Arab League points to Mossad as al Mabhouh assassin

Secretary general of league says killing of Hamas official 'cannot be accepted'.

CAIRO // Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, said yesterday that the killing of Mahmoud al Mabhouh was unacceptable. "This encroachment on the sovereignty of the Emirates cannot be accepted," said Mr Moussa, speaking to The National after a meeting of the Arab Inter Parliamentary Union. "I am not going to enter into police affairs, but it's clear that the Mossad has a hand in this." His comments came after Abdul Aziz al Ghurair, the speaker of the Federal National Council, urged the participants to condemn the murder of al Mabhouh.

"The assassination of one of the Palestinian leaders constitutes a transnational act of terrorism that carries the fingerprints of Israel and its intelligence services that have taken the habit of carrying out such criminal and terrorist actions," Mr al Ghurair said. "We believe that this constitutes a flagrant infringement on the sovereignty of the UAE under the international law and international resolutions."

The FNC speaker also asked the meeting's participants to raise the issue of the three UAE islands that have been occupied by Iran since 1971, through bilateral talks with Iran or in international parliamentary gatherings. "The area should not be dragged into new military adventures that would complicate the security situation in the Arab world," Mr al Ghurair said.