon, denied that any member of the guerrilla group was on board the ship. He declined to say whether any of the weapons were intended for the movement.

Meanwhile, Israel stood firm in its decision not to permit Arafat to leave his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah to attend Eastern Orthodox Christmas celebrations in nearby Bethlehem.

Israel effectively grounded Arafat on December 3, destroying his helicopters and insisting he will not be let out of blockaded Ramallah until he orders the arrests of militant leaders suspected in the October assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister.