February 14, 2005


Isn’t it odd that a Palestinian, Ahmed Tayseer Abu Adas, would claim responsibility for killing former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri? Not if certain governments want to make it look like Palestinians—and millions of Arabs in general—are crazed Muslim fanatics. "Early investigations had shown [Adas] was a member of an Islamic school of thought known as Wahhabism—an austere form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia," reports Reuters ( http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14681185.htm ). "Western governments and moderate Muslim clerics have said this brand of faith, which rules all aspects of life, was fomenting extremism." Reuters simply could not help itself. It was compelled to throw in that tidbit about Muslim fanaticism.

Naturally, the Palestinian Adas is connected to an al-Qaeda-like organization. "He had earlier appeared in a video aired by Al Jazeera claiming responsibility killing Hariri and calling him a Saudi agent…. The tape broadcast by Al Jazeera showed Abu Adas sitting in front of a black flag carrying the name 'Group for Advocacy and Holy War in the Levant’…. He called Hariri a Saudi agent and said the attack was also 'in revenge for the pious martyrs killed by security forces of the Saudi regime’ and used a religious term for Saudi Arabia often used by al Qaeda militants fighting Riyadh’s U.S.-allied government since 2003."

Bingo! Adas used an al-Qaeda word.

It should be noted that Rafik al-Hariri, a billionaire philanthropist, probably had more than his share of enemies—including Israel. Back in 2003, as prime minister, al-Hariri said that Israel, "through its aggressive practices," as the Middle East Newsline characterized it at the time, wanted "to create a new situation in the region." ( http://www.kokhavivpublications.com/2003/israel/10/031013224
5.html )His remarks came a few days after Israel bombed Syria, an overt and brazen act of war supported the Bush administration.

And then there was the role al-Hariri played in 1996 ( http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9604/13/israel.lebanon.pm/ ), attempting to get Israel out of Lebanon, going so far as convening a diplomatic mission to seek Syrian, Egyptian and French support to end the Israeli assault.

Finally, there is the issue of the Wazzani River, a tributary of the Hasbani that flows into the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, Israel’s biggest body of freshwater. Israel took a "grave view" of Lebanon’s plan to pipe water from the river. In fact, they declared their intention to start a war ( http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/lebanon/2003/011
5wa.htm )over how much water Lebanon piped from the river, an amount well below a 1995 agreement (Lebanon takes 353 million cubic feet per year from the Wazzani and Hasbani rivers, well below the 1.2 billion cubic feet allowed in the agreement). Israel is estimated to use 5.3 billion cubic feet of water per year from the two rivers.

"No matter where else you look, no one else had anything to gain except Israel and the U.S. because [al-Hariri’s] death could cause some possible upset in Lebanese politics and life," writes Sam Hamod ( http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8060.htm ). "Most Middle East experts in the Arab and Muslim worlds believe Israeli hands were at work in the killing of former Prime Minister of Lebanon." Hamod continues:

Harriri’s killing, like so many of those in Iraq, is the work of either the Israeli dark ops or American mercenaries who have been hired out to kill people who are progressive in the Arab and Muslim worlds. That is why in Lebanon today, people know that it was not some dissident "Islamist group" (that no one has heard of, nor does anyone believe actually exists) who allegedly took credit for the deed, and in Iraq, where the religious leaders among the Sunni and Shi’a are telling their people not to revenge themselves on one another, because they know the killings are professional jobs being done by people from outside Iraq, namely, Israel and America. The parallels are evident to experts, but these experts will not be allowed on American media. But, Professor Rime Allaf, of the Royal Institute in England is correct, this was the work of an intelligence agency—and we damn well know who the only two would be—because they are the only two to gain by this deed, Israel or America.

As for the "Group for Advocacy and Holy War in the Levant" with hinted Palestinian and al-Qaeda connections, consider the following: In late 2002, "Palestinian security forces … arrested a group of Palestinians for collaborating with Israel and posing as operatives of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network," reported the AFP ( http://www.propagandamatrix.com/palestinians_arrest_al_qaeda
_poseurs.htm )

"There are certain elements who were instructed by the Mossad to form a cell under the name of Al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip in order to justify the assault and the military campaigns of the Israeli occupation army against Gaza," Abed Rabbo, Palestinian Information Minister, told Reuters ( http://www.prisonplanet.com/israel_faked_gaza_al_qaeda_prese
nce.htm ) .

Hamod again:

We must do as they do in other criminal cases, look at who had the most to gain from the assassination of Prime Minister Harriri. The Lebanese had a lot to lose, as did the Syrians (he was close to Bashir Al Assad, the leader of Syria), as did the other Arab countries in the region who saw him as a strong leader and a stabilizing force in Lebanese politics. On the other hand, Israel has wanted chaos in Lebanon, as has America, and both countries have been agitating to get Hezbollah outlawed and both America and Israel have wanted the Lebanese to oust Syria. In both cases, the Lebanese government has said, "NO," that Hezbollah is a respected part of Lebanese life and that Syria is there to protect Lebanon from Israeli aggression.