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Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Article:Arafat micro-managed terror operations, PA security protected terrorists [IMRA: And so?]

Article:Arafat micro-managed terror operations, PA security protected
terrorists [IMRA: And so?]

[IMRA: While the documents detailed in this article show Arafat's intimate
involvement in terror they also serve as a reminder that the entire PA
operation was and is a terror operation. A photo opportunity here, a remark
there won't change this - and it would be folly to think that a few
personality changes would change the fundamental fact that the program of
the destruction of Israel in stages remains the program. It is only a
question of nuance as some have more patience than others (a central element
in the programs of so-called moderates remains creating arrangements on the
ground that turn Israel's borders into an open invitation for terror and
invasion).

While the documents are certainly interesting perhaps more stunning is to
consider that the CIA, with its intimate relationship with the top
Palestinian security
commanders and its information web certainly must have known ( as did the
Europeans to a significant extent) what was going on yet said and did
nothing. Something to keep in mind as Israel is being sucked into a program
that relies on the very same 3rd parties to keep the Palestinians honest.

The question for Israel goes to the adage: "fool me once, shame on you, fool
me twice shame on me." Will Israel allow itself to be fooled yet again?]

THE RAIS WILL SIGN AND GIVE HIS APPROVAL
(Article by Ronen Bergman, Yediot Ahronot, 12.July.2002, Weekend Supplement,
pp. 18-24, 116 - Translation provided by the Israel Government Press
Office )
500,000 DOCUMENTS WERE SEIZED IN IDF RAIDS ON PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
HEADQUARTERS INSTALLATIONS DURING OPERATION 'DEFENSIVE SHIELD.' AS FAR BACK
AS 1997, ARAFAT AND HIS COHORTS HAD BEGUN TO TRANSFER MEN, WEAPONS AND FUNDS
FROM THE OFFICIAL SECURITY ORGANIZATIONS TO TANZIM CELLS DESIGNED TO ATTACK
ISRAEL. ARAFAT APPROVED, WITH HIS SIGNATURE, ALL EXPENDITURES FOR MILITARY
NEEDS OVER $250, AND ALL SUPPORT FOR FUGITIVES AND MARTYRS. BARGHOUTI PAID
THEM A MONTHLY SALARY. THE PA HAD A TELEPHONE LIST OF SENIOR FUGITIVES THAT
HAD TO BE WARNED AGAINST BEING ELIMINATED WHENEVER IAF PLANES WENT AIRBORNE.
A RARE VISIT TO THE GIGANTIC HANGAR WHERE THE IDF IS TODAY HOLDING THE
MUKATA DOCUMENTS AND OTHER TREASURES.

On 14.September.98, a man who was then an anonymous figure for most
Israelis, Marwan Barghouti, Fatah Secretary-General on the West Bank wrote a
short memorandum to the boss, Yasser Arafat. Thus wrote Barghouti: "To my
brother the President, Abu Amar, may God keep him, with blessings of the
homeland and the return, I request your decision regarding the full-time
employment of the brothers, members of the Tamun sub-district committee, in
one of the security services so that they may be seconded for work in the
Tanzim." Here, he detailed the names, and added the concluding blessing:
"May you be leaders and commanders for the homeland and the people, regards,
Marwan Barghouti." On the margin of the page, at an angle, Arafat added the
laconic, handwritten, directive to three senior security service officials:
"Do what is necessary to second them."

This seemingly innocent memorandum, published here for the first time, is
one of the many documents that prove the great fraud. Beginning in 1997,
Arafat and his cohorts began to willfully and systematically create - in
gross violation of the agreements they signed with Israel - a series of
militias, shadow armies that are seemingly unconnected to the Palestinian
Authority. They secretly transferred personnel and resources to these
militias from the PA's security services in order to compete with the
surging popularity of the Islamic terrorist organizations.

In practice, the PA had been arming these militias in the expectation of a
violent confrontation with Israel, ever since the Western Wall Tunnel
events. In January 2001, the Israeli public learned the hard way about the
activities of the local Tanzim militias. Despite the Tanzim's involvement
in terrorist attacks, the PA's leaders, especially Arafat, took care to
claim that they had no connection to this industry of terror or control over
it. But hundreds of thousands of documents that were seized during
Operation 'Defensive Shield', only a small part of which have been
translated and studied as of today, unequivocally prove that Arafat and his
people knew, initiated and prepared in advance, fanned, and continue to fan,
this fire.

The Mukata documents and the documents that were seized from other PA
headquarters installations in seven out of the eight major cities on the
west Bank, are now in a gigantic Intelligence branch hangar, that is usually
used to store APCs. At the beginning of the week, a reservist clad in a
t-shirt and pants sat in the middle of the hangar, ate tuna and amused
himself by studying an Arabic document that was taken from the office of
Rais Arafat. The air conditioner wasn't working and the reservist
occasionally used the fascinating document as a fan. All around the man are
gigantic piles of boxes and cabinets. Tons of files, cartons containing the
PA's deepest secrets. In practice, the entire organizational memory has
fallen into Israeli hands. An ISA man who works in the territories and is
familiar with the seized material describes it as, "my wettest dream ever.
This is a very rare situation in which our main collection targets become
accessible overnight. Documents that we would have to pay agents dearly
for, so that they might transfer some of them to us, are suddenly accessible
on demand, as long as there will be enough people to read and translate
them."

It seems that no one today, with the exception perhaps of the PA, disputes
the authenticity of the documents. The problem of the IDF's credibility is
in its analysis of them. Until now, for example, there hasn't been found
even one document in which Arafat has signed an order to carry out an attack
or a statement that he knows that someone or other will carry out an attack;
neither do Intelligence Branch personnel expect to find something like this.
If Arafat approves a payment to someone, and Israel claims that this same
someone is involved in terror activities, it is possible to accept Israeli
intelligence's remarks and also assume that Arafat knew about it - or not.
In some instances, the decision is too simple since it arises from the
documents that the Palestinians themselves know very well who perpetrated
what and who is wanted by Israel.

At first, the Palestinians claimed that everything was fabricated.
Afterwards they said that while the documents were authentic, they indicated
nothing. After that, they returned to the fabrication version. Recently,
they have passed a demand to the European institutions that the documents be
returned because they cannot do without them. After all, it is very hard to
argue with documents that bear Arafat's signature. The IDF Intelligence
Branch even arranged for a graphological comparison between Arafat's
signature on the documents that were seized and those on the Oslo
agreements, in which he committed himself to eliminating terror.
Israel is gradually releasing for publication part of these documents in
order to prove the PA's direct involvement in terror. At first, they were
received with great suspicion, but gained credibility afterwards and were
among the more important elements in Bush's aggressive speech. This week,
IDF Intelligence, in a rare move, opened the gates of the hangar in which
the documents are being held to Yediot Ahronot. Most of the documents
herein cited are being published for the first time.

Insofar as it was possible, they were checked separately and not on the
basis of IDF Intelligence's translations.

This very partial sample unequivocally strengthens senior IDF Intelligence
officials' most chilling claims regarding the depth of the PA's involvement
in terror, the detail with which Arafat controls financial expenditures,
both over and under the table, and the gap between the imaginary partner,
the partner that we would want, and what we received in the end.

The 1995 Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
(http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00qa0) explicitly defined the
official Palestinian police forces, and they committed themselves to create
a unified chain of command, under the control of the PA Council. Arafat
never kept these agreements and never dreamed of disbanding the Tanzim. On
the contrary, he utilized the official PA security services as surrogates
for the competing militias. More and more requests to put Tanzim activists
on the security services' payrolls were piled up on the Rais's desk. Thus,
for example, in May 1999, Bashir Nafa, a senior 'General Security' official
wrote Arafat regarding 35 men whose salaries - for their actual employment
in the Tanzim - he requested be paid out of General Intelligence funds.

All in all, it arises from the documents that approximately 130 militants,
mostly from Fatah, with some from other organizations, were, by September
2000, integrated into local branches as 'attaches' to the various security
services. These people were paid by the PA when they, in fact, worked in
the ranks of local militias.

With the start of the second intifada in September 2000, the PA faced a
dilemma regarding the attaches. In January 2001, the Supreme Council for
National Security decided to send the attaches back to the National Security
service. The attaches themselves opposed this and sent Arafat a personal
letter in which they wrote: "At this time, the Tanzim desperately needs the
attaches and even more of them.In light of the intifada's extraordinary
conditions and the Tanzim-Fatah's leading role in it, the return of the
fighters to General Security would have a negative effect on its
performance." Arafat gave the letter to the heads of his security services
to deal with and in the end, almost all of the militants stayed in the
Tanzim.

Here is an example: Nasser Awis, commander of the 'Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
' in Samaria, was officially a lieutenant in 'National Security,' but
actually belonged to the Nablus Tanzim. He operated cells which carried out
murderous attacks in which - according to Israeli intelligence - 17 Israelis
were killed (including the 17.1.2002 attack on a bar mitzvah celebration in
Hadera, as well as additional attacks in Tel Aviv, Netanya and Jerusalem).
Awis continued to receive a salary at the start of 2002, even when he did
not respond to calls to return to service in 'National Security.' In the
end, he was arrested by the IDF in April 2002. In his investigation, he
admitted to receiving funds from the PA due to lists that were transferred
to Marwan Barghouti, and from him, to Arafat. The funds were transferred in
the form of checks via the secretary of the Fatah branch in Nablus.

On 17.Jan.2002, two other attaches murdered the youth Ofir Rahum
(http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0j1n0), who had been lured into
coming to the territories via an Internet honey trap. One of the two was
eliminated by Israel a short time after the murder. Fatah-Tanzim personnel
from Ramallah demanded that the second murderer, Abul Fatah Tzabri Musa
Doleh, remain a General Security attache so that he could continue receiving
a salary from the PA - four months after the murder.

From the documents, it arises in an unequivocal fashion that even when it
was clear to senior PA officials that members of their security services
were involved in terror, not only did they take no action against them, but
they continued to finance them. From a portion of the seized documents, it
arises that not all commanders in the field were happy with this practice.
Thus, for example, on 21.2.2001, the General Security commander in Hebron,
Abdul Fatah Jiadi, sent a detailed list of "GSS fighters in Hebron who were
seconded to the Fatah-Tanzim and who have not reported back to the Service"
to the Rais's office. He did his part, but the PA continued to pay the
salaries of these militants. Additional assistance was presented to the
militias via direct allocations to the regional branches and in the form of
war material.

The local militias, which have been financed and armed in this fashion, have
indeed served the goal for which they were established, and have been at the
forefront of the struggle with Israel. They began to perpetrate attacks
under the "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades." At the end of 2001, they moved on to
severe shooting attacks, and at the beginning of 2002, they began a
murderous series of suicide-attacks inside Israel in which they also used
women suicide-terrorists. These attacks were led by the local Tanzim
organizations in Nablus (with 30 attaches who received salaries from the PA)
and Ramallah (with 40 such attaches).
Arafat's strategic decision - to strengthen the local militias instead of
disbanding them - did not only work against Israel. In the end, it led to
the break-up of the PA itself. Militia members became warlords without
whose word nothing moved on the Palestinian street. Their militants took
control of food consignments and demanded that the municipalities pay their
wages and cover their fuel and cellular telephone expenses. Thus, for
example, the 'Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' wrote in Bethlehem in November 2001:
"To our brothers, the leaders of the Bethlehem Municipality and honored city
council members: The blessing of the homeland upon you. The blessing of the
pure blood which has fertilized the ground of our beloved district. We
greet you and the great efforts which you have made in order to build and
develop this district.we intend to raise an issue with you. The issue is
your participation in defraying a small portion of our daily expenses, which
are heavy upon us. We pay NIS 5,000 a month as a subscription fee for use
of communications equipment by members of the military arm. In addition, we
are also paying for fuel, which constitutes a basic component, and is
important for our movements from place to place, and that is in accordance
with the demands of national interests.Your participation in this matter
will thus bring about our pride and glory. We request your serious
attention to this issue.""

Experience teaches that the fortunes of those who tried to refuse this type
of approach in the past were not enhanced. There is extensive extortion in
the PA, by those connected to the PA, of Christian businessmen in the
Bethlehem region. Thus, for example, gold rings belonging to Christian
businessman George Nissan were found on the fingers of eliminated Attaf
Abiat after his car was blown up. In other cases, Fatah members extorted
senior businessmen, souvenir shop owners and gas station owners, in
coordination with the Palestinian security services who would summon
businessmen for "clarification" of fabricated suspicions of collaboration
with Israel.

In one area the Israeli propaganda worked against itself: It said that
Arafat is cut off and that he has no control of the field, it directed the
world's attention to his trembling lips. But he is not cut off, not at all.
One of the things that will make it difficult for Arafat to deny his direct
involvement in terror is his insistence to personally authorize any monetary
expense in the PA security budget above $250. That is at least what the
intelligence analysts are concluding based on documents that have been
captured and examined up to now. This inclination has also turned him in to
a particularly busy treasurer; treasurer, and armorer from time to time.
Thus, for example, he authorized, in his own handwriting, in January 2001,
to "immediately supply" weapons to the Popular Struggle Front militia headed
by Samir Rosheh (30 Kalashnikov rifles and 15 pistols). In May 2001, the
same organization approached him and requested "special assistance" in light
of the struggle with Israel. Arafat authorized $25,000 that same month, and
a further $20,000 the following month. Furthermore, Arafat authorized the
payment of $100 to every one of the 65 members of the Palestine Liberation
Front who were involved in the confrontation with Israel. During that same
period the organization perpetrated the suicide attack at the Check Post,
carried out many shooting attacks and planted bombs in the territories.

According to the documents that were captured, Arafat did not interfere with
the judgment of the middle levels who proposed the beneficiaries of aid to
him, but always made sure to cut the amounts. Thus, for example, in his
July 2001 letter in which Bethlehem Fatah Secretary Kamal Hamid requests aid
in the amount of $2,000 "for every one of the brothers whose name is listed
below," Arafat erases the numbers and writes in his own handwriting "$300 to
each one."

On November 7th in the same year, the same Kamal Hamid wrote to Arafat
asking for an additional "allocation of urgent aid in the amount of $3,000
for every one of the families of the brothers, the movement's martyred
commanders, who fell in the battle of defense, for the purpose of paying off
some of their debts." In the new list appear the names of a number of
members who previously were beneficiaries of Arafat's support while they
were still alive, Attaf Abiat amongst them. Another star in the list is Abu
Shaira who carried out shooting attacks, murdered Lieutenant Colonel Yehuda
Edri
(http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0k310),
controller of agents for Unit 504, and was killed in that incident. Arafat
again intervenes in the amounts, erasing the numbers and writing
"Treasury/Ramallah, to allocate $800 to every one of them." Abiat, one
should recall, was wanted for a long time by Israel, which accused him of
extensive terror activities. Israel even passed on requests for his arrest
to the PA many times.

Arafat was very petty in his demand to personally approve every expense. He
also very strictly clarified what happened to every shekel, dinar and
dollar. Among the treasure trove of documents found were surveys of
articles from the press that Arafat received every day. In one of them was
a report by the MBC network on Saudi donations to families of martyrs.
Arafat wrote next to this report to immediately check with the Saudis why
this money was going directly to the families and not passing through the PA
's coffers. From this point, starts a wearisome correspondence between the
Palestinian Ambassador to Riyadh and the Kingdom's authorities. The
documents show that the Saudis, politely but firmly, did not agree to
transfer the money via the coffers of the PA, and they kept their reasons to
themselves.

The PA budget is made up mainly of funds from customs charges collected by
Israel and passed on to the PA (the transfer of which was halted during the
course of the current confrontation), from taxes that are only partially
collected by the PA, especially since the start of the intifada, and from
donations. Arab states transfer aid to the PA worth $55 million a month.
The EU provides the PA with around $9 million a month, approximately 10
percent of its total budget.

The article of Fatah funding does not appear among the articles of the
official PA budget, which is supposed to be transparent vis-a-vis the
European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The funds are withdrawn
from the PA salaries bank account No. 01810058/4 that is managed in the "El
Urdun Bank." At least 60 of these checks were seized in Ramallah, which
represent the transfer of funds orchestrated by Barghouti to dozens of
regional branches and sub-branches of the Fatah and Tanzim in the West Bank.
Funding of youth movement branches and their student unions at colleges such
as Bir Zeit is carried out in a similar manner.
Many documents were seized in Barghouti's office in Ramallah dealing with
the mechanism of transfers and payments to Tanzim cells and El Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades. In most of the cases, the requests for funds from the field
landed on Barghouti's desk. In a small number of the cases, the branch and
district heads bypassed Barghouti and appealed directly to Arafat or to
other senior members of the security establishment, such as Tawfik Tirawi.
Tirawi, for example, in a letter to Arafat, requested aid for the families
of eliminated terrorists, including the commanders of the El Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades in Bethlehem, Attaf Abiat, and his aide Jemal Nuora.

Barghouti is again and again pictured as a kind of intermediary between the
people in the field and Arafat. He advised Arafat to whom and how much to
give. Thus, for example, he writes "To the President, Abu Amar, may God
keep him: With blessings of the homeland and the return, please approve
payment of $3,000 in aid to every one of the following people, because they
are wanted by the occupation authorities and are eligible for aid.." This
letter is accompanied by a list of 20 activists.

An interesting letter was received by "the fighting brother, Abu el-Kassem
(Marwan Barghouti), may God keep him" from Khaled abd el-Aziz Muhammed Sif,
a member of the Nablus Fatah committee. "I wish to inform you", he writes
to Barghouti, "that a group of my wanted associates and I have been
unsuccessful in finding someone to support us during these difficult
economic conditions. I wish to inform you that we have been operating for
more than five months in quality actions in the framework of the struggle,
but we are facing serious problems of a shortage of ammunition, in fact at
this stage we have none at all.we are wanted by the occupation forces. This
complicates matters, and we currently cannot even afford to pay rent. I am
the only one who receives the amount of NIS 500 per month from the regional
branch." Sif adds his phone number (059-744697) at the end of the message,
and notes that "The bearer of the message is the mother of one of the
members of our group." Barghouti wrote to one of his assistants at the top
of the page that, "This issue must be observed and implemented."

Arafat and Barghouti's close scrutiny of every penny allocated from the PA's
budget did not prevent - an understatement - findings of corruption there.
As published in the past, documents seized by the IDF strengthen the
evidence of tremendous corruption on the part of senior PA figures, who
built estates for themselves at the expense of the public, as well as
corruption within the various organizations, including those considered
ideological and very clean such as the Islamic Jihad. Thus, for example,
documents show that a serious dispute arose among senior Jihad figures in
the Jenin region due to the disappearance of a large sum, in terms of the
organization, $127,000, that was transferred by the leader, Ramadan Shelah,
in order to support the families of the fallen and arrested.
One of the more interesting documents discovered only this week, and
appearing in public here for the first time, incontrovertibly proves what is
termed in Israel as "the revolving door policy", the method used by the PA
to release from prison or "let out on leave" many dozens of operational
activists from the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and this is
after most of them have not been put on trial, their interrogations being
incomplete.

The document that was discovered included a recommendation that was
transferred to Amid (the Palestinian equivalent of Brig.-Gen.) Haj Ismail,
one of Arafat's confidants, for the release of 27 Hamas and Islamic Jihad
militants who were arrested for interrogation by the PA. Senior Palestinian
officers wrote "To our brother Amid el Haj Ismail Jabber, may God keep him,
Director of the West Bank General Security" and requesting: "Please
authorize the release of 27 detainees who were arrested as part of the
crisis file, since in the course of their interrogation, their involvement
in illegal activities was not proven."

According to the ISA, the recommendation was accepted, and the militants
mentioned in the list were released. According to the Intelligence Corps,
the whole list was made up of Hamas and Jihad militants, including several
who were involved in suicide attacks, the production of bombs and Kassam
rockets, and planting bombs. Three of them were arrested by the IDF in the
course of Operation 'Defensive Shield', and at least one was killed, Ashraf
Draama from Tubas, who was involved, after his release, in the planning of
suicide attacks, and the shooting attack on the el-Maliah hot houses in the
northern Jordan Valley. An IDF officer and two soldiers were killed in that
attack on 19.March.2002.

The aforementioned document is from 2.Feb.2002, at a time when a relative
escalation in terror attacks began. The Islamic opposition began to
increase its pressure for the release of more and more of its activists from
PA prisons. That same day, during the course of the PLO's Central Committee
conference, Palestinian opposition representatives who participated in the
conference called for the release of detainees from PA prisons. In total,
the PA arrested 144 people in the period leading up to Defensive Shield;
i.e. this document brought about the release of 20% of them.

Israel says that the formulation, "Their participation in illegal activities
was not proven during the course of their investigation," is a legal fiction
since attacks outside PA territory are not considered as contravening
Palestinian law. Thus, these militants have indeed not formally broken the
law. From study of the original Arabic document, it is clear that there is
no disagreement over the membership of the 27 detainees in Hamas or Jihad,
two movements which are publicly and proudly involved in terror against
Israel.

Cross-referencing the list with the Israeli intelligence database
immediately clarifies that these are known names. Thus, for instance, Nimer
Ibrahim Nimer Drawzeh from Nablus, who according to the ISA, is a senior
collaborator in the operational organization of Hamas in Samaria. Drawzeh
commanded a cell in October 2001 that planned to send a suicide-bomber to
the Sharon region. The attack was foiled at the last minute. Also on the
list is Abbas Fawaz Ali Naoura, a Hamas militant from El-Bireh suspected of
membership in an operational cell in Ramallah that dealt with the
manufacture of bombs and Kassam rockets. He was arrested during Defensive
Shield. He is an American citizen whose release was requested, upon his
arrest, by the US Consulate-General in eastern Jerusalem before his
membership in Hamas was clarified.

The documents which were seized by the IDF painfully prove how tight the
link is between the legitimate Palestinian security services and Hamas and
Islamic Jihad, and how naive is the preconception that frequently
differentiates between the "good" and "bad" organizations. The Palestinian
security services consistently avoided the timely foiling of attacks,
including suicide attacks. At best, they ignored the activities of the
Islamic terror organizations and at worst, they even warned them of planned
raids and arrests by Israel.

Thus, for example, a document belonging to Palestinian General Intelligence
was seized at the Mukata, in which there was a list of, "people who must be
warned when there are planes in the air." On the list are names of senior
Tanzim and Hamas militants who - according to Israeli intelligence - were
involved in attacks against Israelis.

A document from Preventive Security HQ in Ramallah points out that General
Intelligence was involved in Wafa Idris's suicide-attack on Jaffa Road in
Jerusalem, the first of its kind by a woman, in which one person was killed
(http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0l4d0) and 131 were wounded.
According to the document, immediately after the attack, Tawfik Tirawi - the
Preventive Security commander, whose position was uncertain early this
week - tried to prevent the publication of the fact that Idris was behind
the attack and tried to bribe her brother into saying she had immigrated to
Jordan.

The cooperation between the terrorist organizations and the security
services found special expression in Jenin. According to the documents
which were seized, a joint framework of all the organizations was
established in the city under the heading, "The Combined Force," in order to
defend it against the IDF. One document even mentions a joint operations
room. Another document says that the deputy head of Preventive Security in
the city provided Hamas and Islamic Jihad with weapons from "the North
Palestine armory whose contents were stolen" (the reference being to the
armory at Kibbutz Manara).

A 25.Sept.2001 internal Fatah report states: "Among all districts, the Jenin
district has the most and best fighters, who belong to the Fatah movement
and all the national-Islamic factions. The Jenin refugee camp is rightly
considered the center of events and the command of field operations for all
factions in the Jenin district, a viper's nest as the enemy calls it. The
Jenin refugee camp is characterized by the outstanding presence of fighters
and those who initiate national action. Nothing will defeat them and
nothing worries them. Therefore, they are ready for sacrifice by any means.
And indeed, it is not strange that Jenin is known as the capital of
suicide-terrorists."

In another Fatah document, it is written that Jenin is, "a Fatah
stronghold," and that the 'Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' in the refugee camp,
"established Fatah's presence and ability for action." A May 2001 letter
from the 'Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' to "the brother Marwan Barghouti" points
out that 63 'Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' fighters from the Jenin district are
divided into four military units. Their activities, it is written, "are
focused on continuing clashes, while using machine guns, grenades,
explosives and mortar rounds. Actions are concentrated on the bypass road
where the settlers' transportation arteries are located."
The letter continues with a list of "achievements of Jenin area clashes" and
ends on a note of request and threat: "Until now, we have had no budget for
all this activity, which entails considerable expenses, whether in
ammunition, war materiel, fuel, or assistance to brother fugitives, who must
feed their families. We hope that you [plural] will assist us to the best
of your [plural] abilities, especially in light of the 'Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades' accumulated debts, which currently approach approximately $10,000.
It should be pointed out that there are moves by those who oppose us, who
are ready to invest these funds. All of us hope that just as we previously
promised you [plural] our loyalty, you [plural] will constantly help us and
provide us with a budget for this activity so that the resistance will
continue and develop new forms."

What the Europeans knew

From the documents and the raids, it arises that more than a few European
elements were aware of the Palestinians' actions in real time. Thus, for
example, the head of Germany's liaison office to the PA, Andres Rinsk,
appealed to Jibril Rajoub on 5.March.2002, and told him that armed
Palestinians had taken over the Talita Kumi school in Beit Jala, which was
financed by the Protestant church in Berlin. The school is located on a
ridge; from its environs, weapons fire was directed at Israeli vehicles on
the tunnels road. Rinsk feared an Israeli military response and asked
Rajoub to assist in removing the armed men. "The school is well-known and
enjoys a high degree of respect in Germany," he writes Rajoub. "You cannot
imagine what kind of an outcry would erupt.if it became known that the
school grounds were being used as a battlefield."

During Operation 'Defensive shield', the IDF raided the UNRWA offices in the
Jenin refugee camp. Intelligence Corps personnel, who joined the raid,
discovered that the walls of the European director's office were covered
with pictures of martyrs from suicide attacks.

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