Accident Or Not? Palestinian Diplomat's Death Is A Mystery

Enlarge this image toggle caption Filip Singer /EPA/LANDOV Filip Singer /EPA/LANDOV

Was the Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic killed by accident or are the circumstances of his death on Wednesday more nefarious?

There are more questions than answers about Jamal al-Jamal's death now that a spokesman for his embassy has told Radio Prague and Reuters that a safe the ambassador had opened just before something blew up had not been intentionally fitted with explosives and had been used frequently in recent years.

Those details conflict with the early word from authorities — that the safe hadn't been opened for about 20 years and may have been rigged with a booby trap to thwart would-be thieves or enemies. The implication from those reports was that the diplomat may have been the victim of an unfortunate accident.

The implication to be drawn from today's comments by embassy spokesman Nabil el-Fahel is that something more sinister may have happened.

There are other theories, as well. According to The Associated Press, al-Jamal may have taken some things out of the safe before the explosion. So, it's possible that something he removed was responsible for the blast.

And we should add this news to the mysterious mix: Reuters reported Thursday that Czech police have found weapons in the Palestinian diplomatic outpost. The wire service said authorities have not released details about what was discovered.

The main source for the report that the safe may not have been touched for 20 years or more and may have been booby-trapped was Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki. The safe had been moved recently from old offices of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to a residence in a new embassy complex.

But according to Reuters, embassy spokesman el-Fahel says "the safe was being used almost daily for depositing money ... used for salaries of embassy staff, for buying items for daily operations. ... Minister Malki had mistakenly spoken about a second safe ... that was empty and almost never used."

As for the events immediately before and after the 56-year-old al-Jamal's death, The Associated Press writes that: