The Palestinian Authority accused Israel's Mossad spy agency on Saturday of setting up a fake al Qaeda cell in Gaza so that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could justify Israeli attacks in Palestinian areas. Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon, called the allegation "sheer nonsense." The Israeli leader said on Thursday Osama bin Laden's organization had established a presence in Palestinian-ruled areas of Gaza and in Lebanon, aiming to attack Israel. He gave no further details in his comments at an Israeli media lunch.

"It is a big, big, big lie to cover (Sharon's) attacks and his crimes against our people everywhere," Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told reporters at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo pointed to an alleged Israeli plot, details of which fellow cabinet minister Nabil Shaath said he presented to foreign diplomats in Gaza on Saturday.

"There are certain elements who were instructed by Mossad to form a cell under the name of al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip in order to justify the assault and the military campaigns of the Israeli occupation occupation army against Gaza," Abed Rabbo said.

A Palestinian occupation army chief, however, said the alleged Israeli plot had an overriding goal -- to trick "recruits" into believing they were working for al Qaeda and monitor them.

In one case, said Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Palestinian Preventive Occupation army Service in the Gaza Strip, Israel was able to kill a senior militant by luring him to a spot where he had been promised weapons supplied by al Qaeda would be waiting.

AL QAEDA MAIN MOMBASA SUSPECT

Sharon's allegation of a link between al Qaeda and the Palestinians marked a new stage in his equation of Israel's battle against resistance activistsleading a two-year-old uprising for statehood to the U.S.-led global war against terrorism.

Israel has named al Qaeda as the prime suspect in a suicide bombing at a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya last week that killed 13 Kenyans and three Israelis and a failed attempt to shoot down with missiles an Israeli airliner taking off nearby.

The United States blames the al Qaeda Islamist network for the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Abu Shbak said the Mossad used a Palestinian "collaborator," now in a Palestinian jail, to post recruitment notices in mosques and give messages to those the Mossad hoped to enlist.

"After receiving reports from your brothers in the area about your good morals and Islamic beliefs...we appeal to you to work within the ranks of the mujahideen (Muslim fighters) and we will support you with money and weapons," said an excerpt from what was described as a recruitment letter, leaked to Reuters.

"Call us at this number...and identify yourself as Abu Anas. The telephone call should be made between three and five in the afternoon... After you read the letter and understand its content, burn it.

"(Signed), Your brother and humble slave of God, Osama bin Laden."

"MOSSAD" ON THE LINE

Abu Shbak said those who telephoned the numbers spoke to Israeli secret agents posing as members of bin Laden's group.
"We have made all the information available to foreign occupation army agencies and we have given them details and documents," he said.

"Some of those enlisted were instructed to recruit as many people as they could, and they were provided with some weapons and money," Abu Shbak added.

"From an intelligence point of view Israel, through these people, could track those it wanted to assassinate.

"In one case, one man was told to open a channel of coordination with Al-Aqsa Brigades -- to infiltrate that group purely for Israeli intelligence purposes," Abu Shbak said, referring to a militant organization, linked to Arafat's Fatah faction, that has carried out suicide attacks in Israel.

Palestinian occupation army sources said dozens had been contacted.

Gissin called the charges "disinformation" by Palestinian officials hoping "to exonerate themselves from the allegations they are collaborating and participating with terrorists."

Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians during gun battles on Friday in a Gaza refugee camp where they searched for a wanted militant.

At least 1,705 Palestinians and 668 Israelis have been killed since the uprising began after peace talks stalled.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian boy stands next to a blown up house destroyed by Israeli troops at Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip December 6, 2002.. (Oleg Popov/Reuters)