JERUSALEM – Israel held an American doctor for two weeks on suspicion he was linked to al Qaeda and Hamas before deporting him, authorities said yesterday.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office said Khaled Nazem Diab had spent time in Afghanistan, where he was in contact with people connected to the Taliban regime.
Israeli officials said he was suspected of distributing money to terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But the U.S. Embassy said there was no evidence tying Diab to any terrorist organization.
Diab, 34, arrived in Israel on Nov. 14 to train Palestinian social workers, said Farek Hussein, director for the Palestinian Red Crescent.
But he was arrested at Ben-Gurion International Airport and held for two weeks. His plight came to light when a court order was lifted yesterday.
U.S. officials said they were barred for most of the two weeks from speaking to Diab, an American citizen who lives in Qatar.
State Department spokeswoman Anne Marks said Diab finally spoke to a U.S. consular official before he was deported to Jordan on Nov. 26, but did not complain of any mistreatment.
Also yesterday, in Gaza City, Israeli helicopters killed the alleged master bomb maker responsible for destroying three state-of-the-art tanks.
Mustafa Sabah, 35, was identified as a Palestinian Authority official and senior “engineer” who masterminded attacks that killed seven Israelis in their Merkava tanks since February.
On the peace front, Sharon spelled out several conditions before Israel would accept Palestinian statehood, including the removal of Yasser Arafat “from all centers of power.”
Sharon’s comments, at a conference in Herziliya, were his most detailed listing of the phases that should be part of President Bush’s “road map” to Mideast peace.With Post Wire Services