Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused his former national security advisor Mohammad Dahlan of complicity in the Zionist entity’s 2002 assassination of Hamas leader Salah Shehade.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused his former national security advisor Mohammad Dahlan of complicity in the Zionist entity's 2002 assassination of Hamas leader Salah Shehade, prompting Hamas to call for an investigation into the issue.
Abbas told his Fatah's revolutionary council in Ramallah on Wednesday that Dahlan, a sacked Fatah leader who had led Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip in the 1990s, had told him moments before an attempt on Shehade's life that the latter would be eliminated "within minutes."
"Soon after, we heard a huge explosion. Dahlan went out and then told me, 'that lucky…had left his home a moment before," Abbas said.
Shehade was later killed in a Zionist airstrike on a Gaza residential building in July 2002. The attack also killed 17 others, including eight children.
Dahlan fell out with Abbas in recent years, prompting the Palestinian leader to expel him from Fatah in 2011.
Dahlan, who has since been critical of Abbas, is currently living in the United Arab Emirates.
Hours after Abbas' remarks, Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil called for a "comprehensive investigation" into the issue.
"Abbas' assertions…are very serious accusations and require a comprehensive probe," Bardawil said.
Sacked Fatah leader Mohammad Dahlan fired back at Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, dismissing the accusations.
"Abbas' claims are "a perfect example of lying and fabrication and a model of idiocy and ignorance regarding the facts of Palestinian history," he said via Facebook.
Abbas has also accused Dahlan of involvement in a string of assassinations that have claimed the lives of several Fatah-affiliated figures. He has also hinted at Dahlan's possible role in the death of late Fatah leader Yasser Arafat.
In response, Dahlan has vowed to reveal the "facts" of Arafat's death soon.
Arafat, 75, died in France in 2004. At the time, doctors had been unable to determine the cause of death.
