Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08JERUSALEM243
2008-02-08 12:07:00
SECRET
Consulate Jerusalem
Cable title:
PA SECURITY SAYS HAMAS RESPONSIBLE FOR DIMONA
how-toVZCZCXRO3041 OO RUEHROV DE RUEHJM #0243 0391207 ZNY SSSSS ZZH O 081207Z FEB 08 FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0534 INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC PRIORITY
S E C R E T JERUSALEM 000243
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2018
TAGS: KWBG PTER IS PINS
SUBJECT: PA SECURITY SAYS HAMAS RESPONSIBLE FOR DIMONA
SUICIDE BOMBING, DISCOUNTS OTHER FACTIONS' CLAIMS
Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
S E C R E T JERUSALEM 000243
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2018
TAGS: KWBG PTER IS PINS
SUBJECT: PA SECURITY SAYS HAMAS RESPONSIBLE FOR DIMONA
SUICIDE BOMBING, DISCOUNTS OTHER FACTIONS' CLAIMS
Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (S) PA police chief Kamal al-Shaykh and Hazem Attallah
(PM Salam Fayyad's military secretary) told PolOff on
February 6-7 that Hamas was responsible for the February 4
suicide bombing in Dimona and that the blast is part of a
Hamas strategy to sow instability and undermine peace
efforts. Attallah said the PFLP/al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
claims of responsibility were spurious and were announced
even before the identity of the bombers was known. He said
the PFLP and al-Aqsa Brigades factions may currently have
militants, with priority-ordered target lists, who are in
hiding and out of communications. However, faction spokesmen
usually do not know the exact timing/location of a planned
suicide attack in advance and must guess whether their
militants were those actually involved.
2. (S) Attallah said Hamas made a decision, confirmed by
official claims of responsibility in al-Qassam Brigades
outlets, to restart suicide attacks after a meeting of Hamas
and other militant faction leaders in Damascus on January 23.
He commented that Hamas overstepped in allowing violence
against Egyptian border guards at Rafah crossing and suffered
a rebuke from Egypt, and is now shifting its focus to
undermining the PA by carrying out terrorist attacks.
Al-Shaykh also assessed that Hamas has shifted its strategy
to include attacks inside Israel to undermine PA security
efforts and GOI-PA security cooperation.
Comment
--------------
3. (C) The PA security establishment's attribution of the
Dimona attack to Hamas is supported by other reporting and is
a troubling threat indicator, as Hamas has generally avoided
attacks inside Israel since 2004. If Hamas restarts suicide
attacks on a major scale, it will greatly complicate PA-GOI
security cooperation and peace efforts generally.
WALLES
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2018
TAGS: KWBG PTER IS PINS
SUBJECT: PA SECURITY SAYS HAMAS RESPONSIBLE FOR DIMONA
SUICIDE BOMBING, DISCOUNTS OTHER FACTIONS' CLAIMS
Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (S) PA police chief Kamal al-Shaykh and Hazem Attallah
(PM Salam Fayyad's military secretary) told PolOff on
February 6-7 that Hamas was responsible for the February 4
suicide bombing in Dimona and that the blast is part of a
Hamas strategy to sow instability and undermine peace
efforts. Attallah said the PFLP/al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
claims of responsibility were spurious and were announced
even before the identity of the bombers was known. He said
the PFLP and al-Aqsa Brigades factions may currently have
militants, with priority-ordered target lists, who are in
hiding and out of communications. However, faction spokesmen
usually do not know the exact timing/location of a planned
suicide attack in advance and must guess whether their
militants were those actually involved.
2. (S) Attallah said Hamas made a decision, confirmed by
official claims of responsibility in al-Qassam Brigades
outlets, to restart suicide attacks after a meeting of Hamas
and other militant faction leaders in Damascus on January 23.
He commented that Hamas overstepped in allowing violence
against Egyptian border guards at Rafah crossing and suffered
a rebuke from Egypt, and is now shifting its focus to
undermining the PA by carrying out terrorist attacks.
Al-Shaykh also assessed that Hamas has shifted its strategy
to include attacks inside Israel to undermine PA security
efforts and GOI-PA security cooperation.
Comment
--------------
3. (C) The PA security establishment's attribution of the
Dimona attack to Hamas is supported by other reporting and is
a troubling threat indicator, as Hamas has generally avoided
attacks inside Israel since 2004. If Hamas restarts suicide
attacks on a major scale, it will greatly complicate PA-GOI
security cooperation and peace efforts generally.
WALLES