Dubai to arrest 11 over Hamas leader's murder, won't rule out Mossad

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"Dubai will issue arrest warrants soon for 11 Europeans suspected in the killing of a senior Hamas official, and cannot rule out Israeli involvement, the police chief said on Monday.

"We do not rule out Mossad, but when we arrest those suspects we will know who masterminded it. (We have not) issued arrest warrants yet, but will do soon,"police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim told reporters.

He said police had arrested two Palestinians suspected of providing logistical support in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a Dubai hotel last month.

Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told reporters that the alleged assassination team comprised six British passport holders, three Irish and one each from France and Germany.

The mercenaries were apparently dressed in tennis gear and visited several hotels on the day of the assasination in order to remain inconspicuous.

He says forensic tests indicate al-Mabhouh died of suffocation, but lab analyses are still under way."

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Israel is accused of waging covert war across the Middle East

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"Israel is waging a covert assassination campaign across the Middle East in an effort to stop its key enemies co-ordinating their activities.

Israeli agents have been targeting meetings between members of Hamas and the leadership of the militant Hezbollah group, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

They are also suspected of recent killings in Dubai, Damascus and Beirut. While Israel’s Mossad spy agency has been suspected of staging assassinations across the world since the 1970s, it does not officially acknowledge or admit its activities.

The current spate of killings began in December when a “tourist bus” carrying Iranian officials and Hamas members exploded outside Damascus. The official report by Syria claimed that a tyre had exploded but photographs surfaced showing the charred remains of the vehicle — prompting speculation that a much larger explosion had taken place.

Several weeks later a meeting between members of Hamas, which controls Gaza, and their counterparts from Hezbollah in its southern Beirut stronghold in Lebanon was also attacked, resulting in several deaths.

Hamas had sought to cover up the incidents because it was embarrassed, a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told The Times.

"There has been growing co-operation between Gaza and Iran. Israel can read the writing on the wall and they know that with the help of Iran, the Hamas Government in Gaza will become stronger and will fight better.

"But Israel is overstepping their boundaries. Other countries don’t want to become a killing field for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

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I support them in their pursuit of those who wish them dead.

Palestinian self-determination? There is a worldwide consensus that declares the right of a truly sovereign and independent Palestinian state to exist.

Justifying political assassination, like justifying torture invites the same line of reasoning to be used by everyone.

I don't oppose heckling confronting and heckling representatives of the far-right Netanyahu/Lieberman Israeli government. Still I sure the hell couldn't support assassinating them even though they have stated clearly and unambiguously that they will never - ever evacuate any illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory or negotiate a peaceful resolution on Occupied East Jerusalem; accepting the minimal requirements of international law - Thus this far right government are making Palestinian statehood and a peaceful resolution to the conflict completely impossible at least for the foreseeable future.

I should mention that even the Dubai investigative authorities have not stated clearly that they think this was an Israeli operation. It is possible that it may have been someone else behind this who have their own agenda.

They have the resources to buy any of the talent they need for investigations like this.