GAZA CITY, 8 December 2002 — Palestinian security forces have arrested a group of Palestinians for collaborating with Israel and posing as operatives of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terrorist network, a senior official said yesterday.
The Palestinian Authority said Israel’s Mossad spy agency has set up a fake Al-Qaeda cell in Gaza so that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could justify Israeli attacks in Palestinian areas.
The arrests come two days after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged Al-Qaeda militants were operating in Gaza and in Lebanon.
“The Palestinian Authority arrested a group of collaborators who confessed they were working for Israel, posing as Al-Qaeda operatives in the Palestinian territories,” said the official, on condition of anonymity. He said the alleged collaborators sought to “discredit the Palestinian people, justify every Israeli crime and provide reasons to carry out a new (military) aggression in the Gaza Strip.”
“It is a big, big, big lie to cover (Sharon’s) attacks and his crimes against our people everywhere,” Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told reporters at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat termed Israeli claim of Al-Qaeda in Gaza presence ridiculous.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo pointed to an Israeli plot. “There are certain elements who were instructed by the Mossad to form a cell under the name of Al-Qaeda in the Gaza Strip in order to justify the assault and the military campaigns of the Israeli occupation army against Gaza,” Abed Rabbo said.
Earlier, International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath announced he would hold a press conference here at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on the alleged presence of Al-Qaeda operatives in the Gaza Strip.
Sharon’s claim about the presence of Al-Qaeda in Gaza was considered a surprise because Gaza Strip is virtually sealed off by Israeli troops.
The Israeli leader also charged other members of the terror group were cooperating with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Palestinians slammed the allegation as “totally absurd” and accused Sharon of trying to piggyback on the US-led “war against terrorism” to strengthen his military operations against militants in the territories.
In what Israel called a raid to capture a wanted Palestinian, Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships swept into the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Friday, sparking a gunbattle and killing 10 people.
In New York, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement demanding Israel exercise restraint and “refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of deadly force in civilian areas”.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declined to comment on the incident but said Washington has been concerned over civilian casualties that have resulted from Israeli military operations.
At the same time, he voiced support for what he called Israel’s right to defend itself.
