A columnist for the London-based Saudi daily newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat has apologized to his readers for reporting the Palestinian Authority\'s version of the Karine A weapons ship affair. So reports WorldNetDaily.com. The article, as translated by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), reads as follows:
\"When Israel announced that it had seized the [Karine A] weapons ship, I doubted the Israeli account and espoused the PA\'s claim that the whole thing was a fabrication. I did this out of a sense of obligation to support our Palestinian brothers, and out of trust in the veracity of their account. But it seems that the [Palestinian] leadership deceived us with its account, and we, in turn, unintentionally deceived our readers…
\"Now, not only is Arafat confessing to the [Israeli] account, but he goes further still, and has sent [a letter] to the American secretary of state [from] which it can be interpreted that he takes responsibility for this incident.
\"Therefore, I take responsibility before my readers; I and my readers were victims of our obligation to and trust in the Palestinian leadership. I assure the readers that since Arafat has confessed his responsibility to Colin Powell, I will no longer take the Palestinian leadership\'s declarations seriously…
\"The [guiding] principle [in the Arab world] is not to treat the public with candor and transparency, but to conceal information [from it], such that if [the news] is picked up by the foreign press, we can deny it. Sometimes we are forced to confirm an item after we have denied it, because it has turned out to be a proven fact.
\"…We, and our readers, were victims of our commitment [to the Palestinians] and of the trust we placed in it which is now lost.\"
\"When Israel announced that it had seized the [Karine A] weapons ship, I doubted the Israeli account and espoused the PA\'s claim that the whole thing was a fabrication. I did this out of a sense of obligation to support our Palestinian brothers, and out of trust in the veracity of their account. But it seems that the [Palestinian] leadership deceived us with its account, and we, in turn, unintentionally deceived our readers…
\"Now, not only is Arafat confessing to the [Israeli] account, but he goes further still, and has sent [a letter] to the American secretary of state [from] which it can be interpreted that he takes responsibility for this incident.
\"Therefore, I take responsibility before my readers; I and my readers were victims of our obligation to and trust in the Palestinian leadership. I assure the readers that since Arafat has confessed his responsibility to Colin Powell, I will no longer take the Palestinian leadership\'s declarations seriously…
\"The [guiding] principle [in the Arab world] is not to treat the public with candor and transparency, but to conceal information [from it], such that if [the news] is picked up by the foreign press, we can deny it. Sometimes we are forced to confirm an item after we have denied it, because it has turned out to be a proven fact.
\"…We, and our readers, were victims of our commitment [to the Palestinians] and of the trust we placed in it which is now lost.\"