(Jerusalem Post) Khaled Abu Toameh - Several Palestinian militiamen who tried to cross the Rafah border into Egypt on Sunday were turned back by PA policemen and European monitors. One was Jamal Abu Samhadana, the overall commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group responsible for many attacks including the attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy in October 2003 in which three Americans were killed. A senior PA security official said that the Egyptian authorities were responsible for the ban. "The Egyptians don't want these guys," the official explained. "They threatened to arrest Abu Samhadana if he entered Egypt." Abu Samhadana was recently recruited to the PA security forces as a senior officer. He quoted PA security officials as saying that his name appeared on a "blacklist" of 15 Palestinians who were not permitted to travel through the border crossing.
2005-12-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive