Mishal-Gate inquiry panel as Isreal tries better relations with Jordan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who ordered Mossad agents to assassinate Hamas political chief Khaled Mishal last month, appointed a three-man "clarification committee" last week to investigate the affair.

Netanyahu has dodged questions about his competence in Battling "terrorism" and managing peace with Jordan, Israel's friendliest Arab neighbor.

The Israeli prime minister last week persuaded Jordan to free the two Mossad agents seized in the failed attack on Mishal by agreeing to free up to 70 prisoners, among them Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader and founder of Hamas.

Officials said Netanyahu and Mossad chief Danny Yatom would likely be called to testify before three-man panel. Critics had charged the inquiry panel appointed by Netanyahu will be a white-wash. Opposition leaders complained it would lack the "teeth" of an independent inquiry headed by a judge.

Meanwhile, Informed sources in Amman has reported that Israeli Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon met secretly with Jordanian officials in northern valley.

The sources added that the meeting centered on Jordanian-Israeli relations and the means of tackling the results of the Israeli Mossad's attempt to assassinate the chief of Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mishal.

Meantime, the Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Natan Sharanzky made a phone call with his Jordanian counterpart and offered to establish a common free market between Jordan, Israel and U.S. in the industrial region in Irbed, north Jordan.