PALESTINE: Suicide bomb 'proof' flawed

April 10, 2002
Issue 

BY ROHAN PEARCE

Analysis by Electronic Intifada web site has revealed that documents produced by the Israeli government, allegedly proving the involvement of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in suicide bomber attacks, have glaring flaws.

According to their report, “The list of people in the document are not suicide bombers as claimed. We have verified four out of the seven mentioned are people Israel in fact assassinated... Variation in spellings of names and limited time are our biggest obstacle to finding out the status of the last three”.

“The explosives are 'dual use'. While suicide bombings are clearly one possibility, this document was dated September 16, 2001. At that time, according to the Israel Defense Force's own web site, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades was not committing suicide bombings.

“Rather, they were blowing up Israeli tanks as they entered their refugee camps which, as these were military vehicles attacking the camps, are universally considered under international law to be legitimate targets for people resisting military occupation.”

[View the full report, “Israel's 'smoking gun' a damp firecracker”,
at <http://www.electronicIntifada.net/actionitems/020404aamb.html>.]

From Green Left Weekly, April 10, 2002.
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