ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 23 - Hamas Leader Denies Bin Laden Link.

Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, the leader of militant Islamic group Hamas, denies Israel's claim that he has ties to Osama bin Laden and accuses Israeli authorities of spreading lies. Israeli security officials published a summary during this week of 6 months of work with their Palestinian counterparts, saying that 23 activists belonging to militant Islamic groups had been arrested. The report identifies a Gaza Strip resident as a cell leader and says Hamas sent him to Pakistan 3 years ago to study terror techniques with Bin Laden's organisation. Yassin says: "Hamas and I have no connection with Bin Laden. I have the right to cooperate with any one in theworld against the enemy occupying our land, but I am sorry - we have no such cooperation with Bin Laden". (Bin Laden, whom the US accuses of masterminding the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that claimed 224 lives, is believed to be based in Afghanistan. He has often named Israel as a principal enemy, but no concrete link has been proven between him and groups planning attacks against Israel.) Yassin accuses Israel of spreading false stories "to extract more funds from the US, and to increase pressure on the Palestinian Authority to act against Hamas". (Hamas opposes the peace process and rejects Israel's existence, and Israel and the US have pressured Palestinian leader Arafat to take measures to contain the group's activities. Hamas has claimed responsibility for hundreds of deaths through suicide and bombs.) On June 21, Israeli forces arrested Nabil Okal, the man named in the report, while he was attempting to leave Gaza for Egypt. Ismail Okal said he believed his brother's confession to collaborating with Bin Laden was extracted through torture. Israeli security services say they have suspended the use of "physical pressure" since the Supreme Court ordered them to do so in Sept. 1999.