SPECIAL REPORT part 1: The release of Sheikh Yassin
Regional, Politics, 10/1/1997

The release, seen by Palestinians as deportation, of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin by Israel followed an angry telephone call that King Hussein of Jordan made Tuesday evening to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The King, reliable sources said, was angry about the fact that Israeli Mossad agents were involved in the attack on Khaled Mishal, head of Hamas¹ political bureau, which is based in Amman. Mishal was severely injured when two people, believed to be Mossad agents disguised as Canadian tourists, attacked him outside his office in Amman last week.

The King, the sources said, was furious because Mossad agents had penetrated Jordan and were about to turn Jordan into a battlefield for mutual retaliatory attacks between Israeli agents and Hamas operatives. He called on Netanyahu to immediately take steps that would help ease the mounting tension between the two parties and between Israel and the Palestine National Authority as well.

It is not clear whether King Hussein made his telephone call before or after his strongly-worded speech he delivered in the city of Zarqa where he for the first time openly called for the immediate release of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. In the early hours of Wednesday, a Jordanian medical helicopter arrived in Israel in one of the most secret operations, picked up Sheikh Yassin and one of his escorts and flew back to Amman. On the Israeli side, the General Security Services took over the operation and only the chief warden of Israeli prisons was notified in advance of the move. In Amman, the King waited for Sheikh Yassin and told the press he was happy to see the Sheikh free back on "Arab soil."

Also, press sources in Amman were quoted as saying that Crown Prince Hassan secretly visited Israel a few days ago, met with Netanyahu and openly told him that Jordan has many reasons to believe that the Mossad was involved in the attack on Khaled Mishal. In that meeting, Prince Hassan demanded the immediate release of Sheikh Yassin. The Israeli prime minister's office refused to comment on the report and termed it "mere speculation."

Analysts indicate that the release of Sheikh Yassin came at a perfect time as far as Israel is concerned. Over the past few weeks, alerts were voiced by Israeli security services that more suicide attacks are imminent. The release of Sheikh Yassin, on the eve of Israel's celebrations of the Jewish new year, came to defuse a ticking bomb that could explode at any minute in the coming days. From Israel's point of view, Hamas would not initiate any suicide attacks shortly after the release of Sheikh Yassin, considered to be the spiritual leader and founder of the movement.

Besides, there are indications that the release came in order to avoid further deterioration of relations between Jordan and Israel in light of the present stalemate in the peace talks between the PNA and Israel. King Hussein has repeatedly criticized the Israeli stand vis-a-vis the peace process. He even said last month, during a joint press conference with visiting US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, that should he need to send another letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he would use the same language he used in his letter to Netanyahu back last March, only days before a lone Jordanian soldier, Ahmad Daqamseh, opened fire and killed seven Israeli girls and injured others in Baqoura border area between Jordan and Israel.

The release of Sheikh Yassin has also come at a time when Israel wanted to avoid further complications, and even diplomatic embarrassment not only with Jordan but also with Canada. The two alleged Mossad agents who carried out the attempt on Mishal's life were said to have been traveling on Canadian passports.

Although Israel has neither denied nor claimed responsibility for the attack on Mishal, unofficial sources in Israel drew a tight comparison between the aborted Mossad attack in Amman and the failed Mossad operation in Lillehammer, Norway, back on January 7th 1974, when Mossad agents mistakenly killed Ahmad Boushiki, an Algerian waiter who had a Moroccan passport, after they thought he was the famous PLO security head Ali Ahmad Salameh, commander of Force 17. In that attack, the Mossad agents, were arrested and tried before a Norwegian court.

Israel, some say, wanted to prevent at any price a possible trial of the two agents who attacked Mishal in Amman. The price was the release of Sheikh Yassin, whose arrest had been repeatedly recommended by senior Israeli security officers who feared that the likelihood of his death in prison would only trigger unnecessary angry reactions from Hamas, and cause additional suicide attacks on Israelis. ³Better to have the Sheikh released today before tomorrow because we do not want to make a martyr of him if he dies in our prisons,² an Israeli security officer was quoted saying.

Previous Stories:
  SPECIAL REPORT part 2: The release of Hamas's spiritual leader, Sheikh Yassin   (10/1/1997)
  Jordan admitts threat to Hamas leader while calls to sever ties with Israel increase   (9/29/1997)
  Netanyahu contradicts his chief intelligence officer   (9/23/1997)

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