Sharif assassination details revealed: fears of war within Hamas
Palestine, Politics, 4/15/1998

The latest revelations on the Hamas military wing member Mohyiddin Sharif's murder threaten a major internal fight within Hamas should relatives and friends of those killed by fellow Hamas members try to seek revenge, warned Palestinian sources on Wednesday.

The sources noted that Hamas has not come out with an open declaration to challenge the report Palestinian presidential secretary Tayyeb Abdul Rahim presented to the Palestine Legislative Council on Tuesday.

Rahim is the head of the Palestinian investigation team looking into the Sharif assassination. He said the top bomb maker in the military wing of Hamas was killed as part of a personal feud between him and Imad Awadallah, brother of Adel Awadallah who is believed to be the commander of Izziddin Al Qassam in the West Bank.

The increasing dispute within Hamas has spread from its political leadership into its military wing and may cause a major confrontation, with the possible use of firearms. These worries have been voiced lately by a number of senior Palestinian security officers who said that it is their duty to prevent such a development which "will cause a major problem for the Palestinian national security in the PNA areas."

In his report to the PLC, Tayyeb Abdul Rahim gave the details of what happened the day Sharif was assassinated. Following are the main events as included in the Abdul Rahim's report, which relies on the findings of the investigation and testimonies given by the prime suspect in the affair, Ghassan Adassi, Sharif was assassinated by Imad Awadallah, brother of Adel, who is the commander of Hamas' military wing in the West Bank. The killing was perpetrated in the wake of a dispute within the military wing of Hamas, better known as the Brigades of Izziddin Al Qassam.

Three members of a Hamas cell agreed to meet at a warehouse owned by the Adassi family in the Beitounya industrial zone in Ramallah on March 30 at 19:00 hrs. Sharif had rented the warehouse from the Adassi family some months beforehand and had used it as his hideout, using a different identity under the name of Nadim Abu Sneineh. Hamas military members had in the past used fake Israeli identity cards to cover their real identities and to sneak through Israeli military roadblocks without being spotted or apprehended. The three Hamas members who headed to the warehouse were Mohyiddin Sharif, Imad Awadallah and Ghassan Adassi, the son of the warehouse's owner.

Shortly after the three gathered at the warehouse, an uproarious dispute broke out between Sharif and Awadallah. They traded accusations and challenged each other on who was in charge and who was or was not authorized to act on behalf of Hamas' military wing. Suddenly Awadallah strode towards the Fiat Uno that was on the scene, pulled out a gun and shot three shots at Sharif. Two of the bullets hit Sharif in the chest and the third hit him in the leg. Sharif died on the spot. Palestinian interrogation sources insist that Sharif was shot by an amateur rather than by a professional. The bullets were fired indiscriminately while a professional assassin would shoot either at the forehead or the heart.

After the murder, Awadallah ordered Adassi to prepare an explosive device and to set the timer to go off at 20:50 hrs. He wanted to distort evidence at the crime scene. Adassi prepared a five-kilo device, known to Hamas military activists as "white snow" and then went to the mosque to pray. Only afterwards he went home and fell asleep. Awadallah, on his part, left the warehouse and went to an apartment some 120 meters away to watch the blast when it happened and to make sure that everything had gone as planned.

After the explosion, Palestinian security service personnel arrived at the warehouse and discovered the body. Palestinian Preventive Security rounded up a number of suspects, including members of the Adassi family. Ghassan was picked up along with his two brothers, Sufian and Issam. The two brothers were found clean and released. Ghassan sparked the suspicions of his interrogators.

A number of documents Palestinian security personnel found at the warehouse identified the dead man as Nadim Abu Sneineh. The Palestinians relayed the information to the Israeli General Security Services who told their them that Nadim Abu Sneineh was the nom due guerre of Sharif under which he had lately disguised himself.

The Palestinians requested as special permit for their security personnel to go to the house of Sharif's family in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem which is under Israel's full control. The Israelis agreed, but in the meantime they rushed with copies of pictures they obtained from the Palestinian officers to the house of Sharif's family.

"They always came to our house yelling and screaming but on that night, they arrived with some biscuits with them and wanted to have a cup of tea with us. They later showed my bother pictures and asked him if he could identify from them if they were the pictures of my bother Mohyiddin," a sister to Mohyiddin told the Voice of Palestine on Tuesday. She said that about half an hour after the Israelis left, representatives of the Palestinian Preventive Security arrived and asked the family to accompany them to Ramallah hospital. "We want you to come and identify if the body you will see is Mohyiddin's and we hope it won't," one of the officers told the family.

Internal disputes within Hamas are the main element that is blamed for the Sharif assassination. Sharif had reportedly received instructions from Hamas leadership abroad to carry out a number retaliatory attacks against Israel after the assassination attempt on Hamas political bureau chief in Amman, Khaled Mishal. Sharif apparently refused and disputes erupted between him and Awadallah over the leadership of Al Qassam Brigades and over the missions that had yet to be carried out.

Hamas tried to cover up the killing of the leading figure in its military apparatus, said Tayyeb Abdul Rahim in a special talk show on the Voice of Palestine where he answered in live broadcast questions coming in from listeners. He said Adassi was a witness to the cold-blooded murder and had witnessed Awadallah directing accusations against Sharif, who also asked about the incoming money, which he never saw. Some say the amount of disputed money is close to US $800,000. The Palestinian investigation is now trying to focus on whether Sharif was killed out of anger and disputes or whether there were instructions from higher command in the Hamas leadership to kill him.

Similar attempts by Hamas to cover up on the killing of Qassam Brigades leaders had happened in the past, such as in the murder of Yihya Ayyash, the engineer No. 1 of Hamas, Imad Aqel and Kamal Kheil. After Ayyash's death when Israeli Shin Bet agents detonated his booby-trapped cellular phone, several Hamas leaders tried to cover up the fact that Israeli agents assassinated him.

They never wanted to admit that Israeli Shin Bet agents had managed to penetrate Hamas' military structure. They ordered Mohammed Deif, their military wing leader in the Gaza Strip, to prepare an explosive device to show that Ayyash was killed while preparing a bomb. Deif refused and said Ayyash was a hero and did not deserve to have his body mutilated.

Back in 1995, two leading members of the military wing of Hamas were assassinated, Imad Aqel and Kamal Kheil. Kheil's murderers were identified as Ziyad Qishawi and Nidal Dababsheh; both were members of Hamas' military wing. Qishawi obtained assistance from abroad and fled the Palestinian areas. Dababsheh is currently hiding in Israel.

The assassin who killed Imad Aqel was Walid Hamdiyyeh, who was a senior Hamas member and one of its 415 members who were deported by Israel to south Lebanon a few years ago.

Ayyash himself was a victim of a setup by a relative, Usama Hammad, who was the go-between with the Israeli Shin Bet and was the one who handed over the booby-trapped cellular phone to Ayyash.

Previous Stories:
  Palestine and Hamas head towards reconciliation   (4/14/1998)
  Is Hamas on the verge of a split?   (4/6/1998)

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