Ramallah :The killing of Hamas's top military commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh was a message from Israel that Hamas leaders have no immunity, and threatens to expand the war beyond the Palestinian-Israeli borders, analysts said.
They said Al Mabhouh's assassination, the third in recent months of top military leaders unknown to the public, reflects Israel's success in penetrating Hamas's top leadership structure, a one-sided intelligence war that has given Israel the upper hand.
Hamas leaders accused Israel of assassinating Al Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel. Al Mabhouh, who lives in Damascus, was one of the founders of Hamas's military wing Ezz Al Deen Al Qassam Brigades and had engineered the abduction of Israeli soldiers during the first intifada in the 1980s.
Al Mabhouh, 50, was a longtime Israeli target.
Hamas leader Khalid Mesha'al vowed revenge and spokesman for Hamas's military wing Abu Obaidah said in a statement that the Israeli Mossad was seeking to "move the battle abroad."
Abu Obaidah said the Qassam would respond to Israel's message "at the right time."
Hamas officials said the killers had entered Dubai on foreign passports.
Motives
"The assassination in Dubai is a sign that Israel wants to drag Hamas into carrying out military attacks so that Israel can justify any attack on Hamas and to pave the way for a military offensive on Gaza," Palestinian analyst Abdul Majid Sweilem said.
"It is in Israel's interest to drag the Palestinians into a new vicious circle of violence because it is Israel's only excuse to refuse to implement its political and peace obligations," Sweilem told Gulf News.
Israel has not responded to Hamas' accusation of assassinating its top military leader.
Analysts question whether Hamas would respond to Al Mabhouh's assassination abroad and fall into Israel's trap of dragging it into a war in Arab capitals.
Hassan Asfour, former Palestinian negotiator and political analyst, said Hamas must launch a serious and immediate investigation into Israel's successful infiltration into Hamas's military wing structure. "The matter is very serious. Hamas should not choose to close its eyes to this grave matter as it has done many times before. Hamas must find out who from "the insiders" helped eliminate [Al] Mabhouh," Asfour said. "The intelligence war is one-sided — from Israel," he added.
Hamas leader Mohammad Al Zahar told Al Jazeera television on Friday that by assassinating Al Mabhouh in Dubai, Israel was seeking to change the rules of the game.
A Hamas official said Hamas has so far refrained from carrying out attacks against Israeli targets abroad because its policy was that as a Palestinian movement, its war with Israel was confined to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Hamas rules Gaza Strip, but its top leadership operates from Damascus and lives in exile. Israel has in the past targeted Hamas and PLO leaders abroad. Two Hamas officials were killed last month in a mysterious explosion in Beirut.
Damascus-based Mesha'al was poisoned by Mossad in 1997 in Jordan, creating a crisis between Jordan's King Hussain and Israel. Mesha'al survived the assassination attempt after King Hussain demanded the antidote from Israel.
"Hamas is studying how to respond, where and when to respond. This is a sensitive issue that weakens Hamas and affects its credibility, and it also embarrasses Arab states," a source close to Hamas said.
- Wafa Amr is a journalist based in Ramallah.
