The Last Exile

While it has been widely asserted by every one but the Israelis (who are alleged to have done the ‘heavy lifting’) on the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai; it may turn out to be one of the Fatah/Hamas tiffs which plays out in blood from time to time in the Middle East. Jerusalem Post

Fatah and Hamas are trading accusations following the arrest of two Palestinians extradited from Jordan to Dubai on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of Hamas senior Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January, Army Radio reported.

Dubai issued arrest warrants for eleven people allegedly tied to Mabhouh’s killing, but only two were captured so far. The fact that one of the Palestinian detainees is a security official in the Palestinian Authority sparked the latest spate of Hamas-Fatah bickering.

Faik al-Mabhouh, the brother of the slain official, on Tuesday still maintained that Israel was behind the assassination. “I believe Israel is behind my brother’s assassination,” he said a day after Dubai published security camera footage showing the ten men and one woman allegedly involved.

All suspects named by Dubai are European nationals, but Faik al-Mabhouh insisted “from the start we said Israel has a hand in it, [but] it didn’t work alone.” Gen. Dahi Tamim, Dubai’s police chief, displayed a series of passport photographs showing 10 men and a woman at a press conference on Monday. Most of the individuals named by Dubai appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin, Gen Dahi Tamim, Dubai’s police chief said at a press conference where he presented photos of the suspects.

Personally, I appreciate the fact denial and imagination occupy such a large place in the ‘mid-east’ psyche; otherwise there wouldn’t be a hidden Mossad agent under every tree, behind every coroner and on every rooftop in the Middle East just waiting for the opportunity to get take out the sworn enemies of Israel.