Michael Widlanski: ARMY CORNERS HUNDREDS TERRORISTS IN 2 COMMAND POSTS;
ARAFAT'S PHONY MONEY 'WAR CHEST' HOLDS 'MILLIONS OF SHEKELS AND MILLIONS OF
DOLLARS'

Tuesday, April 02, 2002 1:37 PM

Israel's army (IDF) has cornered hundreds of wanted Palestinian terrorists
in two Palestinian Authority (PA) command posts in the West Bank, and the
Israeli government is saying it will not let the men go free.

"They can either surrender or go out on a stretcher," said a senior advisor
to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, shortly after Israeli helicopters
strafed the fences around one of the bases.

It is estimated that between 200 and 400 'wanted' terrorists are holed up in
Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, north of Jerusalem, as well as in the
"Preventive Security" base of Col. Jibril Rajoub in Betounia, west of
Ramallah.

Some Israeli officers believe that Marwan Baroghouthi, the head of the Fatah
Tanzeem militia in the West Bank, is hiding inside the "Preventive Security"
compound, and it is believed that Israel is interested in capturing him
"dead or alive" because of his command of the Fatah suicide bombers who call
themselves "The Brigades of the Martyrs of Al Aqsa."

Col. Rajoub, who is himself in hiding, told Israeli radio in a phone
interview that "Marwan is not in my command post," though it is unlikely
that Israeli intelligence officials will take Rajoub's word for it.

That is because one of Rajoub's closest associates, Jihad Jaraa of the PA
"Preventive Security" in Bethlehem, is alleged to have planned two of last
week's suicide attacks in Jerusalem: the attack on a supermarket in Kiryat
Ha-Yovel and the thwarted bombing of the Jerusalem Mall.

In addition, Rajoub said that he had told his men to keep fighting and not
to surrender any of the "wanted" men to Israel.

Meanwhile, an Israeli policeman, Tomer Mordechai, died Tuesday of wounds
suffered when he blocked with his body an Arab suicide bomber from driving
his explosive-laden car onto Jerusalem's main street.

That attack was also claimed by the Fatah organization which is directly led
and financed by Arafat (Note: see The Media Line for articles on documents
from Orient House Archive showing Arafat-Fatah Tanzeem money trail).

Meanwhile, the army said that it was still counting the hordes of
counterfeit money Arafat had stashed in his headquarters, but the IDF
revised its estimate of the size of the counterfeit cache to "millions of
shekels as well as millions of dollars," according to Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey,
the IDF Spokesman.

"From what I could see most of the dollars were $100-bills (hundred-dollar
bills) of the old variety with the picture of Benjamin Franklin," said one
IDF officer.

In addition to the millions in phony money, the IDF seized printing plates
for producing counterfeit Israeli currency in denominations of 50, 100 and
200 shekels.

Plates for American currency have not yet been found in Arafat's compound,
though Israeli intelligence has long suspected Arafat of counterfeiting both
dollars and shekels sicne he was involved in the same kind of activity in
Lebanon in the 1970's and early 1980's.

Israeli officials said that the large-scale counterfeiting could have had
two goals:
*--To pay agents and terrorists;
*--And to undermine the Israeli economy which has already been hurt by the
18-month-long war of attrition.

As of mid-Tuesday afternoon, there were some efforts underway to arrange a
temporary ceasefire around the two besieged Palestinian command posts in
order to allow the Palestinians to treat their wounded and perhaps to
arrange a safe passage for Arafat himself.

Prime Minister Sharon however said that he would be willing to let Arafat
leave the West Bank only on "a one-way ticket"-never to return.

© 2002 Michael Widlanski
Michael Widlanski is senior analyst at The Media Line and lecturer at The
Rothberg School of the Hebrew University. Fuller versions of his articles
are available at www.themedialine.org