Israel jails Palestinian for al-Qaida membership

An Israeli military court today jailed a Palestinian for 27 years for training with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and planning to carry out attacks against Israelis.

The case of Nabil Okal, 29, marked the first time Israel has convicted a Palestinian of having ties to al-Qaida.

As a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas operating in the Gaza Strip, Okal, travelled to Afghanistan in 1998 where he met a bin Laden deputy, and attended a training camp, according to the indictment.

At the camp, Okal learned how to make bombs, including those with chemical substances. He was arrested in June 2000 in the Gaza Strip on his way back to Afghanistan to receive more training, the indictment said.

Okal’s lawyer, Tamim Younis, said his client denied all the Israeli allegations.

Okal sat quietly in the court at Erez, a Gaza Strip checkpoint, as the sentence was read aloud in Hebrew and translated to him in Arabic.

Military Prosecutor Captain Ronen Shor said Okal never joined al-Qaida, but he trained with the group with the intent of bombing Israeli targets.

After the training in Afghanistan, Okal “came back to form and set up a military force to make military actions against Israeli targets here in the Gaza Strip and also here in Israel,” Shor said.