December 11, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 6, 1423

GAZA CITY, Dec 10: A Palestinian man, face masked to conceal his identity, told media Tuesday how an Israeli agent posing as an operative for Ossam bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network had tried to recruit him.

The man, in his 20s and going by the name of Ibrahim, addressed a press conference at the Palestinian preventive security’s Gaza City headquarters.

He described receiving a phone call in January from a man who presented himself as Yusef, spoke little Arabic and said he was from Acre in northern Israel.

“He said he was a senior member of Al Qaeda and had been designated by (Osama) bin Laden to recruit in Israel and in the Palestinian territories,” said Ibrahim.

“He asked me to help him implant Al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip,” he went on.

After receiving money and being asked to recruit other people, mostly militants of the Hamas, Ibrahim said he became suspicious and went to the Palestinian preventive security in May to inform them of Yusef’s activities.

“They traced the calls and told me he was working for Israeli intelligence,” he said.

Rashid Abu Shbak, the Gaza Strip head of preventive security told reporters Saturday his agency had uncovered an Israeli plot to create a mock Al Qaeda cell in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority detained three Palestinians in connection with the affair while another eleven were released after they, like Ibrahim, spontaneously revealed having been contacted.

Abu Shbak’s revelations were dismissed as “absurd” by Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged last week that Al Qaeda militants were operating in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon, but provided no evidence to back his claim.—AFP