Palestinians Accuse Israel of Setting Up Fake al-Qaeda Cell.

By Ross Dunn (VOA-Jerusalem)

The Palestinian Authority has accused Israel of setting up a fake al-Qaeda cell in the Gaza Strip in order to justify launching attacks inside the territory. Israel dismissed the claim as ludicrous.

The Palestinian Authority said Saturday that Israel's

Mossad security agency had enlisted what it called Palestinian collaborators in the Gaza Strip to pose as members of Osama bin-Laden's al-Qaeda network. Palestinian officials made the claim in response to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's allegations that al-Qaeda members had infiltrated Palestinian areas of Gaza.

The Palestinian chief of Preventive Security in the Gaza Strip, Rashid Abu Shbak, said his forces uncovered Palestinians in the territory, who allegedly had been ordered by Israeli security officials, "to work under the name of al-Qaeda."

Raanan Gissin, a Sharon spokesman dismissed the Palestinian statements against Israel as, "sheer nonsense." Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat also described as a big lie Sharon's statement that al-Qaeda members had penetrated the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, with the aim of targeting Israel. Sharon did not provide any details.

Speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Arafat said that Sharon had made the claims in order to justify what Arafat called crimes against the Palestinian people.