"Fake Fatah Video to Smear Hamas"
CAIRO — The Jerusalem Post on Monday, October 1, exposed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's intelligence officials' attempt to smear rival Hamas through a hoax video showing the lynching of a young girl.
The Fatah-controlled Intelligence service contacted the Israeli daily and sent them the "exclusive" video as a demonstration of the alleged brutality practiced by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The video shows the killing of a 16-year-old girl in July allegedly by Hamas members for dishonoring her family.
The pro-Fatah intelligence officials also supplied the Israeli daily with the phone numbers of two alleged witnesses who claimed they had witnessed the lynching of the girl.
The Israeli daily has removed an earlier article about the video after "ascertained that the supposed fresh 'evidence' of another such killing is actually a Fatah hoax."
It praised the "awareness of readers and bloggers" who helped expose the allegation.
The film actually shows the killing of an Iraqi girl from the Yazidis sect for having an affair with a Sunni.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip three month ago after bloody fighting with rival Fatah.
Abbas then sacked the Hamas-led national unity government of Ismail Haniya and appointed a caretaker cabinet led by West-favored economist Salam Fayyad.
Political Gains
When contacted by the Post, the intelligence officials claimed they were deceived by colleagues while their alleged eyewitnesses turned out to be former Fatah security officers in Gaza.
The Israeli daily described the whole episode as "part of a campaign to discredit Hamas."
It insisted that the timing of the video "was clearly intended to coincide" with Abbas's visit to New York and his talks with US President George Bush.
"The goal: to show that Fatah is combating terrorism and that the Hamas followers are ruthless murderers who don't hesitate to brutally kill a 16-year-old girl," said the Post.
Since the Hamas takeover, the Israeli army has banned Israeli journalists from entering the coastal area.
The Israeli media and most foreign journalists now rely on local reporters and Fatah officials as a main source of information.
The Jerusalem Post noted that the video was not the only Fatah attempt to smear rival Hamas.
The Israeli daily recalled that Fatah claimed last week that its security forces in the West Bank city of Bethlehem had thwarted an attempt by Hamas to launch rockets at Jerusalem.
It noted that Fatah later admitted that the "rockets" were old pipes apparently used by Palestinian children during a game.
Israeli army sources told the Post at the time that the pipes were not suitable for use as Kassam rockets.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=11908860176...
No real surprises to me; I know all about Israel's dirty games!
