Palestinian Man Says Mossad Sought to Induce Him to Set up Fake Qaeda Cell in Gaza
“He told me that all he wanted from me was to declare responsibility for the bombings in the name of al-Qaeda, said the masked Ibrahim ..”
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - A Palestinian citizen from Gaza has revealed how the Israeli intelligence Service, the Mossad, had been trying to enlist him to set up a terrorist cell in Palestine under the name of al-Qaeda, the group headed by Osama bin Laden.
Ibrahim (not his real name) said during a news conference in Gaza Monday night that he had been contacted by a man who identified himself as Haj Yousuf from the city of Akka, who told him that he was working for Osama Bin Laden and that he was able to carry out bombings in Tel Aviv and Haifa and other Israeli towns.
He told me that all he wanted from me was to declare responsibility for the bombings in the name of al-Qaida, said the masked Ibrahim.
He spoke very nicely and told me he would help me financially; then he asked me to try to enlist a number of sincere Islamic-minded youths to set up al-Qaeda cell in Gaza.
Ibrahim said his contacts with Haj Yousuf (the Mossad agents) became more frequent, adding that at one point the Mossad agent offered him a monthly salary of up to 3000 US dollars.
At a later date, the Mossad agent asked Ibrahim to rent an apartment in Gaza in order to facilitate communications between them. He also promised to provide Ibrahim with a computer and fax machine, saying that communication between the two would be conducted via the internet.
Ibrahim said the man would inject his telephone conversations with a lot of Quranic verses and would exhort him to perform daily prayers, particularly the Dawn prayer.
However, Ibrahim, said he began to be suspicious of the man when he told him that he knew him and his family.
Every thing he told me made me suspect his true identity. He told me he knew me, my home, my friends; he also told me to expect a visit to my home or place of work.
Ibrahim said his contacts with Haj Yousuf lasted for five months after which he decided to inform the Preventive Security Force in Gaza of the entire affair.
The Israeli government and media have been dumbfounded by the revelation.
A spokesman at the Israeli Prime Ministers office issued a terse statement on Tuesday describing these allegations as nonsense.
Earlier, a gleeful-looking Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters that Israel had discovered an al Qaeda cell in Gaza and that Israel was a key partner in the worldwide war against terror.
The Israeli claims were instantly and vehemently denied by the Palestinian Authority whose leader Yasser Arafat labeled Sharons remarks as a big, big, big lie.
Moreover, the PA briefed the US, EU, Russia and the UN on the affair and urged them to be mindful of Israeli designs to carry out massacres and acts of wanton killings in the Gaza Strip under the false rubric of fighting al-Qaeda.
Source: PINASource: K-COM/PINA
