Hanan Awarekeh
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19/02/2010 Israel is facing a mounting international pressure to answer questions about possible links to the January 19 killing of senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
The 11 suspect killers' use of allegedly French, British, German and Irish passports angered the four countries which on Thursday called in Israeli envoys for talks at their foreign ministries demanding clarifications.
Moreover, Dubai called for the arrest of Mossad Chief Meir Dagan urging Interpol to issue a “red notice against the head of Mossad,” after its police chief said that he was “99 percent, if not 100%” certain that the Mossad was behind al-Mabhouh’s death.”
This comes at a time a UK daily reported that Britain was tipped off by Mossad that Israeli agents were going to carry out an 'overseas operation' using fake UK passports.
The Daily Mail reported Friday that MI6 was tipped off that Israeli agents were going to carry out an 'overseas operation' using fake British passports. The newspaper quoted a member of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, as saying that the Foreign Office was also told hours before the Hamas chief was assassinated in Dubai, although the tip-off did not say who the target would be or even where the hit squad would be in action.
A British security source, who met the Mossad agent and has a track record of providing reliable information, told the Daily Mail: "This is a serving member of Israeli intelligence. He says the British government was told very, very briefly before the operation what was going to happen. There was no British involvement and they didn't know the name of the target. But they were told these people were travelling on UK passports."
The security source said the tip-off was not a request for permission to use British passports but more a "courtesy call" to let the security services know "a situation" might blow up. The Mossad man said Israeli intelligence chiefs understand British authorities will have to "slap them on the wrist".
The Daily Mail also reported that Mabhouh was lured into a trap by Palestinian double agents last month before being smothered with a pillow. It should be noted that details about the involvement of the two Palestinians have yet to be officially delivered by the Dubai police, and in recent days there has been quite a lot of contradicting information about the two. The matter was also a source of dispute between Hamas and elements in the Palestinian Authority.
The reports on information received by senior British officials have evoked calls for the government to reveals what it knows, the Telegraph newspaper reported. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, called on the government to make a statement in parliament about when the prime minister and foreign secretary were first told of a possible British link.
A Guardian journalist told Ynet on Thursday night that the Kingdom has no doubt Israel was responsible for sending the assassins to Dubai, adding that the use of its passports was viewed by London as disrespect for a county which sees the Jewish state as a friend.
Even without the fake passports this is a serious incident, said Middle East editor Ian Black. He stated that Israel would not dare do the same thing with American passports. According to Black, the recent period is the most strained in terms of the relations between the two countries in the past decade.
Black added that the feeling in London was that Israel had gone too far, not necessarily by carrying out the assassination but rather by using the foreign passports. This was the last straw, he said. Black said he was told by a senior source that the use of British, German and French passports was a move of disrespect on the part of Israel towards the European Union.
The British journalist noted that the anger in London over the passport issue was another stage in the declining relations between Israel and the kingdom, which he said began even before the affair was exposed.
Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post took aim at the "kerfuffle" in the British media over the affair, saying "this pigheaded refusal to acknowledge that sometimes the needs do justify the means reflect a moral impoverishment that's not limited to Britain."
DUBAI POLICE WANTS MOSSAD CHIEF ARRESTED
Meanwhile, Interpol published wanted notices and images on Thursday of the 11 suspected hit squad members involved in al-Mabhoub’s assassination.
Interpol said it had placed the alleged hit squad members on its most-wanted list to prevent them from traveling on forged passports. The international police organization acknowledged in its notice it “does not believe that we know the true identities of these wanted persons.”
Interpol Secretary-General, Ronald K. Noble, urged police forces around the world to “focus on the pictures of the suspects... in deciding who to detain, question and apprehend.”
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas source told the pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper that two Palestinians arrested in Jordan and deported to Dubai on suspicion of aiding the assassins were members of Palestinian Authority security forces.
According to some reports, one of the Palestinian suspects has confessed to his role in the killing. Al-Hayat named Anwar S., a PA intelligence officer, and Ahmed H., a PA security officer, as the suspects. Other reports later named the men as Anwar Shahaibar and Ahmed Hassnein.
For its part, Israel on Friday shrugged off calls for its top spy to be arrested. "The Dubai police has provided no incriminating proof," a senior official told AFP, asking not to be identified. "The threats against Meir Dagan are absurd," the Israeli official said, adding "the accusations are baseless. Police have not explained the circumstances of his death, or even any proof that he's been assassinated."
Earlier, Dubai Police chief Lt.-Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim said he was “99 percent, if not 100%” certain that the Mossad was behind al-Mabhouh’s death. “Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of al-Mabhouh,” Tamim was quoted as saying in The National newspaper, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government.
He told another local paper, the Dubai-based Gulf News, “All elements strongly indicate the involvement of the Mossad.”
Dubai’s police chief directly accused Israel of the killing, and called on Interpol to seek the arrest of Mossad chief Meir Dagan, urging it to issue a “red notice against the head of Mossad.”
A UAE official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying on Thursday that at least 18 people – including two women – were now suspected in what Dubai police have described as a highly coordinated operation to kill al-Mabhouh.
The investigation has now widened to the United States. The alleged killers used fraudulent passports to open five credit card accounts through US-based banks, said an official who has close knowledge of the investigation. The official gave no additional details.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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