A Fatah Connection To The Dubai Killing Surfaces

Yet another dimension has materialized in the mysterious assassination of Hamas kingpin Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

Now, the authorities in Dubai have somewhat changed their story again and are saying elements of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah had a hand in the assassination:

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, is facing accusations of collusion with Israel after two former members of his Fatah faction were linked to the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai last month.

The two men, who are both in custody in Dubai, supplied logistical support to an assassination squad that carried out the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, according to police in the Gulf state.

Making a potentially explosive accusation, Hamas alleged that Ahmad Hasnin and Anwar Shekhaiber are employed by a company whose owner is a top confidante of Mr Abbas, the western-backed leader of the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank.{...}

Allies of Mr Abbas sought to deflect the charges of collusion by repeating claims that Hamas had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence and that at least one of the two men had fled Gaza after his cover as an Israeli double agent had been exposed.

"Hamas should extensively search the scope of penetration within its ranks that has led to the assassination of Mabhouh and other Hamas leaders," a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority security forces said.

Again, I consider al-Mabhouh's death to be a welcome piece of pest control, and if it was the Mossad, excellent. I'm merely saying that there could have been a lot of other people whom wanted this particular cockroach stomped...including Hamas if al-Mabhouh was caught skimming or double dealing.

In other news, the British Daily Mail is claiming from a 'confidential source' that the Mossad not only carried out the killing but that they tipped off M15 and the British Foreign office beforehand that UK passports were going to be used:

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 that 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' and added: 'The British government has to be seen to be going through the motions.'

The Israeli's claims contradict Foreign Office assertions that the UK knew nothing of the affair until shortly before the Dubai authorities went public over the assassination earlier this week.

The British source told the Mail he has known the Mossad man for more than 20 years and they met as part of a longstanding arrangement.

He said British-Israeli intelligence relations were 'jogging along very nicely when nobody knew - then it all became public'.

The Israeli agent rejected suggestions that intelligence-sharing between the two nations might be damaged.

He said Mossad was handling several sources within the UK Muslim community and added: 'There is no question of jeopardising that information flow.'

Heh!

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