By Mel Frykberg
"RAMALLAH, Feb 22, 2010 (IPS) - Hamas has closed ranks and is licking its wounds following the Jan. 20 assassination in Dubai of one of its top operatives, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. It is alleged that one of its own was responsible for providing the hit team with vital logistical information.
Dubai’s chief of police Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, on Sunday, called on Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Zahar to launch an "internal investigation" into the operation.
Tamim claims that an associate of Al Mabhouh, a high-ranking military leader, leaked information about the Hamas leader’s visit to Dubai and went as far as to refer to the associate as "the real murderer." .....
"This is a serious breach of Hamas’ security, something which the organisation hitherto had prided itself on. It shows that Israeli intelligence has managed to penetrate the inner circles of the group," Samir Awad, from Birzeit University near Ramallah, told IPS......
"This is indeed a big blow to Hamas’ invincibility," Prof. Moshe Ma’oz of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University told IPS.
Israel has found it fairly easy to bribe members within the Palestinian Authority (PA) due to the nepotism and corruption which pervade the organisation.......
The collective Hamas leadership has gone into damage control big time. Various sources approached by IPS refused to talk or even answer their phones.
Mahmoud Ramahi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Ramallah who was imprisoned for three years by the Israelis for Hamas membership and who recently gave an exclusive interview to IPS on Hamas’ stand on the 1967 borders, refused to comment.....
Ahmed Yousef, a close associate of Gaza’s Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and former foreign adviser to Gaza’s Hamas leadership, refused to comment as well.
"No I’m not interested in talking about the Dubai assassination. Surely you can find somebody else to talk to?" Yousef asked IPS without giving an explanation behind his refusal.
IPS then tried, without success, to contact Gaza’s Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoun who had turned off his phone.
Another Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zahuri, denied foreign media reports that Hamas member Nahro Massoud has been arrested in Damascus by Dubai authorities, a denial supported by Hamas politburo chief-in-exile in Damascus Khaled Meshaal.....
Two former PA-affiliated Fatah members, and former PA intelligence officers in Gaza before Hamas overthrew the PA unity government in the June 2007 coup, have been named as chief suspects in the Dubai slaying..........
The two are alleged to have rented hotel rooms and hired vehicles for the assassination squad. They are further alleged to be close contacts of the notorious Central Intelligence Agency favourite Muhammad Dahlan, one of the alleged chief instigators of an attempted Gaza coup against Hamas which was preempted by the Hamas authorities. Media reports allege both men are not only employees of one of several Dubai-based companies run by Dahlan but until recently were also on the PA payroll in Ramallah. ....."
"RAMALLAH, Feb 22, 2010 (IPS) - Hamas has closed ranks and is licking its wounds following the Jan. 20 assassination in Dubai of one of its top operatives, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. It is alleged that one of its own was responsible for providing the hit team with vital logistical information.
Dubai’s chief of police Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, on Sunday, called on Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Zahar to launch an "internal investigation" into the operation.
Tamim claims that an associate of Al Mabhouh, a high-ranking military leader, leaked information about the Hamas leader’s visit to Dubai and went as far as to refer to the associate as "the real murderer." .....
"This is a serious breach of Hamas’ security, something which the organisation hitherto had prided itself on. It shows that Israeli intelligence has managed to penetrate the inner circles of the group," Samir Awad, from Birzeit University near Ramallah, told IPS......
"This is indeed a big blow to Hamas’ invincibility," Prof. Moshe Ma’oz of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University told IPS.
Israel has found it fairly easy to bribe members within the Palestinian Authority (PA) due to the nepotism and corruption which pervade the organisation.......
The collective Hamas leadership has gone into damage control big time. Various sources approached by IPS refused to talk or even answer their phones.
Mahmoud Ramahi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Ramallah who was imprisoned for three years by the Israelis for Hamas membership and who recently gave an exclusive interview to IPS on Hamas’ stand on the 1967 borders, refused to comment.....
Ahmed Yousef, a close associate of Gaza’s Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and former foreign adviser to Gaza’s Hamas leadership, refused to comment as well.
"No I’m not interested in talking about the Dubai assassination. Surely you can find somebody else to talk to?" Yousef asked IPS without giving an explanation behind his refusal.
IPS then tried, without success, to contact Gaza’s Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoun who had turned off his phone.
Another Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zahuri, denied foreign media reports that Hamas member Nahro Massoud has been arrested in Damascus by Dubai authorities, a denial supported by Hamas politburo chief-in-exile in Damascus Khaled Meshaal.....
Two former PA-affiliated Fatah members, and former PA intelligence officers in Gaza before Hamas overthrew the PA unity government in the June 2007 coup, have been named as chief suspects in the Dubai slaying..........
The two are alleged to have rented hotel rooms and hired vehicles for the assassination squad. They are further alleged to be close contacts of the notorious Central Intelligence Agency favourite Muhammad Dahlan, one of the alleged chief instigators of an attempted Gaza coup against Hamas which was preempted by the Hamas authorities. Media reports allege both men are not only employees of one of several Dubai-based companies run by Dahlan but until recently were also on the PA payroll in Ramallah. ....."
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