Tunisian party sues Israel over Abu Jihad's assassination

A Tunisian opposition party said it will file a lawsuit against Israel on Monday for the assassination of a senior PLO member in Tunis 24 years ago. The Wafa Party announced Sunday that it intended to sue Israel in a Tunis court over its involvement inthe killing of Fatah official Khalil al-Wazir, known as Abu Jihad, on April 16, 1988. Wazir was a close aide to the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Wafa was established as a political party in Tunisia in July 2012, "with the sole objective of realising the revolution's goals: work, liberty and national dignity," the party's website reads. It holds 12 seats out of 217 total in Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly. Speaking to Arabstoday, Wafa spokesperson Salim Boukhadir said that his party's chairman, Abdelrauf Ayadi, would file a petition to the Tunisian prosecutor general against Israel and "anyone else revealed to be involved in the crime". The announcement came after Israel’s daily Yedioth Ahronot reported on Thursday that the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, and the Israeli General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, Sayeret Matkal, planned a joint operation that led to the assassination of the PLO official. Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon were also involved in the operation at that time, the report said. However, the offices of both Israeli officials have refused to comment on the issue. The Yedioth Ahronot journalist Ronen Bergman in an interview with the Israeli arny Colonel Nahum Lev - who headed the commando team tasked with killing Wazir and reportedly fired the lethal shots - revealed mission details previously unknown to the public. The interview with Lev was held shortly before his death in a motorcycle accident, but was blocked by Israeli censorship. Bokhadir told Arabstoday that his party asked the prosecution to order an interrogation of the Tunisian intelligence at the time of the incident, Ahmed Bennour, who was earlier quoted as saying that ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali-who was the minister of interior then - took part in the Israeli plot against Abu Jihad, and ordered his men to cooperate with the Israeli commando team. Bokhadir also urged the ministry of interior to reveal the secret files of Ben Ali's intelligence apparatus which he expects would lead to the discovery of more scandals in which the ousted president was involved. The slain Palestinian leader, Wazir was the number two man in the PLO and played an important role in directing the 1987-1994 Palestinian intifada or uprising, against the Israeli occupation, and was labelled by Israeli authorities as one of the most dangerous figures on Israel's security list.