WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The US arrested two men for allegedly taking part in a 15-year-old racketeering conspiracy to help finance the activities of Palestinian resistance group Hamas, and issued an arrest warrant for a third who is the deputy chief of Hamas politburo, US Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday, August 20.

"Three men who allegedly ran a US-based terrorist recruiting and financing cell associated with foreign terrorist organization Hamas were indicted for their roles in a 15-year racketeering conspiracy in the United States and abroad," Ashcroft was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

"This cell allegedly financed the activities of a terrorist organization that was murdering innocent victims abroad, including American citizens," Ashcroft said.

The U.S. Treasury designated Hamas a terrorist organization in 1995, while the State Department formally designated it a "foreign terrorist organization" in 1997.

The group, however, enjoys a wide popularity across the world for its resistance to a long-standing Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

Ashcroft said Mohamed Salah was detained in Chicago late Thursday, August 19, and Abdelhaleem Ashqar in the Washington area.

An arrest warrant had also been issued for a third man, Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, who was identified as the deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau and a former US resident who is at large in Syria, a Justice Department spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The spokesman declined to comment on whether the United States would seek extradition of Abu Marzook, who was once living in Louisiana.

Ashcroft said the plans go back as far as 1998.

"The indictment ... alleges that the affairs of the enterprise were committed through multiple acts of conspiracy to commit and solicitation of first degree murder, conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons in a foreign country, money laundering ... providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations" and other crimes.

In addition to racketeering, Salah, 51, was charged with providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization and obstruction of justice. He was expected to appear Friday before a US magistrate in Chicago.

Ashqar, 46, was charged with obstruction of justice and contempt of court. He is expected to appear Friday before a magistrate in Alexandria, Virginia, according to Reuters.

The US-educated Abu Marzook holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering and lived in the United States for 15 years, in Louisiana and Virginia.

Racketeering conspiracy in this case carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Providing material support to a terrorist organization carries a maximum of 15 years in prison, and each count of obstruction of justice carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Last month, a major American Muslim charity and seven of its senior officers were charged with illegally funneling millions of dollars to support Hamas.

The 42-count indictment unsealed in Dallas alleges the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development used its tax-exempt status to masquerade as a legitimate charity while most of its money was going to individuals and organizations linked to Hamas.

The US-educated Abu Marzook holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering

Across the world, Hamas as a resistance group is held in high esteem, for its remarkable efforts to help poor and needy Palestinians as well as stand up to Israel’s daily attacks against occupied residential areas.

In March, Israel has drawn  a world outcry after the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, while on his way back from dawn prayers.

Ashcroft’s indictment came a few hours after US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice admitted the administrations failure to win  hearts and minds of the world Muslims, in what experts attribute to uneven-handed policy in the Middle East, including a long-standing pro-Israeli bias.

Breaking with a decades-old U.S. policy, US President George W. Bush said after talks with Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon Wednesday, April 15, Israel could keep  Palestinian territories occupied in the 1967 war, and that Palestinian refugees should not be allowed to return to their homes in what is today Israel.

The statements- Arabs slammed as another Balfour promise to Israel - has drawn ire as the UN resolutions affirm that Israel should end occupation of Arab land, including Palestinian territories captured after the 1967 war.

In August last year, the White House decided to freeze  and block the assets of six Hamas leaders and five pro-Palestinian charities in Europe and Lebanon.