Abbas slams Israeli raid as last hostages freed
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-16 09:24

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas accused Israel of a "dreadful crime" as he toured the scene of a devastating raid on a West Bank prison that sparked widespread diplomatic recriminations.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas speaks to the press as he stands in front of the destroyed jail in the West Bank town of Jericho. Abbas accused Israel of a "dreadful crime" as he toured the scene of a devastating raid on a West Bank prison that sparked widespread diplomatic recriminations. [AFP]

Abbas said he could understand the anger of Palestinians at Israel's seizure of militants held in Jericho jail but appealed for a halt to attacks on Western targets as the last four of a dozen hostages seized Tuesday were freed.

"What happened in Jericho was a dreadful crime... Israel had no right to carry out this kidnapping," said Abbas, who cut short a European tour to manage the crisis.

He acknowledged the Palestinian Authority had been warned that American and British monitors at the prison were set to be pulled out but said they were kept in the dark about the timing of their withdrawal just minutes before the Israeli assault.

"As a consequence, there is definitely no responsibility for the Palestinian Authority about this issue," he told reporters.

The prison raid further underlined the complete collapse in relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority following the shock election win of the militant Islamist movement Hamas in January.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had strongly denied Palestinian charges of collusion with the Israeli operation, insisting that London had informed both Israel and the Palestinians of the pullout on March 8.

Abbas reiterated calls for Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat and the other five militants to be returned immediately to the previous custody arrangements.

But Israel made clear there was no question of handing back the militants, five of whom it holds responsible for the 2001 murder of far-right tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi. That killing was carried out in response to the Israeli assassination of Saadat's predecessor Abu Ali Mustafa.

"The state prosecutor will hold a meeting in the coming days with justice ministry and defence officials on how to try the murderers of minister Zeevi," said a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office.

Four of the five have already been convicted by a Palestinian court and one by an Israeli court, but Saadat has never faced trial.

Amid criticism of the raid from both the European Union and Russia -- two of the main players in the Middle East peace process -- Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert strongly defended the operation, saying there had been no misgivings in either London or Washington.

"You heard the British foreign secretary and officials in the US State Department... None of them complained, put pressure or demanded anything," he said.

"Everyone placed the full responsibility on the Palestinian Authority and gave their full backing to the decision we made..."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair told MPs that the withdrawal had been forced by concerns for the monitors' safety.

"For the past three months we have been warning the Palestinian Authority that the security of these monitors was at risk, that the procedures at the particular detention centre were not adequate and proper."

But outgoing Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Qidwa rejected his explanation. "We do not agree with the assessment that there was any direct threat to the monitors there," he told reporters.

The Israeli government strenuously denied that the raid -- a fortnight before a general election -- was motivated by political considerations, charging that the Palestinian Authority was on the verge of freeing those suspected of being behind Zeevi's assassination.

"We had no choice but to intervene as no responsible state could allow the murderers of one of its ministers to be at liberty," said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Amid fury across the Palestinian political spectrum over the deadly raid, the territories ground to a halt under a general strike and Israeli and Palestinian security forces alike remained on high alert for revenge attacks.

Security was also beefed up around foreign interests, notably British and American offices, after Anglo-US targets suffered the brunt of unrest that inflamed the Palestinian territories on Tuesday.

The four hostages -- Canadian teacher Adam Budzanowski, South Korean television correspondent Yong Tae-young and French journalists Caroline Laurent and Alfred Yacobzadeh -- were brought back to Jerusalem after being freed in Gaza City.

Unlike other hostages who were held for a matter of hours, the teacher and three journalists endured a lengthier ordeal at the hands of PFLP supporters.

For Yacobzadeh, a photographer with the SIPA agency, it had been his second such ordeal -- he was also held in Beirut during the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war.