Wafa Movement confirms investigatation into Abu Jihad’s death

Yasser Arrafat and Abu Jihad Tunisian Wafa Movement spokesperson Selim Boukhthir has told Arabstoday that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has accepted the complaint filed against Israel by movement chief Abderraouf Ayadi, thus launching an investigation into the assassination of Abu Jihad. Boukhthir also said threats were made against all those who try to cross Israel’s path in Tunisia due to what he believes is Israeli intelligence’s penetration of the country. In a similar vein, concerns are on the rise over a possible expansion of intelligence operations by other countries in Tunisia as a female Tunisian activist has been accused of espionage after footage appeared showing her in Syria among rebel fighters.
The Wafa Movement had announced its intention to take Israel to court over the 1988 assassination of Abu Jihad in Tunis, after Israel recently admitted its responsibility for the incident.
Speaking of alleged “threats against all who tries to open the Mossad in Tunisia dossier,” Wafa spokesperson Selim Boukhthir said the movement would decide at a later date whether they will reveal the nature of these threats. The spokesperson stressed that the movement remains fearless and will continue to defend its principles and reveal facts before the public opinion “so that the national member of the Tunisian people is not assassinated more than once.”
Boukhthir also charged the current government with the task of helping reveal “the arms of Israeli intelligence” in the country, as well as affording protection to those who may be in danger after promising to uncover similar truths.
The spokesperson said that the Wafa Movement has been informed by a trustworthy source that the security archive at Carthage Palace has been destroyed. The archive, he said, proved that ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and a number of his aides were involved in “suspicious links” with the Mossad. The destruction of the files which happened only 10 days after the Tunisian revolution, he said, proves that Israeli intelligence remains active in Tunisia and concerned about exposure.
Movement chief Abderraouf Ayadi told Arabstoday that “Tunisia has become a haven for foreign intelligence after the revolution.” As causes for this, he cited “the fragility of the security situation,” “the critical nature of the time” and the presence of “an appropriate breeding ground.” This breeding ground, he said, consisted of heightened freedoms, the proliferation of associations that receive funds from abroad under the pretext of civil society, in addition to the heavy burden of Ali’s legacy.
Ayadi has been known since the revolution for demanding the exposure of the political police dossier, and the involvement of Israeli intelligence in inducing tensions in the country to serve its own ends. He has accused Mossad of penetrating the Ministry of the Interior and planting over 300 agents in the country with the purpose of destabilizing Tunisia and targeting anti-Israel figures. These agents, he said, run some establishments, such as casinos, travel agencies, restaurants, night clubs and cafes.
In related news, the case of Abu Jihad has raised suspicions over the involvement of Tunisians, including the ousted president, in the operation. This theory is supported by the large number of unanswered questions over the assassination of Abu Jihad (real name, Khalil al-Wazir). Who cut the neighbourhood’s telephone lines the night of the incident? Who surveyed the area and secured it for the Mossad elements to perform their mission? Who lured away the policeman guarding a Tunisian official’s home across the road from Abu Jihad’s house? Who provided Israeli intelligence with a blueprint of Abu Jihad’s house so they could practice the break-in in a similar place in Israel, according to Israeli newspaper Maariv? Maariv has, in fact, pointed at the involvement of several Tunisian policemen and senior officials in the mission.
The question of the Mossad’s presence in the country and Tunisians’ dealings with foreign intelligence services has surpassed mere rumour, however, as footage has appeared showing female Tunisian activist called Aida Bin Omar in the field with Free Syrian Army fighters. This has sparked controversy amid accusations that she is spying on the Syrian opposition. She presents herself as a Ba’athist, pan-Arabist fighter, but suspicions arose recently over her behaviour, causing some to accuse her of working for a foreign intelligence agency.
The Iraqi Ba’ath party had described Bin Omar as a “suspicious Tunisian fraud,” saying that she suddenly began to defend Salafists and attack Ba’athists “using filthy language.” The Ba’athist source also adds that, after tracking her down for several months, he arrived at information confirming her ties to intelligence agencies and that she performs tasks set for her for a fee.
In an exclusive statement to Arabstoday, Uthman Bilhaj Omar, head of Tunisia’s Ba’ath Party, denied any tied with Aid Bin Omar, saying “she has nothing to do with the Ba’ath movement in terms of politics, loyalty or ideology.”
“If her involvement in espionage is proved,” he said, “she must bear the responsibility,” adding that the Tunisian state “must protect any citizen who becomes subject to such accusations.”
“Once the accusations are proved, however,” he went on, “it becomes the state’s duty to punish her for this deed” which he said “amounts to treason.”
Yemeni security sources had confirmed that Aida Bin Omar is indeed the same person who impersonated the Secretary General of the National Press League: a fictitious institution which only exists on paper. She honoured former President Ali Abdullah Saleh for his efforts towards the peaceful transfer of power, as she put it. After the collapse of the regime, however, the same sources revealed that the honouring was only a “trick” aimed at diverting attention from the reality of the Friday of Dignity by placing the spotlight on Saleh. The source reported that she was paid $50,000 for her efforts.
The Yafa Center for Studies and Researches has published a list of names, supposedly revealing Mossad agents working in post-revolution Tunisia. The figures named, according to the centre, were also meant to monitor the situation in Algeria and Libya, building a network of espionage, sabotage and incitement. There were also, the center reported, expected to monitor any Palestinian activity remaining in Tunisia and tracking Salafist Islamist movements and groups opposed to peace with Israel. Also among the group’s duties, according to the Yafa Center, is looking after the interests of Jewish Tunisians (headed by Perez al-Tarabulsi) as well Jews in Algeria and Libya, while also collecting information on Jewish relics and so on, in order to use them as pretexts for Israeli involvement.
It is worth noting here that sources close to the Congress Party have told Arabstoday that the party agreed on Sunday evening not to criminalize normalizing relations with Israel in the new constitution. The party thus follows in the footsteps of the Islamist Ennahda Party which has decided to remove the relevant Section 27 from the draft constitution, citing “legal procedures.” These actions raise questions on the angle through which Ennahda see the Palestinian cause, after it sponsored a conference on the prisoners issue and retreating from criminalizing normalization on the same day. The opposition considered the events a return to dual discourse.
Sobhi Atteeq, head of the Ennahda parliamentary block in the Tunisian Constituent Assembly has announced earlier that the head of the dismissed government in Gaza, Ismail Haniya had requested from the Ennahda Movement that the constituition not stipulate against normalization. However, Hamas quickly released a statement denying this, prompting Atteeq to apologize to its officials over what he termed “a misunderstanding.”