UAE WELCOMES EU STAND ON PASSPORTS

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman arrives at the European Union council headquarters for a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. "There is no proof Israel is involved in this [Hamas killing] affair, and if somebody had presented any proof, aside from press stories, we would have reacted," Lieberman said in a statement.

The UAE on Monday welcomed the European Union's (EU) condemnation of the use of fake European passports and credit cards in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh.

• "This stance expresses the EU's respect of the sovereignty of the UAE," said Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
• He thanked EU foreign ministers and expressed his confidence that cooperation between the EU and the UAE would continue in this case.
• EU foreign ministers yesterday condemned the use of forged European passports, but made no direct reference to Israel.
• Diplomatic sources said earlier the statement was intended to censure Israel over its alleged involvement in the killing. Israel is widely believed to be responsible for the killing.
• "The EU strongly condemns the fact that those involved in this action (assassination) used fraudulent EU member states' passports and credit cards acquired through the theft of EU citizens' identities," a declaration on behalf of EU foreign ministers said.
• "It doesn't matter if (the statement) doesn't mention Israel, the message will be clear. How many countries can it be referring to?" asked a diplomatic source..
• Meanwhile, an Israeli man who shares a name with one of the German passport-holding assassins has disappeared, according to an Israeli newspaper on Monday.
• Up until Saturday the name Michael Bodenheimer could be seen on a sign at an office building in Tel Aviv but the plaque has since been taken down, Yediot Aharonot said. It published photos of the nameplate to support the claim.
• The man has not been interviewed by media since his name appeared on one of several European passports that Dubai Police said were used last month by the killers Al Mabhouh.
• Unlike the other passports, the German passport bearing Bodenheimer's name was apparently not forged, according to Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.
• The passport was delivered in Cologne on June 18, 2009 to an applicant who presented an Israeli passport issued at the end of 2008 and the marriage certificate of his parents, who were persecuted by the Nazis, it said.

Source: Gulf news