Abbas: Al-Qaida not in Gaza, West Bank

[barb162]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Palestinians_Abbas.html
Thursday, November 17, 2005 · Last updated 10:04 a.m. PT

Abbas: Al-Qaida not in Gaza, West Bank

By TRISHA THOMAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

TUNIS, Tunisia -- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas denied Thursday that al-Qaida cells were operating in Gaza or the West Bank, and he dismissed U.S. and Israeli demands that the militant group Hamas should be barred from running in parliamentary elections.

Abbas, speaking to AP Television News in what he said was his first interview in English since taking office a year ago, rejected claims made this week by Israeli President Moshe Katsav that "terror groups, including some al-Qaida cells, have formed" in the Gaza Strip since Israel's pullout in August.

Katsav, who spoke in Italy, is the latest senior Israeli official to make that claim.

"I don't think that there are cells of al-Qaida in Gaza," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Summit on the Information Society.
snip

[barb162]

1. I wanted to post this link along with the thread

http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1601467,00.html
Four Arabs jailed for planning attacks on German Jewish targets

"snip
Mohamed Abu Dhess, Ashraf al-Dagma and Ismail Shalabi were convicted in a Düsseldorf court of plotting to attack Berlin's famous Jewish museum and a Jewish-owned bar in the city of Düsseldorf. They were also found guilty of being members of al-Tawhid - a radical Palestinian network linked to al-Qaida and headed by Zarqawi, whom the US accuses of carrying out numerous terrorist attacks in Iraq. All three had rejected the charges made against them.

snip"

Important: three Jordanians and an Algerian were found guilty of being members of Al-Tawhid

[newyorican]

2. Related threads...

Al Qaeda 'infiltrates Gaza'

Israel: Al-Qaida Ready to Infiltrate Gaza

Al Qaida announces presence in the Gaza Strip