Iran's nuke capability seen in 3 months

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From combined dispatches

TEL AVIV -- Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz yesterday warned that Iran will reach the point of no return regarding its capability to produce nuclear weapons within three months, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported.

His comments to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee echoed those made by the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog earlier this month in an interview to the British newspaper the Independent.

Earlier this week, the London Sunday Times published an article saying that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed the military to prepare for a strike at the end of March, in light of Israeli estimations that uranium is being enriched in Iranian civilian sites.

Commenting on that article, Amos Gilad, chief of strategic and security planning in the Defense Ministry, said Israel is not ruling out military action against Iran's nuclear program but for now it prefers to let foreign diplomatic pressure on Tehran run its course.

The Israeli defense planner denied such a plan was in place. But he said Israel, which bombed the main Iraqi atomic reactor at Osirak in 1981, driving Saddam Hussein's quest for the bomb underground, eventually could consider a similar military option against Iran.

"It would not be correct for a country that faces such a threat to deny that it would ever consider another option [other than diplomacy]," he told Israel Radio.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, the Palestinian Central Election Commission yesterday shut its doors in protest after masked gunmen burst into its West Bank and Gaza offices, fired into the air and hauled off computers, jeopardizing next month's parliamentary elections.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security forces to protect election workers, but officials said privately that violence could endanger the Jan. 25 vote, which is seen as a key to establishing a credible government that could conduct peace talks with Israel.

Amar Dweik, director of the election commission, announced, "We have suspended all work until we receive security for our offices and our staff."

Hanna Nasser, head of the election commission, met with Mr. Abbas, who pledged to protect election workers and "take required measures against the aggressors," an Abbas spokesman said.

It was not clear whether the protest would affect the registration deadline today.

The violence stems from disputes within Mr. Abbas' ruling Fatah party, which is divided between its corrupt old guard and younger members. The young generation fears Fatah old-timers will select the list of party candidates, instead of relying on results from recent primaries.

The Fatah young guard swept to victory in most of the primaries, but Mr. Abbas holds the final say over who will run in the January election. He is to announce his list of candidates today.

The Fatah infighting could hurt the party, which already faces a tough challenge from the Islamic group Hamas.

In Nablus yesterday, eight masked gunmen thought to be from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a Fatah wing, stormed the election office, fired into the air and ordered workers out of the building.

The gunmen destroyed three computers and took two others, then opened fire again as they sped away in two cars. Later, the masked militants posed for TV cameras while stepping on a computer.