Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin
April 2, 2004
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
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World Bank Indirect Funding of Suicide Terror
by Itamar Marcus

Introduction
Meetings were held this week between representatives of the World Bank and
the Palestinian Ministry of Education regarding significant World Bank
investment in PA universities, including "developing the infrastructure for
the Palestinian institutions of higher education..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida,
March 25, 2004.]

In doing so the World Bank is ignoring, or is possibly unaware of, the fact
that the very PA universities they will be strengthening all have official
student branches of Hamas (called Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyah) and Islamic Jihad
(called Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah), both terrorist organizations outlawed on
the US and EU terrorist list. The World Bank will be building the
university infrastructures that will be used by student terrorist
organizations to form the backbone of suicide terrorism in coming years.

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad student branches at the PA universities have
historically been a breeding ground for terrorists, as campus structures
are used to promote murder and terror, and to recruit and plan terrorist
activities.

For example, it was Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) at the Al-Najah
University that created the horrific celebration of the 2001 Sbarro Pizza
bombing by building a mock pizza parlor and decorating the walls and tables
with images of pizza and body parts.

Terrorists who have come directly from PA university activity include:

Mahmud Shuraytakh: Chairman of Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) and of the
Student Council at Bir Zeit University. Planned a suicide attack on a bus
in Tel Aviv Sept. 19, 2002, in which six Israelis were murdered and 71
injured.

Ihab Abdul-Qadir Mahmud Abu Salim: Arab Language student and a member of
Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) at Bir Zeit University. Carried out a
suicide attack at Zerifin Sept. 9, 2003, in which eight Israelis were
murdered and about 20 injured.

Daya Muhammad Hussein Al-Tawil: Engineering student at Bir Zeit University
and a member of Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas). Carried out a suicide
attack at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem March 27, 2001, in which 29
Israelis were injured.

Ramiz Ubaid: Student and a member of Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyyah (Islamic
Jihad) at Bir Zeit University. Carried out a suicide attack at Dizengoff
Center in Tel Aviv March 3, 1996, in which 13 Israelis were murdered and
118 injured.

Hamid Abu Hajlah: Engineering student and a member of Al-Kutlah
Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) at Al-Najah University. Carried out a suicide attack
in Netanya on Jan. 1, 2001, in which three Israelis were injured.

Ramiz Abu Salim: Hamas activist and a student at Al-Quds Open University
branch in Al-Birah. Carried out a suicide attack at Kafe Hillel in
Jerusalem Sept. 9, 2003, in which seven Israelis were murdered and about 20
injured.

Muhammad Al-Rul: Hamas activist and a student at Al-Najah University.
Carried out a suicide attack in Jerusalem June 18, 2002, in which 19
Israelis were murdered and 42 injured.

While governmental and international aid agencies have repeatedly imposed
regulations and safeguards to try to prevent inadvertent funding or
promotion of Palestinian terrorists, many aid organizations do in fact fund
terror promotion.

The World Bank has not been discerning in the use of its funding in the
past. For example, it funded the "development of the Dalal Mughrabi Street"
in Gaza. This street is named after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who murdered
36 Israelis and the American photographer Gail Rubin in a 1978 bus
hijacking. [Al Quds, Feb. 17, 2003]. They also funded the building of a
school in Jenin named after the terrorist head of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Abu Ali Mustafa, who was responsible for
planning and executing numerous terror bombings in Israel.
[Al Hayat Al Jadida, Oct. 2, 2003]

Other aid organizations have been similarly lax. For example, the Haj Amin
al-Husseini Street project in Gaza, named after the former Mufti of
Jerusalem (infamous for his close ties to Adolf Hitler), was funded by the
German Development Agency together with UNDP (United Nations Development
Project). [Al Quds, Feb. 17, 2003]. USAID funded school renovations for the
Dalal Mughrabi school. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida July 30, 2002]

In 2003, USAID funded projects in Palestinian universities, including the
Arab American University in Jenin, which sponsored numerous anti-American
and terrorist-supporting rallies last year. One event included "blessings"
to those fighting American soldiers in Iraq. The rally opened with "a
speech given by the Arab-American University lecturer Dr. Hamad Hussein. He
blessed the Iraqi resistance for its firm stand against the American-
British occupation." [Al-Ayyam, Nov. 4, 2003] This and other anti-American
activities continued while USAID was funding programs at this university.

USAID has a budget allocation of $3 million for the 2004 fiscal year for PA
higher education programs. But in a January 2004 letter to PMW, a USAID
representative said that USAID has ceased funding PA universities directly,
and is now giving scholarships to students.

If the World Bank funds PA universities without demanding the closure of
their terror branches, this may be the most direct financing of terrorism
to date by the World Bank.

The following are the texts of the articles cited above, followed by a
listing of PA terror branches and promotional activities in PA universities:

"Dr. Naim Abu Al-Humos, [PA] Minister of Education and Higher Education,
met yesterday with a delegation from the World Bank ... The meeting dealt
with discussing the aid project in implementing a funding strategy for
higher education ... in addition to projects whose goal is developing the
infrastructure for the Palestinian institutions of higher education..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 25, 2004]

"The elementary school [named after] the Shahid [Martyr for Allah] Abu Ali
Mostafa in the town of Araba in the Jenin district was handed transferred
to the Education [ministry]... the construction of the school took place...
in cooperation with the World Bank.... And based upon the instructions of
the president Yasser Arafat the school was named after the Shahid Abu Ali
Mostafa, the general secretary of the] Popular Front [PLFP- terror
organization] ..." [Al Hayat Al-Jadida 2/10/03]

"The Gaza municipality is currently implementing a large group of
developmental projects in various city locations. in a value exceeding 10
million dollars... ...[The projects include] the development of the Dalal
Al-Mughrabi Street, funded by the Al-Aqsa fund by the World Bank ...and the
Abed Al Kader Al Husseini [ed -Hitler Ally] Street project, funded by the
German Development Agency by UNDP, the United Nations Development
Project..." [Al Quds, 17/2/04]

The following is a partial listing of newspaper articles and activities
indicating the presence of terrorist branches in PA universities.

"The Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyah (Hamas) in the Bir-Zeit University yesterday
held a memorial assembly... " [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 30, 2004]

"Yesterday the Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyah (Hamas) in the national Al-Najah
University held a memorial rally in memory of the two Shahids, Sheik Yassin
and the student Abu-Halima..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 25, 2004]

"The Islamic Union, the student arm of the Islamic Jihad in the Al-Quds
Open University in Jenin, organized a mass march yesterday... " [Al-Ayyam,
Feb. 2, 2004]

"The memorial rally for [Head of Hamas] Sheik Yassin in the Islamic
University in Gaza... was organized yesterday by the Islamic University's
student council, [taking place] in the presence of a few of the [Hamas]
movement leaders, the president and the board members of the Islamic
University Trustees council, the head of the university, and the Academic
and administrative staff members..."

"The Al Kutlah Al Islamiyah (Hamas) in the Al-Quds Open University held in
the Tobas center its annual "Live Memory" exhibition..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 5, 2004]

A student rally was organized in the Al-Azhar [University] park by the
Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyah (Hamas), commemorating the anniversary of the death
as a Shahid of Yihya Ayyash..." [Al-Ayyam , Jan. 6, 2004]

"In elections for student council of Bir Zeit University nearly 50 per cent
of the seats went to a coalition of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas student
groups."
[Al Hayat Al Jadida, Dec. 11, 2003]

"The new leader of Hamas, Dr Abed Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi... emphasized in his
words during the ceremony, held in the Islamic University in Gaza, that the
war is raging against the United States and Israel..." [Al Ayyam, March 29
2004]

"The [Hamas university student group] Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyah- won the
student elections in the Islamic University in Gaza. [Al Ayyam Oct. 23,
2003]

"Al-Jama'aa Al-Islamiyah (Islamic Jihad) in the Al-Quds Open [University]
in Jenin held a honorary [ceremony] for the families of the Shahids... The
president of the University, Doctor Walid Jarar, expressed his appretiation
to the Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah initiative..." [Al-Quds 14/1/04]

Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah (Islamic Jihad) arranged a mass assembly yesterday
in the Arab-American University on the occasion of the eighth annual Shahid
[Martyrdom] day of the former Secretary General, Dr. Fathi Shqaqi, of the
Islamic Jihad organization .A large crowd of students and university
workers, and dozens of guests were present. . . . [The university lecturer]
Dr. Hussein Abu-Hammad gave a speech in the name of the Arab-American
University, in which he enumerated the virtues of the Martyr Shqaqi,
[founder of the terror organization] as a remarkable national and Islamic
commander in his philosophy, his struggles and his affiliations. Abu-Hammad
stated that the Shahid was a exclamation mark in the history of the
Palestinian struggle. The student factions in the university considered the
Shahid Shqaqi a mentor for [the next] generations and as a unique
commander... One of the students gave a speech in the name of Dr. Ramadan
Abedallah Shalah, the Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 4, 2003]

"One of the students of Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah (Islamic Jihad) [at the
Arab American University in Jenin] delivered the speech for Islamic Jihad
Secretary General, Dr. Ramadan Abdullah Shalakh, on his behalf." [Al-Ayyam,
Nov. 4, 2003]

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