Landau denies link to Hamas man's death

[Behind the Aegis]

Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau on Sunday vehemently denied the Hamas allegation that his entourage was responsible for the assassination of top operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in 10 days ago.

“My entourage went to an international conference. What we are witnessing is the wild eastern imagination going hand-in-hand with Palestinian anger about an Israeli flag flying over ,” he said.

At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, other ministers refused to comment on the incident in , but in response to questions, did compliment Mossad chief Meir Dagan and expressed appreciation for the work of the organization.

Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, accused Israeli agents accompanying Landau to the United Arab Emirates two weeks ago of assassinating the operative.


Interviewed on Al-Jazeera, Zahar suggested that the agents might have entered the country with forged documents.


He accused Israel of “moving the battlefield abroad.”

Hamas said over the weekend that it will send a “security delegation” to Dubai to participate in the investigations into Mabhouh's death and hinted that it plans to strike at Israeli targets abroad in retaliation.

The delegation would seek to “learn the lessons from the assassination,” Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said. He said Israel would “pay a heavy price for its despicable crime.”

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