A Palestinian Islamic group  whose assets were ordered frozen by President George W. Bush denied on Tuesday having any links with the suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
“We in Islamic Esbat al-Ansar have no financial organizations nor accounts in the US or anywhere else … We also have no organizational links with Sheikh Osama bin Laden and our actions and decisions are independent,” a statement issued by the group said.
The prepared statement was read out by a spokesman for the group, who goes by the codename Abu Sharif, during a press conference held at Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, near Sidon.
“We feel very proud that US President Bush has talked about us and laughed when we heard about freezing our funds in American banks,” Esbat al-Ansar’s acting leader, known as Abu Obeidah, told journalists at one of the group’s offices.
The group, led by Abdel-Karim Saadi, better known as Abu Mohjen, was listed among 27 individuals and groups that President Bush maintained
on Monday were linked to terrorism and whose US assets were frozen.
Abu Mohjen is on the run after having been sentenced to death in absentia by a Lebanese military court in 1996 on charges of killing a moderate Islamist leader the year before.
“Abu Mohjen is not in Lebanon at the current time,” said the group’s spokesman standing alongside Abu Tarek, brother of Abu Mohjen, who refused to answer journalists’ questions.
Journalists had flocked to the camp throughout Tuesday.
To reach the offices of the Islamic Esbat al-Ansar, guides led journalists through narrow winding alleys where barefoot children played.
Upon arrival, journalists were served coffee and then met by a bearded man carrying an automatic weapon. He was followed by Abu Sharif, who was dressed in white from head to toe.
Abu Sharif told journalists “the American administration’s main reason for declaring Esbat al-Ansar a terrorist movement is because the group is part of the Palestinian struggle,” adding that his group is “proud of providing backing to the intifada.”
Abu Sharif said that the New York and Washington attacks were “the fruit of hatred planted throughout the world” by the US and an “act of vengeance by God for the women, children, and elderly killed in Palestine with American-made weapons and approval.”
He added that “all of Islam is a target and we are Muslims and part of this nation,” in response to a question on whether the group considered itself to be a target in the US war against terrorism.
Abu Sharif said that the group would defend itself and its religion with all “humble” resources at its disposal.
He maintained that the group’s only financial resources came from benefactors and once again asserted that “they had no funds in banks.”
“The US accusations came as a surprise … especially since we have not held direct contact with the United States,” he said.
Asked whether the group expected pressure to be exerted on the Lebanese government or certain Palestinian factions to hand over Esbat al-Ansar members, the spokesman said: “We expect a certain measure of pressure.
“But we affirm to everybody that Islamic Esbat al-Ansar will defend itself and its religion and members with all means at its disposal. We expect everybody to be with God, not with America, and to be with God against America.”
In its statement, the group said the accusations leveled by Bush indicated that the campaign he was mobilizing was in fact a “crusader campaign against Islam and Muslims.
“Claims that Islamic Esbat al-Ansar practices terrorism are only meant to render a service to the Jews and please them, as the group is an inseparable part of the Muslim Palestinian people and will continue to back the blessed intifada in all domains,” it added.
It said that Islam “condemns the killing of innocent people … and accordingly we consider accusing Arabs and Muslims of being behind the events which took place in America to be null and unacceptable.”