[THS] West turns diplomatic screw – but Israel refuses to crack

[Peter Webster]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24800.htm

West turns diplomatic screw ­ but Israel refuses to crack

'We know nothing', say ambassadors called for talks over how assassins who killed
Hamas leader were holding foreign passports

By Kim Sengupta, Donald Macintyre and Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem

Friday, 19 February 2010

       The Independent
Hamas militants stand on an Israel flag, above, during a rally in the northern Gaza
Strip

EPA

Hamas militants stand on an Israel flag, above, during a rally in the northern Gaza
Strip

    * Photos More pictures

Dubai yesterday explicitly accused Mossad of assassinating Hamas military
commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on its soil, as David Miliband declared the use of
British passports in the plot "an outrage" and demanded "full co-operation" from
Israel in finding out what had happened.

The Foreign Secretary's comments came after an apparently fruitless meeting in
London between the Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor and Sir Peter Ricketts, the
permanent secretary who heads Britain's diplomatic service, which lasted just 14
minutes with no sign of any intelligence being shared. As the Israeli envoy left
Whitehall, he said: "I was unable to add any information. I could not shed new light
on the said matters".

There was a similar outcome in Dublin where the Israeli ambassador, Zion Evrony,
had an hour's meeting with a senior Irish diplomat over how three Eire passports
were used in the assassination. "I told him I know nothing about the event," Mr
Evrony said afterwards.

The international fallout into Mabhouh's death showed no sign of abating. In Paris,
the French government also summoned an Israeli diplomat, and Germany ­ often
seen as one of the West European countries most sympathetic to Israel ­ called on
Israel to "provide any information it had which might help explain the circumstances"
of the Hamas militant's death.

In Dubai, police chief Lt General Dahi Khalfan Tamim told the government-owned
National newspaper that it was "99 per cent if not 100 per cent" certain that the
Israeli intelligence agency was behind Mabhouh's killing in a luxury hotel room last
month.

In comments due to be aired on Dubai TV last night, he also called on Interpol to
issue "a Red Notice against the head of Mossad... as a killer in case Mossad is proved
to be behind the crime, which is likely now".

Red Notices are a step short of an international arrest warrant but allow Interpol "to
assist national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to
their arrest and extradition". There was no immediate comment from Israel in
response to the Dubai police chief's claims.

Yesterday Interpol published Red Notices for the 11 suspects wanted in connection
with the slaying at the Al Bustan Hotel, along with their photographs and
"fraudulently used" names on the passports used in order "to limit the ability of the
accused murderers from travelling freely using the same false passports", the
international anti-crime agency said. Interpol said the notices were not meant to
stigmatise those whose identities were stolen, but to help clear them of suspicion by
helping police apprehend the true suspects, whose offences are listed as "crimes
against life and health".

Meanwhile, Hamas leaders yesterday identified the two Palestinian suspects being
held by Dubai authorities in connection with the assassination as members of security
forces loyal to the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,
implying but not explicitly saying that Fatah collaborated with Israel in carrying out
the killing.

They named the two as Ahmed Hasanein and Anwar Shehaybar, saying they were
Gazans who left the Strip after Hamas seized power from Fatah there in 2007. One of
the two is said to have been in contact with a member of the hit squad, "Peter", in
the days before the assassination, and both are believed to have been arrested in the
Jordanian capital, Amman, before being extradited to Dubai. Responding to the
Hamas allegations, Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said: "We're
confident the PA was not involved."

In London, Mr Miliband, stressed that the Israeli government had been told of the
depth of British concern and insisted that an inquiry by the Serious and Organised
Crime Agency ordered by Prime Minister Gordon Brown was not merely "going
through the motions".

"What the Permanent Secretary made clear is that we hope and expect Israel will co-
operate fully with the investigation and to send back to his government the
seriousness with which we are addressing this situation. There has obviously been a
very serious incident involving British passports and British passport holders who
woke up yesterday morning extremely worried. The most important thing is to get to
the bottom of the misuse of fraudulent British passports."

The Foreign Secretary is expected to discuss the issue with his Israeli counterpart
Avigdor Lieberman on Monday when the pair will be in Brussels.

Security sources have confirmed that the threatened end to the intelligence sharing
between the UK and Israel was yet to materialise.

The officials stressed that normal service would continue, unless it was conclusively
proven that Mossad had used forged British passports in the murder.
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http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118979&sectionid=351020601

'UK knew about Mossad assassination plot'
Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:09:39 GMT
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Israel's Mossad had tipped off British intelligence that they were going to use fake British passports before the assassination of the Hamas commander, a new report says.

According to a report by the Daily Mail on Friday morning, the British intelligence agency the MI6 was notified before the assassination took place in Dubai last month.

The UK newspaper published the report several hours following a 20-minute meeting between the Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor and a senior British diplomat in London on Thursday.

The two officials discussed the British passports apparently used in the assassination of Mabhouh in Dubai.

A British security source quoted a Mossad agent as saying that "the British Government was told very, very briefly before the operation what was going to happen," the paper further added.

"There was no British involvement and they didn't know the name of the target. But they were told these people were traveling on UK passports," the Daily Mail quoted the British security source as saying.

On Thursday, Dubai Police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim said he was 99-percent certain that the Mossad was behind the assassination.

Tamim said he would ask Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant against Mossad head Meir Dagan, and perhaps also against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu if it's proven that the Israeli intelligence agency was behind the assassination of Mabhouh.

Mabhouh, a senior commander in the armed wing of the Islamic movement, was killed in his hotel room on January 19 in Dubai by a hit squad of at least 11 people carrying forged European passports, according to the Dubai police. 
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Growing Row over Dubai killing: Interview With Robert Fisk: Video: 

If Israel is behind the assassination, then Tel Aviv could find itself in a diplomatic crisis with some of its European allies.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24789.htm