Israel Holds Secret Talks With Arab Intelligence Heads

Taken from Haaretz Newspaper, Israel, 01.10.06
By Avi Issacharoff

The Arabic-language London-based newspaper Al-Quds reported on Saturday that a secret meeting between Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin and intelligence officials from several moderate Middle Eastern states took place recently in Jordan.

According to the report, the meeting was held in order to discuss the confrontation with the extreme Middle Eastern states and how to handle the threat of terror.

The newspaper reports that the participants in the secret meeting included Diskin, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, a senior Jordanian official, head of Jordan's General Intelligence Department Mohammed al-Dahabi, Head of Egyptian intelligence General Omar Suleiman as well as senior officials from two Persian Gulf states that do not maintain diplomatic ties with Israel.

During the meeting, Abbas reportedly presented Diskin an agreement he had reached with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on a Palestinian unity government.

However, he explained, two days after the agreement was reached, Haniyeh announced that the Hamas party, headed by Haniyeh, demanded the modification of a clause on the recognition of the Arab peace initiative.

According to the report, representatives from Egypt, Jordan and one of the Gulf states expressed reservations over the appointment of Haniyeh or any other Hamas member to head the potential Palestinian unity government.

They also demanded of Abbas that the platform of the unity government include the conditions set by the Quartet - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia - such as the recognition of Israel and the honoring of past agreements made between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Al-Quds reports that Abbas expressed his dissatisfaction with recent efforts to secure the release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas-linked militants. Abbas said too many parties were involved in mediation efforts, which reportedly included Turkey, Norway and Spain.

Abbas reportedly demanded of all present at the meeting that all efforts to secure Shalit's release be conducted in tandem with Hamas leadership in the Palestinian Authority, and that all contact with Hamas leadership in Syria, namely exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, be stopped.

The Al-Quds report has so far not been corroborated by any other source.
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Some Important events in Shabak history
1948: the Shabak is founded as the Shin Bet and is one of the three secret services in Israel along with the Military Intelligence and the Foreign Intelligence (later, the Mossad).
1956: the Shabak obtains a copy of Khrushchev's speech denouncing Stalin.
1961: the Shabak expose Doctor Israel Bar as a Soviet spy.
1984: the Kav 300 Affair, two terrorists hijacked a bus and after IDF SF and Shabak regained control over the bus, Avraam Shalom ordered the killing of the two terrorists who were captured alive. The officers involved tried to cover this up.
1987: the Izat Nafsu affair, when an officer was cleared from spy charges, and Shabak was highly criticized for his methods and norms.
1995: the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by Yigal Amir and the failure of Shabak to prevent it. 1996: the Shabak assassinates Hamas top bombmaker Yahya Ayyash.
2000-2005: the al-Aqsa Intifada and Shabak main role in intelligence gathering and counter-terror efforts. Avraam Dichter received high credit for Shabak part in thwarting hundreds of suicide attacks and the targeted assassination of terrorist leaders.