Israel has charged a West Bank Palestinian with membership in the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas group and accused him of learning how to make bombs at a secret training session for Hamas members in the United States.
According to the indictment issued last week, Nasser Issa Hidmi, 24, met in Chicago in June 1990 with Mohammed Salah, one of the two Arab Americans arrested here in January in connection with Hamas-related activity.
Salah has been charged with distributing money for weapons and helping to rebuild Hamas following Israel’s deportation of 415 Moslem extremists last December.
According to Israeli officials involved in the Hidmi case, Salah also organized a clandestine meeting in December 1990 in Kansas City, Mo., to train about 20 young Hamas members.
The army claims that Hidmi attended the conference.
The sessions, held at a Ramada hotel, covered Israeli intelligence, Islamic tenets and bomb-making, military sources said.
The meeting’s purpose was to encourage Palestinian residents of the territories to strengthen the intifada, or uprising, the sources said.
Once he returned to the territories, Hidmi became a Hamas activist, driving organization members between Jerusalem, Hebron and Gaza, the army said.
The charges brought against Hidmi add to claims made by Israel that Islamic fundamentalists are using America as a base for financing and directing anti-Israeli activities in the administered territories.
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