Abbas backs off claims of Al-Qaida infiltration

He told a newspaper that Al-Qaida had a presence in Gaza and the West Bank.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
JERUSALEM -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that Palestinian security officials were working to prevent infiltration by Al-Qaida into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian leader appeared to back off from earlier published remarks in which he said there were indications that the terrorist group had already established a foothold in the Palestinian territories. Several Palestinian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no hard evidence of such a presence had been uncovered.
Abbas' remarks came against a backdrop of mounting Israeli pressure on him to distance himself from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that won Palestinian parliamentary elections in January and is forming a government.
The Palestinian Authority president has angered some Israeli officials with his wait-and-see stance toward the militant group, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Abbas has said he believes Hamas will moderate its views on Israel.
Al-Qaida presence
Raising the alarm about Al-Qaida could be a means of drawing attention away from Abbas' rift with Israel over how to deal with Hamas.
In an interview published Thursday in the London-based newspaper al-Hayat, Abbas was quoted as saying: "We have indications about a presence of Al-Qaida" in Gaza and the West Bank.
"This is a very serious matter," he told the newspaper.
Speaking to reporters later Thursday, Abbas said only that Palestinian security forces were worried about the prospect of such infiltration and were seeking to stave it off.
"We have unconfirmed reports that Al-Qaida, which sent members to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, may also send its members to us for purposes of sabotage," Abbas said at a news conference with Amir Peretz, the leader of Israel's left-leaning Labor Party.
"Our forces are trying with all available means to prevent them from arriving to carry out terrorist attacks in this region," Abbas said.
Israeli officials have long spoken about the threat of Al-Qaida establishing itself in the Palestinian territories in preparation for a strike against Israel.
Israeli suspicions
The Israeli government previously expressed suspicions that Al-Qaida militants had entered Gaza during a period of chaos on the Egyptian border following Israel's hand over of the seaside territory to the Palestinians six months ago.
Palestinian officials at the time denied such infiltration had taken place.
Abbas said no Al-Qaida operatives had been captured. However, Israel Radio on Thursday cited a senior Palestinian intelligence official as saying that authorities had recently arrested an Islamic activist in Gaza who spread what were described as "ideas affiliated with" the militant group.
In public statements, Al-Qaida leaders have paid homage to the Palestinian cause and expressed visceral hatred of Israel. Hamas, while sharing those sentiments, has traditionally sought to prevent outside militant groups from operating in the Palestinian territories, believing that attacks in service of global jihad would detract from its more tightly focused struggle with Israel.