Israel fears chemical attack by Hamas suicide bombers
The Times of London
January 2, 2002
http://www.theblackvault.com/article1563.html
BY DANIEL MCGRORY - ISRAELI Intelligence chiefs believe that Palestinian bomb-makers are trying to acquire lethal toxins to use in future suicide attacks.
It is believed that leaders of the military wing of Hamas, the radical Islamist group, living abroad in Qatar, Syria and Jordan have decided to include chemical weapons in their arsenal.
According to Israeli Intelligence, Hamas first added poisonous chemicals to home-made bombs in 1997. “They used pesticides and other poisons that are relatively easy to get hold of,” a senior security source said. “The concern is that they are becoming ambitious and are trying to get hold of sarin and other nerve gases.”
The Israeli Government has never disclosed the number of bomb attacks in which chemicals have been used because of the panic that it would cause. It is known, however, that Hamas has used chemical bombs in recent attacks.
When two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded pedestrian precinct in Jerusalem last month, for example, a car bomb timed to explode a few minutes later was packed with pesticides.
Four days later a suicide bomber who blew himself up close to a Jerusalem hotel where two Cabinet ministers were holding meetings was found to be carrying a bomb laced with the same chemical mix.
Hospitals in Israel have been told to be alert for chemical weapons in all future suicide attacks and teams of experts with detector vans will be among the first to be sent to the scene of a bomb blast.
Hamas’s military wing is boasting about the panic it is causing the Israeli military. On its website, Izzedine alQassam, the group claims that its new weapon has created “a situation of fear in the Zionist security services”. It gave no clues as to what toxins it is using.
The security source said that Hamas is not expected to keep its present truce on suicide bombings for long into the new year. “Meanwhile, bomb-makers are using this time to teach new recruits and experiment with new techniques, which obviously could include the use of toxins,” the source said.
The architects of this new generation of bombs are believed to be Jassar Samaru and Nassim Abu Rus, who are accused by Israeli Intelligence manufacturing the three devices used in suicide attacks in Jerusalem, Haifa and the Jewish settlement of Emmanuel last month, in which 37 people died.
The pair are believed to work from an unofficial laboratory in the West Bank town of Nablus. A senior Israeli security source claimed that some of the equipment they need for their work is obtained through the al-Naja university in the town, which is also regarded as a recruiting ground for the men.
The security source said: “These two are at the very top of the wanted list of terrorists given to Yassir Arafat (the Palestinian leader). Every major suicide bomb has been built by these two men.”
Indeed, they were arrested by Palestinian police in 1997 and sentenced to 15 years in jail. While they were in what is described “special accommodation” in Jericho prison, however, Israeli Intelligence claims that the two men were still manufacturing bombs. In October 2000 they were released after Mr Arafat said he feared that the Israelis were going to launch a helicopter attack on the jail to kill the men.
Israeli Health Ministry officials say that so far the explosions have destroyed the poisons’ potency, but the authorities are reluctant to debate this new departure by Hamas, mindful of the public panic at the start of the Gulf War, when it was feared that Iraq had chemicals in the warheads of Scud missiles fired at Israel.
Many Israelis keep gas-masks and self-injection kits in their homes and companies in Israel manufacturing security products say that demand has soared since the September 11 attacks on the United States.
On its website, Hamas has admitted that it has not used chemicals to more devestating effect because of the fear of Israeli reprisals, but with young militants gaining control of its terrorist cells in Gaza and the West Bank, the fear is that it may not be so reluctant in the future.
The Lebanese-based Hezbollah militia sent 40 helium balloons across the border with Israel yesterday. The balloons, which carried large pictures of Mr Arafat and signs with Hezbollah slogans attached to them, landed in an open field after drifting about six miles into Israel.
Police cordoned off the area and exploded the balloons to ensure that they did not contain chemicals or explosives.
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