Radio names Palestine militant exiles
Two Palestinian militants, exiled as part of the deal to end the Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, were named in Dublin tonight, hours after reaching Ireland in a high-security operation.
The pair were among 13 men being admitted to European Union states under terms that permitted the lifting of the 37-day-long church stand-off.
All of the group were held in Cyprus before being transferred to their host countries.
They were met at Dublin airport at around mid-day by gardai and taken to a secret destination. They will not be allowed to leave Ireland, but can stay for as long as a year and their families will also be let in if requests are made by the men.
The two remained officially unidentified.
But tonight RTE named the men.
They were said to be Jihad Jaara, 31, and Rami al-Kamel, 22, both from around Bethlehem, and members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction.
One of them is understood to be a senior member of the group.
According to the Israelis, Jaara has been involved in planning a number of recent suicide attacks and shootings in which several people died.
His colleague in Ireland was said to have been one of the most dominant operatives in the Bethlehem area.
Palestinian sources said only that the pair were leaders of the resistance against Israeli occupation.
Tonight it was thought they were being kept in either a secure guest house or a small hotel.
But for security reasons, the Irish authorities, were saying nothing about the day’s top-secret operation.
