Hamas Official Won’t Appeal Proposed Extradition to Israel

NEW YORK —  Saying he was “ready to go to Israel and suffer martyrdom,” Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, political leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, withdrew his appeal Wednesday of a judge’s ruling allowing his extradition to Israel, where he faces terrorism charges.

Abu Marzook’s decision after more than 18 months in prison means he could be deported within 60 days unless the State Department intervenes and rejects Israel’s request.

Israel has charged that as head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Abu Marzook engaged in conspiracies to commit murder and manslaughter, although he personally did not carry out the attacks.

Abu Marzook, 46, who has lived in Virginia for the last 15 years, was detained at Kennedy International Airport on July 25, 1995, when he returned from a trip to the Middle East.

Subsequently, Israel filed an extradition request. Abu Marzook’s lawyers argued that the charges brought against him were baseless because the political and military wings of Hamas are separate and the organization he heads is engaged in peaceful political activity. But a federal judge ruled in May that probable cause existed to grant the extradition.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the Justice Department is handling the extradition matter and if it decides to proceed, it will reach the State Department.

Hamas has threatened suicide attacks in Israel, which in the past have disrupted peace negotiations, if Abu Marzook stands trial.

Abu Marzook’s wife, Nadia Al Ashi, called for President Clinton and the State Department to deny Israel’s request.

“The world watches as the United States claims the role of the fair and honest peace broker,” she told a news conference in Manhattan. “What message will my husband’s case send?”

One of Marzook’s lawyers, M. Cherif Bassiouni, said that he believed Abu Marzook was exhausted by his long imprisonment while the issue of extradition was being litigated.

In a tape-recorded statement, Abu Marzook said that “rather than continuing to be part of this unfair process, and give certain parties the satisfaction of being kept in a New York City jail, I am ready to go to Israel where at least I will be afforded a hearing on these absurd charges.”

“Regrettably, it seems that the U.S. has set aside all of its standards of justice in order to join with Israel in the political purpose of putting me in jail for no other reason than my leadership position in the Political Bureau of Hamas,” he charged.