Contacts with Israel to permit Abu al-Einin into Gaza

The Jordanian weekly al-Sabeel quoted sources in the Palestinian government as saying that high-ranking figures in the Palestinian government are making intensive secret contacts with the Israeli leadership to convince it to permit Maj. Gen. Sultan Abu al-Einin from getting into Gaza via the sea.

The sources added that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat asked Israel to help in "smuggling" Abu al-Einin, a Fatah official in Lebanon who was sentenced to death in absentia in Lebanon, to Gaza via the sea with the help of the Israeli naval force.

The paper's sources stressed that Arafat is determined to secure al-Einin, saying that the Lebanese authorities will prevent Lebanese army forces from breaking into the camp, which is close to Tyre, where Abu al-Einin is hidden to arrest him and then to execute him.