-Caveat Lector- >From The National Post (CA)
}>>>Begin Page URL: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?f=/stories/20011210/ 834184.html December 10, 2001 Iran plotting with Hamas to replace Arafat regime Assassination discussed: Hardliners hope to set up Palestinian Islamic republic Con Coughlin The Sunday Telegraph LONDON - Iran has substantially increased its financial support for Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group, in the hope it will succeed in establishing an Islamic regime in the West Bank and Gaza. The desperate position in which Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, finds himself after a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa has led Iran's hardline ayatollahs to conclude there is a realistic possibility Mr. Arafat's regime could be replaced by a Tehran-style theocracy. Iranian hardliners are so confident of the West Bank and Gaza falling under Hamas control they have even broached the notion of assassinating Mr. Arafat as a means of expediting the Islamic takeover. Western diplomats based in Syria have been closely monitoring a series of meetings Hamas leaders have attended in recent weeks at the Iranian embassy in Damascus. The latest took place last Wednesday, when Khaled Mashal, head of Hamas's political bureau, met Hussein Sheikh el-Islam, the Iranian ambassador. According to intelligence reports of the meeting, the outcome was a commitment by the Iranians to increase Tehran's financial support from its current level of $3-million to $18-million a year. The money will be paid to Hamas through front companies in South America. The Iranian officials also are said to have suggested Hamas should assassinate Mr. Arafat to facilitate the establishment of an Islamic regime to govern the Palestinian-controlled areas. "The Iranians firmly believe there is now a golden opportunity for Hamas to take control of the West Bank and Gaza,'' a Western diplomat commented last week. "They believe that last weekend's suicide bombings have illustrated that Mr. Arafat can no longer control the Palestinians.'' The Hamas leadership, however, is said to have declined the Iranians' invitation to murder Mr. Arafat, arguing it would be counterproductive to its goals because Mr. Arafat is regarded as an important symbol of the Palestinian cause. The revelation that the Iranian embassy in Damascus is plotting to influence events in the occupied territories will cause concern in Washington, where George W. Bush, the U.S. President, last month warned Syria it could find itself targeted in the war on terrorism if it did not take effective action to prevent Damascus being used as a base for terrorist operations. The Iranian embassy in Syria has a long history of involvement in acts of terrorism. In the 1980s, it was used to orchestrate attacks on U.S. targets in Beirut and to control the hostage crisis during which a number of U.S. and British citizens were kidnapped. More recently, it has been used to direct Hezbollah attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon. Although relations between Hamas and Iran have been strained in the past, security experts believe they have improved during the past year as Hamas has sought support from hardline Islamic states for its attacks on Israel. Teams of Iran's Revolutionary Guards are reported to have been active in the Palestinian territories for several months. In particular, they are said to be concentrating their energies on collecting information on Mr. Arafat's health, his political position, the scope of funds he holds in banks around the world and his relations with senior members of the Palestinian Authority. The Iranians are working directly on the orders of Ayatollah Khamanei, Iran's spiritual leader, who has personally approved the increase in funding for Hamas. Two months ago, Ayatollah Khamanei condemned Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, for visiting Tehran in an attempt to win Iran's backing for the war on terrorism. 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