Investigators started a government inquiry at a secret location yesterday into Israel's bungled attempt to kill a leader of the Islamic militant Hamas group in Jordan, an Israeli spokesman said. The Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, having ordered Mossad secret agents to assassinate the political chief of Hamas, Mr Khaled Meshal, last month, has appointed a three-man "clarification committee" to investigate.
A spokesman, Mr Moshe Fogel, said the committee, headed by a former Defence Ministry legal adviser and joined by a former police chief and former air force chief, was taking testimony at an undisclosed security installation and declined to elaborate.
Mr Netanyahu, a right-winger elected on a promise to deliver peace and security, has dodged questions about his competence in battling "terrorism" and managing peace with Jordan, Israel's friendliest Arab neighbour.
Last week Mr Netanyahu persuaded Jordan to free the two Mossad agents seized in the attack by agreeing to free up to 70 prisoners, among them Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, whose Hamas group has killed scores of Israelis in suicide attacks.
Officials said Mr Netanyahu and the Mossad chief, Mr Danny Yatom, would probably be called to testify to the three-man panel.
At a memorial ceremony yesterday for the 1973 Israeli-Arab war, Mr Netanyahu said Israel was committed to defeating those of its Middle East neighbours who targeted Jews for "murderous attacks".
Despite the tough battle Israel faced with "terrorism", Mr Netanyahu said, Israel had made peace with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. "We hope to start negotiations soon on a final peace treaty with the Palestinians," he added.
An Israeli statement said the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, had called Mr Netanyahu and welcomed his talks with the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, last week. It was their first meeting in six months of crisis over Jewish settlement expansion and Islamic suicide attacks.
Another statement quoted Mr Netanyahu as telling his cabinet yesterday of "a positive beginning" in recent days in the fight by Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority against "terrorism". Critics had claimed that the inquiry panel appointed by Mr Netanyahu would be a whitewash.
In Amman a newspaper said Jordan had expelled Mossad agents and frozen security co-operation with the Jewish state after the botched assassination attempt.
But an Israeli army statement yesterday on the Friday night killing by soldiers of a Jordanian infiltrator emphasised co-operation with Jordan.