Palestinians probe suspicious envelope

[tocqueville]

1 hour, 54 minutes ago

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinians launched an investigation Monday after seven people were hospitalized when one of them opened a suspicious envelope addressed to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, officials said.

The Cabinet building in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the envelope was delivered, was evacuated, said Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer.

The envelope contained an orange tissue that emitted a strong smell, said Shaer's office manager Abdel Basit Moatian, who opened the mail. Moatian said it had a Tel Aviv, Israel, postmark.

Haniyeh, a leader of the militant Hamas group who heads the Palestinian government, said he believed this may have been an Israeli attempt to kill him with "poison gas." He provided no evidence for the allegation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060808/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_suspicious_mail;_ylt=Av95msaGDy_1xWcjwUASXiqBzdAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--