Friday, February 19, 2010
LONDON (AFP) - – Britain, Ireland and France piled pressure on Israel Thursday over the use of fake passports by assassins of a Hamas chief last month, as Dubai's police chief said he is sure Mossad was to blame.
At the same time international police agency Interpol issued arrest notices for 11 suspects wanted by Dubai for the killing of Hamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhuh in the emirate.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the Israelis to cooperate "fully" in investigating the incident, as diplomatic tension mounted with Israel's ambassadors called in for talks in London and Dublin.
"We hope and expect that they will cooperate fully with the investigation," Miliband said after Israeli envoy Ron Prosor held talks with Peter Ricketts, the head of Britain's diplomatic service.
"We want to get to the bottom of the issue of the fraudulent passports, or their potential use," Miliband added . Related article: Mossad's forays abroad
In Dublin, Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin announced "frank" talks with Israel's envoy -- usually diplomatic code for angry exchanges -- saying he regarded the use of false Irish passports as "an extremely serious incident".
"Regardless of who was responsible, (Ireland) takes grave exception to the forgery and misuse of Irish passports which could devalue the standing of the passports and potentially put at risk the safety of Irish citizens," it said.
"The (Israeli) ambassador said that he had no information on the matter and would relay the messages he had received to his authorities," it concluded tersely.
In France, a foreign ministry spokesman said Paris is "demanding explanations" from the Israeli embassy for the use of a false French passport.
Diplomatic tensions have mounted over Mabhuh's killing after Dubai's police chief revealed that 11 European passport holders -- six British, three Irish, one French and one German -- were allegedly involved.
No government has directly accused Israel but speculation about the killers has centred on Israel's Mossad intelligence services, which have used agents with fake passports for such operations in the past. Related article: EU passports of Hamas murder suspects not fake: Dubai police
Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said he was 99 percent sure Mossad was behind the murder, The National newspaper reported.
"Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of Mabhuh. It is 99 percent, if not 100 percent that Mossad is standing behind the murder," the Abu Dhabi-based English-language daily quoted Khalfan as saying.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday there was no evidence to suggest the Jewish state's spies were responsible.
"There is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief," he said.
But the use of fake passports of countries with normally friendly ties with Israel is generating anger in at least three of the European capitals concerned. All except Germany have insisted the passports were faked.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown -- whose country's ties with Israel were already chilled by a recent row over an arrest warrant issued for ex foreign minister Tzipi Livni -- stressed Thursday the need for a "full investigation."
"We have got to know the facts, we have got to know what has happened, we have got to know what happened to British passports," he said.
Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency will lead the probe in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates authorities, a government spokesman said. Related article: Stolen identities used by Hamas chief assassins
Announcing the issue of the so-called Red Notices Interpol said it "has reason to believe that the suspects linked to this murder have stolen the identities of real people."
Miliband added that he hopes to meet Lieberman on Monday in Brussels, where a meeting of European Union foreign ministers is scheduled.
"I look forward to discussing this further with him then," he said.
In Austria meanwhile, authorities said they were investigating whether the killers used Austrian phone numbers or SIM cards to plan their hit.
"The investigations are under way and we're in contact with Dubai police," interior ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia told AFP.
No comments:
Post a Comment