Fatah Admits Responsibility for Attempt to Assassinate Haneyya

26 February 2008

GAZA, (PIC)-- The armed wing of Fatah faction, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has acknowledged, for the first time, on Monday that a number of its members were assigned to kill the duly elected PA premier Ismael Haneyya in Gaza city last month.

In a statement it issued and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, the AMB affirmed that the arrested suspects were full-fledge members of the group and that they were assigned to kill Haneyya during a rally to honor Palestinian pilgrims in Gaza city last month.

"This [the attempt against Haneyya] is only the tip of the iceberg …. And we have more [to come]", the AMB statement read.

The AMB also "saluted" the suspects for the "heroic" act they were appointed to carry out, warning the legitimate PA interior ministry in Gaza city of harming them.

The armed wing also sent a "message of salutation" to Al-Tayyeb Abdul Rahim, the PA secretary in Ramallah city, for concocting and planning the assassination of Haneyya, urging him and the Fatah leadership in Ramallah not to forsake the suspects, because, according to the AMB, abandoning those "heroes" could spoil Fatah's "activities" against Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip.

Since the attempt against Haneyya's life was exposed, Abdul Rahim and the Fatah leadership in Ramallah and Gaza cities insisted that they had no role in the attempt against the PA premier; but the AMB statement left no room for them to maneuver.

The PA interior ministry in Gaza city broadcast the confession of one of the suspects who singled out Abdul Rahim and asserted that the Fatah senior figure promised to take care of his family and to protect them if he (the suspect) succeeded in his mission.

Last year, elements of the "routed" mutiny trend and members of the defunct PA presidential guards in Gaza fired at Haneyya's convoy at the Rafah terminal upon his arrival from a successful Arab and Muslim tour.

One of Haneyya's Bodyguards was killed in the attack while his son and his political advisor Ahamd Yousef were wounded. Haneyya wasn’t harmed.