Hamas to Dubai police: Prove collaborator claim

Ma’an – 22/02/2010

Gaza – Hamas said Monday that Dubai Chief of Police Dahi Khalfan Tamim had yet to provide evidence that a collaborator from within the movement had supplied Mossad with information on Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, who was killed in his Dubai hotel room in January.

“Who is this person he speaks of, why haven’t they disclosed his name and why wasn’t he arrested like the two other Palestinians?” read a statement from a party official.

UAE media outlets reported that Tamim accused a member of Hamas of providing information to the Israeli intelligence agency on Al-Mabhouh’s movements and locations in Dubai to facilitate the hit.

Sources said that the movement had not been informed of the Dubai police’s investigations into the murder. “It is illogical to see Hamas learn of case through the media,” adding that it was unclear if Tamim’s claims were based on evidence or mere speculation.

Hamas spokesman Salah Al-Bardawil said Saturday that Al-Mabhouh’s pursuers could have learned of his whereabouts from a telephone call he made to his family before leaving for Dubai, informing them of his hotel details and the online booking he made when purchasing airline tickets.

On Sunday, the British weekly The Sunday Times reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the final authorization to carry out the assassination Al-Mabhouh in Dubai, and that he met with members of the 11-person hit squad, traveling on a host of European passports.

Members of the hit squad had visited Dubai on previous occasions to follow up on Al-Mabhouh’s movements and trained in a Tel Aviv hotel to prepare for the hit, the weekly wrote.

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