U.S. Charges Libya Aided Raid on Israel

The State Department on Monday supported Israeli charges that Libya gave “crucial support” to a seaborne guerrilla raid launched by Palestinians against Israel last May 30.

But the department concluded in a white paper that the foiled attack was a terrorist operation directed primarily at beach-goers, not a raid aimed at military targets, as suggested by Israeli military authorities.

Four Palestinians were killed and 12 captured when Israeli forces intercepted them as they approached the coast in two speedboats armed with rockets and machine guns. There were no Israeli casualties.

The State Department report provides documentation for a decision by the Bush Administration to suspend talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization because of the attack.

The report also comes as the Administration continues to identify Libya as a key supplier of military contraband to Iraq despite a United Nations embargo.

“Libya’s involvement in this terrorist operation provides one of the clearest examples ever established of state sponsorship of terrorism, and once again highlights the threat Libya poses to its neighbors and to peace in the region,” State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said in a statement accompanying the report.

The report declared also that the United States “will retain its sanctions against Libya. We expect other governments will continue their sanctions until Libya demonstrates concrete, durable changes in its support for terrorism and cessation of other objectionable behavior.”

Besides detailing Libyan support of the May raid, the report lists other evidence of Libya’s support for terrorism, as well as activities such as chemical weapons production that “threaten Middle East peace.”

The report noted that the operation was undertaken by the Palestine Liberation Front, a PLO guerrilla faction led by Abul Abbas, who was the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in which an American was killed.

“The attack, had it succeeded, would have killed Israeli civilians and other nationalities, perhaps including Americans, on Tel Aviv’s public beaches,” the report said.

Libya’s direct support of the operation ranged from assistance in planning the attack to providing personnel who accompanied the ship from which it was launched, according to the report.

Libyan officials have denied involvement in the attack. PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat also has said he had no knowledge of the operation but stopped short of condemning it.

“PLF members began preparing for a seaborne operation at least as early as October, 1988,” the report said. “From late 1988 until the operation was launched, training and preparations took place in Libya at several locations, including a Libyan naval base. Libyan naval personnel were directly involved in the training and overall supervision for the operation.”