Abbas's officials fear assassination plot

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

JERUSALEM, May 15 (Reuters) Mahmoud Abbas's security men are worried about possible plots to assassinate the Palestinian president amidst a power struggle with the militant Islamist movement Hamas, senior Palestinian sources said today.

''We have information there are plans to kill President Abbas,'' a senior Palestinian official said, declining to give any details.

Others said security around Abbas had been stepped up.

Some Palestinian officials said that last month security forces discovered a 20 metre tunnel dug beneath Abbas's house in Gaza and they suspected it was linked to an assassination plot by Hamas members.

Hamas, the militant Islamist movement which won control of the Palestinian government in a January election, denied any involvement.

A report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper this month said a cell from Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam armed wing planned to kill Abbas during a visit to the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper said Israeli intelligence got wind of the plot and warned the Palestinian leader that his life was in danger. Abbas cancelled his planned visit, it said.

A senior Israeli security source confirmed that Israel suspected a plot to kill Abbas, who wants statehood talks with Israel. Hamas is formally committed to destroying Israel, though it has observed a truce for more than a year.

TENSION GROWING Tension has been growing between Hamas and Fatah over control of security forces and the near bankrupt Palestinian Authority's finances. Several Palestinians have been killed in clashes between Abbas loyalists and Hamas gunmen.

Some exiled Hamas leaders, who tend to take a harder line than local counterparts, have called on Abbas to resign and hold new presidential elections. He was elected last year on a platform of peacemaking.

''Security around President Abbas has been stepped up,'' a senior Palestinian official said. ''We are worried the already tense situation could get worse.'' But some other security officials said they doubted Hamas would try to kill Abbas because it could spark a civil war.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper today reported that another militant group, Islamic Jihad, had plans to kill Abbas with a car bomb.

''Sources close to Abbas reported the matter in talks with Israeli security officials,'' the Haaretz Web site reported.

Islamic Jihad described the report as Israeli lies and Palestinian political analysts questioned whether the group would want to kill Abbas. Unlike Hamas, Islamic Jihad has continued suicide bombings in Israel despite the truce.

''There is no difference between us and President Mahmoud Abbas that would make anybody even think of throwing a stone on him,'' said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.

REUTERS SHB ND1750

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