MIDEAST/US: Osama bin Laden's al- Qaeda network plans to launch suicide attacks against Israel, according to a website that US officials believe speaks for the organisation, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
Intelligence officials believe the Web site (http://www.mojahedoon.net) provides further proof of al-Qaeda's determination to target Israel, the Post said.
Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said on Thursday that al- Qaeda had established a presence in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip and in Lebanon and that Israel was a target for al-Qaeda attacks.
Palestinians and Lebanon denied Mr Sharon's charge and Palestinians said Israel was looking for an excuse to invade Gaza, where it often launches raids to hunt militants fighting for independence.
U.S. and Israeli officials believe al-Qaeda was behind the suicide car-bomb attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya last week that killed three Israeli tourists and 10 Kenyans.
They also believe it was involved in a second attack, in which missiles just missed an Israeli airliner taking off nearby.
The Arabic-language website announces the formation of a new al-Qaeda branch, the Islamic al- Qaeda Organization in Palestine, which it says will work to undermine any talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Post reported.
The site also urges an end to the feuding between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, a fundamentalist group that advocates suicide attacks against Israel.
The talks, which have been suspended, ultimately aim to establish a Palestinian state in exchange for peace with Israel. The al-Qaeda website said it rejects this course.
"Islamic al-Qaeda in Palestine joins its voice with the voices of the mujahedin in Palestine in its resistance to the partial and submissive solutions [land for peace], and will accept nothing but the full liberation of the Palestinian land," said the website.
The new Palestinian arm of al- Qaeda "will defeat the Zionist Jewish invaders return them to the place ... whence they came," the site said.
On Wednesday, President Bush confirmed US suspicions about al- Qaeda's involvement in the Kenya attacks, and blamed terrorists for disrupting Middle East peace plans. - (Reuters)