Mossad 'wire-tapped' Tunis PLO office in 1993

Israel's Mossad security service wiretapped Mahmoud Abbas' office in Tunis when he was deputy chairman of the PLO in 1993, Israeli media reported Monday. In May 1993, months before the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Mossad chief at the time Shabtai Shavit held an emergency meeting to inform his top commanders that the agency had successfully installed wiretapping equipment in Abbas' office, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. Israel was able to gather key information about PLO activities and relationships within the organization, particularly between Abbas and his boss at the time, Yasser Arafat, the report said. Abbas' office was tapped by "a Fatah-affiliated man within the PLO leadership" who had been recruited by a Mossad unit responsible for enlisting informers, according to the report. The agent was known to the Mossad as "Golden Fleece." The devices were discovered less than a month later and destroyed, the report added.