Israel intelligence suspects Palestine-Iran link

JERUSALEM -- Israel said Palestinian and Iranian officials met in Moscow last year and forged a new alliance in which the Palestinians were to receive millions of dollars worth of heavy weaponry in exchange for allowing Iran more influence and intelligence information about Israel. \nThe Palestinians dismissed the charges as misinformation by Israeli intelligence. But Israeli sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said details of the agreement were worked out in a meeting between unspecified Palestinian and Iranian officials last May, during a visit to the Russian capital by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. \nThe sources said Israel believed the meeting took place in the Iranian embassy. They did not say Arafat personally attended. It was not known how much knowledge the Russians had of the meeting. \nA senior Israeli security source said an alleged recent effort to smuggle 50 tons of Iranian-supplied weapons, including missiles and explosives, into the Palestinian areas was discussed at that meeting and was only one part of these broader ties. \nIn January, after the Karine A ship carrying the weapons was intercepted, Israeli officials rushed to Washington, telling the Bush administration that the capture was the most spectacular find so far but only part of a new strengthened financial and arms relationship. They said Arafat personally had approved the relationship, though they offered no public proof. \nIn an article Sunday, the New York Times said U.S. intelligence now accepted Israel's version that the Karine A was part of a wider alliance. \nAhmed Abdel Rahman, the Palestinian Cabinet secretary, said the report was a total fabrication. \n"There was no meeting between Arafat aides and Iranian officials in Moscow or anywhere else," he said. "It is enough to prove that these allegations are a lie to know their sources, which are the Israeli security sources." \nAbdel Rahman said he regretted that U.S. officials have accepted the Israeli allegations. \n"There are no relations between the Palestinian Authority and Iran," he said. "There are only differences"