lennart
01-10-03, 16:06
Hamas: Arab State Foils Israel Assassination Bid
Wed October 1, 2003 09:59 AM ET
By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday an Arab state had foiled an Israeli plot to assassinate several of its political leaders abroad.
Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal said the security services of an Arab country foiled the plot "several weeks ago," but declined to name the country or say who was targeted.
"Hamas has received information that cells of the Israeli Mossad intelligence apparatus have started acting in some Arab countries to target Hamas political leadership," Nazzal said in a statement to Reuters.
"An Arab country...captured a Mossad cell preparing to undertake assassination operations," he added. More than one person had been on the target list.
Nazzal said the accused plotters included Arab and foreign nationals but not Israelis. Israeli authorities had no immediate comment on the accusation.
"(Israel's) failure in assassinating Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip pushed it to attempt its destruction in foreign arenas," he said.
The plot, he said, would not intimidate Hamas.
Israel has vowed to pursue Islamic militants accused of responsibility for suicide bomb attacks that have killed scores of Israelis over a three-year-old Palestinian uprising against occupation.
Last week it killed a leader of the Islamic Jihad movement and three other Palestinian militants in Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Such operations have been widely condemned abroad and drawn some criticism in Israel.
The quartet of Middle East peacemakers -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- said last week Israel had the right to act in self-defense.
But it called for an end to settlement activity, criticized an Israeli security fence and appealed to Israel to minimize civilian casualties. Any attempt to assassinate Hamas officials in neighboring Arab countries recalls a bungled 1997 attempt to kill politburo head Khaled Meshaal in Jordan by injecting him with a drug in a daylight attack on an Amman street.
That attack so enraged Jordan's late King Hussein that he talked of hanging the captured Israelis unless they handed over the antidote, embarrassing the Israeli government which ended up releasing from prison Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3540017
Hmm, wellicht huurmoordenaars, biedt tevens weer een andere blik op het begrip "arabisch terrorisme". Blijkbaar zijn er Arabieren die voor geld alles doen, inclusief het plegen van terrorisme, voor de hoogste bieder.
Wed October 1, 2003 09:59 AM ET
By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday an Arab state had foiled an Israeli plot to assassinate several of its political leaders abroad.
Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal said the security services of an Arab country foiled the plot "several weeks ago," but declined to name the country or say who was targeted.
"Hamas has received information that cells of the Israeli Mossad intelligence apparatus have started acting in some Arab countries to target Hamas political leadership," Nazzal said in a statement to Reuters.
"An Arab country...captured a Mossad cell preparing to undertake assassination operations," he added. More than one person had been on the target list.
Nazzal said the accused plotters included Arab and foreign nationals but not Israelis. Israeli authorities had no immediate comment on the accusation.
"(Israel's) failure in assassinating Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip pushed it to attempt its destruction in foreign arenas," he said.
The plot, he said, would not intimidate Hamas.
Israel has vowed to pursue Islamic militants accused of responsibility for suicide bomb attacks that have killed scores of Israelis over a three-year-old Palestinian uprising against occupation.
Last week it killed a leader of the Islamic Jihad movement and three other Palestinian militants in Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Such operations have been widely condemned abroad and drawn some criticism in Israel.
The quartet of Middle East peacemakers -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- said last week Israel had the right to act in self-defense.
But it called for an end to settlement activity, criticized an Israeli security fence and appealed to Israel to minimize civilian casualties. Any attempt to assassinate Hamas officials in neighboring Arab countries recalls a bungled 1997 attempt to kill politburo head Khaled Meshaal in Jordan by injecting him with a drug in a daylight attack on an Amman street.
That attack so enraged Jordan's late King Hussein that he talked of hanging the captured Israelis unless they handed over the antidote, embarrassing the Israeli government which ended up releasing from prison Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3540017
Hmm, wellicht huurmoordenaars, biedt tevens weer een andere blik op het begrip "arabisch terrorisme". Blijkbaar zijn er Arabieren die voor geld alles doen, inclusief het plegen van terrorisme, voor de hoogste bieder.