AAARGH
Sunday Times, June 24 2001
A Palestinian with links to Israeli intelligence unwittingly acted
as a driver for the suicide bomber responsible for the devastating
explosion that killed 22 people outside a Tel Aviv discotheque,
it was claimed last week.
A senior Palestinian intelligence official told The Sunday
Times that the driver, Mahmoud Dahshat Rashid Al-Nadi, who
made his living ferrying Palestinians from the West Bank to Israel,
was an informant for Israeli police intelligence.
Al-Nadi, who is in his twenties, was arrested on June 2, the day
after he allegedly dropped off the bomber in front of the entrance
of the Dolphi disco on the city's seafront.
Brigadier-General Tawfik Tirawi, the head of the Palestinian General
Intelligence in the West Bank, said Al-Nadi did not appear to
have been aware of his passenger's deadly mission until it was
too late.
Israeli authorities have not announced Al-Nadi's arrest - apparently
out of embarrassment at the close links they enjoyed with a man
who allegedly facilitated the worst suicide bombing in five years.
Al-Nadi was believed still to be in custody last week, although
it was not clear if he had been charged. The militant Islamic
group Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast.
"The man is under arrest," said Brigadier-General Ron
Kitri, the chief Israeli army spokesman, "but he is not a
Shin Bet [Israeli secret service] agent."
Tirawi claimed that Al-Nadi, who lives in the West Bank town of
Qalqilia, had been working with Israeli police intelligence since
1999, giving them information about Palestinian activities in
the area. In so doing, he said, he was following the example of
several other members of his family suspected for decades of links
with the Israeli security services.
In return, he had been given a special pass enabling him to travel
back and forth between the West Bank and Israel. He also possessed
an Israeli identity card.
Tirawi said that on the day of the explosion, Al-Nadi picked up
the bomber, Saeed Hotary, 22, who also lived in Qalqilia, in a
Subaru car, which had Israeli numberplates. They then crossed
into Israel, making use of Al-Nadi's local knowledge to bypass
some checkpoints.
When they arrived in Tel Aviv, Hotary, who had explosives strapped
to his body, asked to be dropped next to the Dolphi disco, a popular
nightspot.
Tirawi claimed that, before getting out, Hotary urged Al-Nadi
to move away from the area - which, he said, made him suspect
his passenger was a suicide bomber. Al-Nadi, he said, then telephoned
his brother Mahdi, an agent of Shin Bet, and told him of his fears.
He was unable to prevent Hotary from blowing himself up and killing
21 people, almost all of them teenage girls of Russian origin,
and injuring more than 100 others. Thousands of ball bearings
had been mixed into the bomb, causing horrific injuries.
Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, called the next day for
an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip.
Hotary's father, Hassan, described the bomber as a devout Muslim,
saying: "I am very happy and proud of what my son did and
I hope all the men of Palestine and Jordan would do the same."
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, will meet Tony Blair
in London today on his way to a meeting in Washington on Tuesday
with President George W Bush. Israeli sources said he would present
video and audio evidence that Arafat had ordered attacks on Israeli
settlers. Colin Powell, the American secretary of state, is due
to set off on a three-day trip to the Middle East to try to halt
the violence.
Thirteen people have been killed since the announcement of the
ceasefire, including a Palestinian shot dead in the Gaza Strip
yesterday.
Sunday Times, June 24 2001
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