PA official: Israel's anti-terror campaign going too far
Israel overstepping boundaries with covert assassination campaign, Senior Palestinian source tells London-based newspaper; Egyptian official says Israel has stepped up anti-terror activity across Mideast
Israel is going too far by increasingly assassinating terrorists across the Middle East, a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told London-based newspaper The Times.
"Israel is overstepping their boundaries," the Palestinian source was quoted as saying. "Other countries don’t want to become a killing field for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The British newspaper says Israel is currently waging a "covert assassination campaign" across the Mideast. Among other attacks, The Times cites the explosion of a "tourist bus" outside Damascus that killed Iranian officials and Hamas members. In another case, several people were killed after a meeting between Hamas and Hezbollah members in Beirut was also targeted.
“There has been growing cooperation between Gaza and Iran," the Palestinian official was quoted as saying. "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.
'They're trying to embroil us all'
Meanwhile, an Egyptian diplomat told the newspaper that Cairo is aware of the stepped up Israeli assassination campaign.
“We watch their comings and goings; we are aware that there is more activity both on our ground and other countries in the region,” he said. “They are trying to embroil us all in their conflict.”
The Times notes that Israel is believed to have resumed and intensified its anti-terror assassinations after Mossad Chief Meir Dagan took up the post.
"Only months after the former paratrooper assumed leadership of the intelligence service in October 2002, senior Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon began to be targeted," The Times wrote.
