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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Military Police probe finds double amputee wasn't killed by IDF snipers

2018-03-29

[Ynet] Investigation reveals sniper fire was halted at least an hour before Paleostinians say Ibrahim Abu Thuraya was hurt during Gazoo riot; one of two Maglan fighters questioned under caution tells Sherlocks, 'There's no chance we killed him'; intelligence investigation finds protestor bid farewell to his family as a 'shahid' the night before his death. Findings of a Military Police investigation into the death of Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, ...the former Fatah Force 17 fighter and later Hamasnik who lost his legs during those activities. His name is also spelt Ibrahim Abu Toriya in our archives... a double amputee who was killed during a violent protest near the border fence in the northern Gazoo Strip in mid December, reveal that the sniper fire had ended at least an hour before the time Abu Thuraya was hurt according to Paleostinian reports, Ynet has learned.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

'Innocent protestor' killed by IDF was a terrorist, told his family 'I Intend to be a martyr'

2017-12-23

There is a photo of the formerly living terrorist protesting on his stumps at the link. [Ynet] Analysis: Israel was widely condemned over the death of the 'innocent' double amputee Ibrahim Abu Thuraya in Gazoo protests. But digging into his history shows he was a member of a terror group that morphed into Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and an agitator who wanted to 'die a martyr.' Last Friday, Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, a disabled person who uses a wheelchair, who participated in a protest meters from the border fence in Gazoo, was killed. Israel was widely criticized for killing Abu Thuraya and in some cases accused that an IDF sniper deliberately shot him. Zeid al-Hussein, United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... High Commissioner for Human Rights, published a condemnation claiming the protester did not pose a threat so there was no justification for his death. The Guardian published the story under the title "'A shocking and wanton act': Israel accused over death of wheelchair user". The Telegraph reported "How a dead man in a wheelchair became a symbol of Paleostinian anger over Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s Jerusalem decision". Israel gave a different version of events. According to the IDF’s investigation, "Riot control equipment was used in the protest area. A few live rounds were fired towards the main instigators. Troops received approval prior to shooting each round by a senior commander in the field. No live fire was aimed at Abu Thuraya". In reports worldwide, Abu Thuraya has been described as an innocent victim, having lost his legs as a result of an Israeli bombing during Operation Cast Lead in 2008 and as a protester brutally shot without any justification. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... new information recently uncovered, makes the story questionable. Tomer Ilan, an Israeli activist, has researched Abu Thuraya’s history and found that his family members have reported to the media on his last words the day before the protest. Russia Today reports he told his family, "Brother, forgive me. This is the last night you will see me. And you, my mother, forgive me, and you my sisters, you all forgive me... He kissed the hand and the leg of my father and said to him: Father, forgive me. This is the last night you will see me, as I intend to be a martyr. I am bored of this life, I have no legs and I have nothing. I want to die and rest from life." Mondoweiss quotes similar a testimony by a family member. Abu Thuraya’s alleged injury as an innocent civilian by an IDF bombing on his home in 2008, has also been found to be totally inaccurate. The Independent reported in 2005 that Abu Thuraya, a Fatah Force 17 member, was shot in the leg, in fighting between Hamas and Fatah. His membership in Fatah’s Force 17 is also reported in the 2010 book "Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement" By Beverley Milton-Edwards, Stephen Farrell". A Paleostinian website reports he was injured again and lost his legs in April 2008 in battle with the IDF, as a Hamas combatant, 8 months before Operation Cast Lead. The circumstances of Abu Thuraya’s death last week remain unclear. His past as a terrorist may not be related to the protest in which he was killed. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... in stark contrast to worldwide media reports, he was not an innocent civilian but a member of terrorist groups Force 17 and later Hamas, was injured twice while serving these groups, and went to last Friday’s protest in order to die as a "martyr".

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Iraq

Delta Force secretly killed Iranian agents in Iraq ‐ with IEDs

2015-10-04

We need a Qods Organization tab? By early 2007, some US intelligence estimates held that as many as 150 Iranian operatives were in Iraq. Many were member of the Quds Force, the covert arm of Iran's Shi'ite theocracy. Their mission was to coordinate the violent campaign being waged against US forces by Iraq's Shi'ite militias. "It was 100 percent, ‘Are you willing to kill Americans and are you willing to coordinate attacks?' " said an officer who studied the Quds Force's approach closely. " ‘If the answer is "yes," here's arms, here's money.' " The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) set up a new task force, named Task Force 17. Its mandate was simple: go after "anything that Iran is doing to aid in the destabilization of Iraq," said a Task Force 17 officer. But political restrictions hobbled Task Force 17, particularly as the US lowered its profile in Iraq. The country's Shi'ite-dominated government, headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, wasn't happy with any attacks that targeted Iran operatives or their Iraqi proxies. But for a small number of Shi'ite targets, JSOC found a way around the political restrictions by killing its enemies without leaving any US fingerprints. The command did this using a device called the "Xbox." Developed jointly by Delta Force and SEAL Team 6, the Xbox was a bomb designed to look and behave exactly like one made by Iraqi insurgents, using materials typically found in locally made improvised explosive devices.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli security forces arrest terror cell behind murder of Danny Gonen

2015-07-16

[Ynet] Shooter, a member of the PA's elite Force 17 unit, incarcerated Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! after calling police and boasting of attack; four other accomplices also arrested. Israeli security forces arrested the terrorist who killed Israeli hiker Danny Gonen near the settlement Dolev in the West Bank, along with four other suspects, it was cleared for publication on Wednesday. The shooter was identified as Muhammed Abu Shaheen, 30 years old from Qalandiya, is a member of the Paleostinian Authority's elite Force 17 unit. He was imprisoned between 2006-2008 after confessing his intention to carry out a terror attack. During questioning, Abu Shaheen confessed to the shooting and said he had collected intelligence before committing the attack. He also admitted to six other shooting attacks in the last year, including one in November 2014 in Al-Ram, in which a soldier was maimed. The five were arrested about a week and a half after the attack, when troops raided the suspects' homes. According to Sherlocks, there was no connection between the arrested cell members and the cell that committed the terror attack near Shvut Rachel, in which Israeli Malachi Rosenfeld was killed, or the shooting at an ambulance near Beit El. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... the Shin Bet reportedly made new discoveries about those attacks over the last few days. The attack took place on June 19, when Gonen and a friend were driving away from a spring near the Dolev settlement in the Binyamin area of the West Bank. A Paleostinian man signaled for them to stop as if to ask for help before firing at them from point-blank range, critically wounding Gonen. The case reached a turning point when the Judea and Samaria District emergency center received a call from the attacker, saying he committed a terror attack and shot Israelis. The Shin Bet then traced the call, leading them to Qalandiya. One of the arrestees was Amjad Aduan, 35, who was previously detained for planning terror attacks. He is suspected of supplying Abu Shaheen with ammunition and served as a lookout at several shooting attacks. The other suspects who were arrested are Asraf Amar, a 24-year-old member of PA military Intelligence, Fatah member Osama Assad, 29, who was released in the Shalit deal and is suspected of hiding the gun that Abu Shaheen used for the attack in his home; and Muhammed Aduan, 37, who has no history of security offenses, who is also suspected of hiding weapons for Abu Shaheen. The terror cell belongs to the Tanzim militia founded by Fatah, which has been working to rebuild its infrastructure in the West Bank over the past year. These are young terror operatives, who do not answer to Fatah or the Paleostinian Authority.

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Iraq

Saddam collected info on dozens of targets in Israel

2008-03-24

Saddam Hussein's intelligence service collected information on dozens of sites in Israel, including airports, other transportation centers, as well as scientific and religious centers that were thought to be potential targets for attacks. Among the sources providing intelligence to Saddam's regime was Force 17, the security force of Yasser Arafat, which planned and carried out from its Ramallah headquarters attacks against Israeli targets. No surprise that Yassar and Saddam were working together ... This information emerged following the release of documents captured during the American invasion in 2003 and made available as part of a West Point program to evaluate the lessons of the war in Iraq. In addition to the detailed collection of intelligence on potential Israeli targets, the documents also show that Saddam's intelligence was following closely the links between Iran and Hezbollah and the potential that such ties could provide Iran to operate in the territories and in North Africa. The captured documents also detail a 2001 plan to release Iraqis jailed for three- to 20-year sentences if they agreed to volunteer to carry out attacks on Israeli targets. But containment was working just fine ... The Americans captured more than 600,000 intelligence items, including thousands of hours of video and sound recordings, all of which have been scanned and summarized, but only 15 percent was fully translated into English. A document from 2002, from the chief of staff of the Al-Quds Army, sent to the Karbala Division, orders each brigade to build a model of an Israeli town and practice taking it by force. Whatever else we think of Saddam, this demonstrates a serious lack of reality testing. Just exactly how would an Iraqi brigade be presented with an opportunity to capture an Israeli town? How exactly would Iraqi armed forces survive in a fight against the Israelis? Hamas representatives, including Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated by the Israel Defense Forces in 2004, contacted Iraqi intelligence and asked to coordinate attacks against American and Israeli targets to delay the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The documents also show that Iraqi agents also followed the activities of Israel in Jordan, Qatar and the Philippines. A video recording of a meeting between Saddam and Yasser Arafat on April 19, 1990, showed Saddam threatening to assassinate then president George Bush. "We may not be able to reach Washington, but we could send someone with an explosives belt to Washington," Saddam told Arafat, three months before the invasion of Kuwait. "We can send people to Washington. A man with an explosives belt could throw himself on Bush's car." Saddam also told his Palestinian guest that he intended to launch surface-to-surface ballistic missiles against Tel Aviv and that he possessed chemical weapons that "have been successfully employed" against Iran - and he would not hesitate to also use them against Israel. You get the sense that Saddam was a big talker, particularly with other Arabs. The file listing potential targets in Israel covers 223 pages and was classified as Top Secret by Iraqi intelligence. It was found on April 13, 2003, in the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad by a unit of U.S. Marines. The file was sent two weeks later to U.S. army intelligence and then to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon for translation and analysis. The decision to make the report available is part of a program to evaluate the lessons of the war in Iraq at West Point military academy. Five volumes of captured documents were disseminated a year ago throughout the American defense establishment, and are now being made available after censorship. The file lists in its "main targets" the bridges over the Jordan River, the central bus stations in Be'er Sheva, Jerusalem, Ashdod, Dimona, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Rehovot, Lod and Rishon Letzion and train stations in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Also in the file were road maps of Kiryat Shmona, Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well as maps of parking lots and taxi stations at the Tel Aviv train station. In the table of contents it is noted that pages 42-76 contain a catalog of "main targets," listing 35 targets in Israel, including bus stations, pharmaceutical plants, medical centers and synagogues. Following pages note, on a map of Israel, main sports venues and are then followed by 20 more pages that include 35 other potential targets: mosques, synagogues, swimming pools, government offices and sports centers. Also included is the Weizmann Institute, "56 airports and 18 runways," air force bases, including squadrons, aircraft types and missiles, the names of companies working in civilian airports and the crossing points on the border between Israel and Jordan.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hezbollah after Mughniyeh

2008-03-13

Yehudit Barsky The recent killing of Imad Fayez Mughniyeh will not preclude Hezbollah from striking again -- and, judging from past experience, the Lebanese-based terrorist organization will eye Diaspora, as well as Israeli, targets. For many of his victims around the world, the mid-February car-bomb assassination of Imad Fayez Mughniyeh -- one of the world’s most wanted terrorists for two decades -- has the ring of true justice. At least in the short term, the killing of Mughniyeh will have a deterrent effect and hamper Hezbollah’s capability to carry out a revenge attack. It will not, however, preclude Hezbollah from planning a future strike -- and, judging from past experience, the Lebanese-based terrorist organization will eye not only Israeli targets for retaliation, but Diaspora Jewish ones as well. Mughniyeh, the second highest official in the Islamic extremist group and seen as a possible successor to Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, showed no boundaries of brutality or location. He was on the FBI's Most Wanted list for the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and murder of one of its passengers, U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem. The FBI posted a $25 million reward for Mughniyeh's capture. Earlier in his terrorist career, Mughniyeh joined Fatah’s Force 17, the personal security apparatus of Yasser Arafat. Mughniyeh was one of a number of young Shia Muslims recruited to Force 17 and initially trained by Fatah. Mughniyeh went on to become a founding member of Hezbollah and was placed in charge of its Special Security Apparatus, also known as the Islamic Jihad Council, whose members were trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards. He ultimately became chief of the security apparatus and headed Hezbollah’s foreign operations, overseeing terror activities worldwide. Both the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security facilitated Mughniyeh’s international operations. The 1983 massive car bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed more than 300, and the kidnappings and murders of Westerners in Lebanon, including CIA station chief William Buckley and USMC Lt. Col. William Higgins, as well as members of the Lebanese Jewish community, all are accredited to Mughniyeh. He gained international notoriety for his involvement, together with Iran, in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy, and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center, both in Buenos Aires. The official findings of the Argentinean investigation of the AMIA attack revealed that it was planned and executed by Iran and Hezbollah. As a result, Interpol, at the request of Argentina, issued an arrest warrant for Mughniyeh and five Iranian officials. Serving as Hezbollah’s nexus to other terrorist organizations, Mughniyeh provided vital assistance and training for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, strengthening the ties of those terror organizations to both Hezbollah and Iran. He also maintained ties with Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri of al-Qaida by providing explosives training for al-Qaida operatives. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Mughniyeh was believed to have been instrumental in having organized the escape of up to 50 senior members of al-Qaida's leadership from Afghanistan to Lebanon and facilitated the escape of dozens of other al-Qaida operatives to Iran. Over the last several years, Mughniyeh further expanded Hezbollah’s influence and was reported to be working with Iran to train Moktada Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in Iraq. Mughniyeh’s most recent activities included his key role in the construction of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in southern Lebanon from 2000 to 2006. With Iran’s aid, he oversaw the efforts that transformed Hezbollah into an organization with military-level capabilities. Mughniyeh also is considered responsible for the kidnapping of Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and he directed Hezbollah fighting against Israeli forces during the 2006 Lebanon war. What comes next in the post-Mughniyeh era of Hezbollah? Nasrallah immediately blamed Israel for Mughniyeh’s February 13 assassination in Damascus and declared that Hezbollah was prepared to immediately retaliate “anywhere” against Israeli targets worldwide. For example, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed several weeks after Israel’s assassination of then-Hezbollah leader Abbas Musawi. Two years later, there was a bomb attack on the AMIA building, the headquarters of Argentina's Jewish community. After Mughniyeh’s assassination, Israel issued security alerts to its embassies and an advisory to Israeli citizens abroad to be alert for possible abduction attempts. Mughniyeh clearly left his imprint not just on Hezbollah, but on other terrorist organizations. Due to his contacts with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, those organizations may be called upon by Hezbollah to expand their own terrorist activities against Israel. Other organizations that received assistance from Hezbollah expressed solidarity with Hezbollah after Mughniyeh’s assassination and may decide to engage in their own violent actions or may be called upon by Hezbollah for assistance. Clearly, Hezbollah will not let Mughniyeh’s assassination pass without attempting a display of its own capability for revenge. The question is not if, but where and when. Yehudit Barsky is director of the American Jewish Committee’s Division on Middle East and International Terrorism.

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Olde Tyme Religion

WND : Biblical hero Joseph 'was really a Muslim'

2008-02-14

In the wake of an attempt by Palestinians to burn down Joseph's Tomb – Judaism's third holiest site – ineffectual Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction issued a statement denying it will help restore the shrine, referring to both the shrine and the biblical patriarch as "Muslim." "Pay no attention to the rumors that we will work with Israel to restore the burial site of the holy Muslim Joseph," said the statement, issued from Nablus, the biblical city of Shechem. "We are going to guard this holy Muslim site, the 3125689756245th Most Holiest Muslim Site™." Joseph's Tomb is the believed burial place of the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became viceroy of Egypt. Palestinian security officials in Nablus said Monday they were called to the tomb to find 16 burning tires inside the sacred structure. A Palestinian police official who inspected the site told WND there was some fire damage to the tomb. He said the Palestinian Authority, fearing embarrassment, immediately formed a joint committee from the PA's Force 17, Preventative Security Services and Palestinian intelligence, to find out who was behind the fire. The move comes after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week he would ask Israel's Defense Ministry to work with the PA to reconstruct and restore the tomb, parts of which were destroyed in 2000 by Palestinians, including known PA security officers. Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which granted nearby strategic territory to the Palestinians, Joseph's Tomb was supposed to be accessible to Jews and Christians. But following repeated attacks against Jewish worshippers at the holy site by gunmen associated with then-Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat's militias, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in October 2000 ordered an Israeli unilateral retreat from the area. Within less than an hour of the Israeli retreat, Palestinian rioters overtook Joseph's Tomb and reportedly began to ransack the site. Palestinian mobs reportedly tore apart books, destroying prayer stands and grinding out stone carvings in the Tomb's interior. A Muslim flag was hoisted over the tomb. I actually saw that on teevee, and felt both terrible and very angry, disgusting. Israel first gained control of Nablus and the neighboring site of Joseph's Tomb in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Oslo Accords signed by Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for the area surrounding the tomb site to be placed under Palestinian jurisdiction but allowed for continued Jewish visits to the site and the construction of an Israeli military outpost at the tomb to ensure secure Jewish access. Following the transfer of control of Nablus and the general area encompassing the tomb to the Palestinians in the early 1990s, there were a series of outbreaks of violence in which Arab rioters and gunmen from Arafat's Fatah militias shot at Jewish worshipers and the tomb's military outpost. Six Israeli soldiers were killed, and many others, including yeshiva students, were wounded in September 1996 when Palestinian rioters and Fatah gunmen attempted to over take the tomb. Eventually, Israeli soldiers regained control of the site. The Palestinians continued to attack Joseph's Tomb with regular shootings and the lobbing of firebombs and Molotov cocktails. Security for Jews at the site increasingly became more difficult to maintain. Rumors circulated in 2000 that Barak would evacuate the Israeli military outpost and give the tomb to Arafat as a "peacemaking gesture." In early 2000, the Israeli army began denying Jewish visits to the tomb on certain days due to prospects of Arab violence. Following U.S.-mediated peace talks at Camp David in September 2000, Arafat returned to the West Bank and initiated his intifada. During one bloody week in October 2000, Fatah gunmen attacked the tomb repeatedly, killing two and injuring dozens, prompting Barak to order a complete evacuation of Judaism's third holiest site Oct. 6.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

'Mughniyeh co-founded Hizbullah'

2008-02-14

For 25 years, Hizbullah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh was one of the world's most wanted terrorists, involved in endless attacks against Israel and the United States, including the abduction of two IDF reservists in 2006 and the bombing of US embassies in Africa. Less known than Osama bin Laden but considered a greater outlaw, Mughniyeh was implicated in the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut that killed more than 300, as well as the 1994 bombing of the Israelite Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in the same city, in which 29 died. He apparently had strong ties with al-Qaida, and according to the testimony of Ali Muhammad - a senior al-Qaida operative who was arrested for involvement in the attacks on American embassies in Africa - Mughniyeh met with bin Laden in Sudan in 1993. Hizbullah, Muhammad said, provided explosives training for al-Qaida fighters. This relationship - and the fact that Mughniyeh was Hizbullah's liaison to al-Qaida - has led Western intelligence agencies to raise the possibility that he was also involved in the September 11 attacks. Born in Tyre, Lebanon, in 1962, Mughniyeh did not attract attention until 1976, when he joined the PLO's Force 17 as a sniper targeting Christians on the Green Line dividing West and East Beirut. Fatah officials told The Jerusalem Post that he had been very close to Yasser Arafat when the PLO was based in Beirut. "His nickname was tha'lab [the fox], and today he's considered the second most important figure in Hizbullah after Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. We're very proud to have had a Palestinian holding such a high position in Hizbullah," said a Fatah official who said he had known Mughniyeh well during the '70s and '80s. When the IDF forced the PLO to leave Lebanon in 1982, Arafat entrusted Mughniyeh with transferring the organization's weapons to Lebanese armed groups allied with the Palestinians. Mughniyeh, who refused to leave Beirut with the PLO leadership, joined the the Shi'ite Amal militia headed by Nabih Berri. He and Nasrallah later left the movement to form Hizbullah. Mughniyeh, who refused to leave Beirut with the PLO leadership, joined the the Shi'ite Amal militia headed by Nabih Berri. He and Nasrallah later left the movement to form Hizbullah. The first terrorist attacks in which he was implicated were the 1983 bombings of the US Embassy and barracks housing US Marines and French paratroopers, who were part of the Multinational Force in Lebanon. Around 350 people were killed. In 1985, Mughniyeh was believed to have been one of the terrorists who hijacked a TWA flight on its way from Athens to Rome. The plane was forced to land in Beirut and afterwards flew to Algeria before returning to Beirut. He was later indicted in the US for the murder of one of the hostages on board, a US Navy diver. On October 10, 2001, Mughniyeh appeared on the FBI's first "Top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists" list. A reward of $5 million was offered for information leading to his capture. He has also been linked to the Karine A weapons ship that Arafat tried to use to smuggle arms into the Gaza Strip in 2001, as well as the kidnapping of three IDF soldiers in October 2000 by Hizbullah and the abduction of reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in the summer of 2006. Mughniyeh was Hizbullah's chief liaison with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and was believed to have spent most of his time in Teheran under tight Iranian security. Outside of Iran, he reportedly never slept in the same place twice and constantly looked over his shoulder. In January 2006, Mughniyeh is believed to have traveled with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus for a meeting with Nasrallah, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Shalah. "He knew that he was on the FBI's list for many years, and he has lived many years according to this understanding - and this was strengthened following the Second Lebanon War," said Col. (res.) Dr. Eitan Azani, deputy executive director of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the IDC Herzliya and a former head of the Lebanese Desk at IDF Military Intelligence. In contrast to bin Laden, Azani said, Mughniyeh "did not have a political role, but was strictly involved in operations, like the chief of General Staff."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Fatah Militant: U.S. Training Was Key to Intifada's Success

2007-08-23

Surrprise, surrrrprise, surprise... American-run programs that train Fatah militias were instrumental in the "success" of the Palestinian intifada that began in 2000, a senior Fatah militant told The New York Sun. "I do not think that the operations of the Palestinian resistance would have been so successful and would have killed more than one thousand Israelis since 2000 and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without these [American] trainings," a senior officer of President Abbas's Force 17 Presidential Guard unit, Abu Yousuf, said. America has longstanding training programs at a base in the West Bank city of Jericho for members of Force 17, which serves as de facto police units in the West Bank, and for another major Fatah security force, the Preventative Security Services. This weekend diplomatic security officials announced that the State Department will begin training Force 17 again this year in an effort to bolster Mr. Abbas against Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in June when the terror group easily defeated American-backed Fatah forces in the territory. Under an agreement signed this month by Secretary of State Rice and Palestinian Arab Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Force 17 officers are slated to take course work and conduct VIP protection exercises under the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The new training program aims to help the Palestinian Authority "deliver security for the Palestinian people and fight terrorism, build confidence between the parties, and ultimately help to meet the security needs of Palestinians and Israelis alike," a State Department press release said. The training program, which includes courses in the use of weapons, paid with $86.5 million in funding granted to the Palestinian Authority by Congress in April. Many members of Force 17 and the Preventative Security Services also openly serve in Fatah's declared "military wing," Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which took credit along with the Islamic Jihad terror group for every suicide bombing in Israel between 2005 and 2006. The Brigades is responsible for more terrorism from the West Bank than any other Palestinian Arab organization. Abu Yousuf, the Force 17 officer, received American training in Jericho in 1999 as a member of the Preventative Security Services. He is a chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Ramallah, where he is accused of participating in anti- Israel terrorism, including recent shootings, attacks against Israeli forces operating in the city, and a shooting attack in northern Samaria in December 2000 that killed the leader of the ultranationalist Kahane Chai organization, Benyamin Kahane. After the Kahane murder, Mr. Yousuf was extended refuge by Yasser Arafat to live in the late Palestine Liberation Organization leader's Ramallah compound, widely known as the Muqata. Mr. Yousuf still lives in the compound. Prime Minister Olmert last month granted Mr. Yousuf amnesty along with 178 other Brigades leaders reportedly in a gesture to Mr. Abbas. Speaking during an interview for the upcoming book "Schmoozing with Terrorists," Mr. Yousuf said his American trainings were instrumental in attacks on Israelis. "All the methods and techniques that we studied in these trainings, we applied them against the Israelis," he said. "We sniped at Israeli settlers and soldiers. We broke into settlements and Israeli army bases and posts. We collected information on the movements of soldiers and settlers. We collected information about the best timing to infiltrate our bombers inside Israel. We used weapons and we produced explosives, and of course the trainings we received from the Americans and the Europeans were a great help to the resistance." Mr. Yousuf said the training included both intelligence and military tactics. "In the intelligence part, we learned collection of information regarding suspected persons, how to follow suspected guys, how to infiltrate organizations and penetrate cells of groups that we were working on and how to prevent attacks and to steal in places," he said. "On the military level, we received trainings on the use of weapons, all kind of weapons and explosives. We received sniping trainings, work of special units especially as part as what they call the fight against terror. We learned how to put siege, how to break into places where our enemies closed themselves in, how to oppress protest movements, demonstrations, and other activities of opposition." Mr. Yousuf seemed to anticipate criticism for speaking publicly about the training. He's not "talking about U.S. training in order to irritate the Americans or the Israelis and not in order to create provocations," he said. "I'm just telling you the truth."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

PCHR's Wonderful World of Gaza: Gaza Drowns in Blood Edition

2007-06-12

Gaza Drowns in Blood Because of the Conflict between Fatah and Hamas Movements Worth it just for the headline... For the 3rd consecutive day, Gaza City has witnessed unjustifiable violent internal fighting, and an atmosphere of tension has spread over Gaza that is not less violent than that which has spread as a result of the offensive that has been launched by Israeli Occupation Forces for nearly a month. I think they're calling that "the good old days"... Since Monday evening, violence has extended to most areas in the Gaza Strip from the north to the south, and militants have deployed in the streets, at the entrances of towns and near governmental headquarters and security compounds. Militants from Hamas and Fatah movements have used various kinds of weapons and have occupied a number of official buildings belonging to the Palestinian presidency and government. The attacks have even targeted the house and the office of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and the presidential compound. Militants have been more violent than ever before as they have stormed hospitals and forced medical crews out. They even fired inside hospital and killed a number of persons. Moreover, mutual kidnappings and field executions have been reported. The two movements have even threatened to escalate the situation and extend the fighting to the West Bank. I guess we'll have to airlift in C-130 loads of popcorn if that happens... In this atmosphere of terror, approximately 67,000 students have attended the exams of the General Certificate of Education (Tawjihi), in addition to thousands of university students who have attended their final exams. The current situation threatens the overall educational process. Cease fire. It's...for the children. PCHR strongly condemns such fighting which is not of the ethics, sacrifices and struggle of the Palestinian people, and warns that it threatens the overall national aspirations and lives of innocent Palestinian civilians, whose daily activities have been paralyzed. Sure. It's not like this happens all the time, right? PCHR would like to apologize for not being able to report on many details of this fighting as its staff members have not been able to move freely and it's office in Gaza City has been besieged by the exchange of fire. Jeez, that's not very "human righty" of the boys... Branch offices have also worked with a limited capacity and under severe challenges. According to information available to PCHR so far, 21 Palestinians have been killed and at least 150 others have been wounded in the past 72 hours. That's okay, boys. Keep your heads down. At approximately 16:00 on Monday, an exchange of fire erupted between members of the Executive Force and armed members of the al-Masri clan near Beit Hanoun Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. A member of the Executive Force was killed. Members of the Executive Force pursued members of the al-Masri clan and killed 3 of them: 'Eid Mahmoud al-Masri, 51; his son Ibrahim, 21; and his nephew Faraj Fadel al-Masri, 22. Oh, look, it's our old friends the al-Masri's. Looks like they came out on the short end this time. Stay tuned... At approximately 16:20, the fighting extended to the vicinity of the house of Jamal 'Abed Rabbu al-Jedian, 50, Secretary of Fatah movement in the northern Gaza Strip. Abu al-Jedian, his brother Majed, 38, and a member of the Executive Force, Mohammed Mehjez, 24, were killed and at least 50 persons, including 2 women, were wounded. Over night, fighting erupted throughout Gaza City, especially in al-Shati refugee camp, al-Maqqousi housing project near security sites. Eight Palestinians, including 5 civilians, 2 of whom are women, were killed. In addition, 53 persons, mostly civilians, were wounded. In the early morning on Tuesday, militants stormed the transmission station of Palestine Television in Abu Rahma building in the center of Gaza City. Oh, no! I hope Farfur's okay! Unless these guy's were Disney mercenaries sent in to take him off the board... Mutual kidnappings and arsons of houses were reported. The houses of the Palestinian President and Prime Minister were also attacked. In addition, fierce fighting erupted near the house of Maher Miqdad, the spokesman of Fatah movement, in al-Maqqousi housing project. Also on Tuesday, militants deployed in the streets in the central Gaza Strip. They closed a number of roads and stopped and checked people. A number of Hamas militants also seized a number of sites of the Palestinian National Security Forces. At approximately 10:00, Mohammed Rezeq Safi, 35, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces, was killed in an exchange of fire near a security site near Gaza Valley. At the same time, Eihab Sa'id Nassar, 19, a member of the Executive Force, was killed in an exchange of fire in Deir al-Balah. In addition, 16 persons were wounded. In Khan Yunis, at approximately 22:30 on Monday, 11 June 2007, a number of militants traveling in a civilian car kidnapped 'Amru Nabhan al-Rantissi, 21, a member of the 'Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas). His body was found later on Khan Yunis – Rafah road. Says he was a cousin of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who's face adorns that poster with Yassin that Mashall likes to sit in front of. Say hello to your cuz for us,'Amru. At approximately 09:30 on Tuesday, hundreds of members of the 'Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades deployed in the streets and near sites of security services in Khan Yunis. Later, they called on security men to get out of their sites threatening to shell those sites. They also seized 5 of those sites and the building of Khan Yunis Governorate. An exchange of fire erupted between those militants and those of Fatah movement in various areas in Khan Yunis. As a result of the exchange of fire, 11 persons were wounded. From Sunday: Tension has spread all over Gaza City in light of internal fighting that has taken place over the past 24 hours, which have taken the lives of 3 Palestinians and have left 14 others, including 7 children, wounded. These bloody incidents coincide with the initiation of the exams of the General Certificate of Education (Tawjihi). Thousands of students have gone to their exams in an atmosphere of terror, passing through checkpoints erected in the streets and being placed under gunfire. Maybe might wanna postpone the tests? Call it, like, a Snow Day, Palestinian version... According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 11:00 on Sunday, 10 June 2007, unknown militants kidnapped 2 members of Force 17 when they were near their work place at Gaza beach: Mohammed Salama al-Swairki, 27; and Ibrahim al-Hatu. Three hours later, militants also kidnapped 2 members of the Palestinian Presidential Guard near Gaza Harbor: 'Abdullah Mohammed Abu Hassira; and Mohammed 'Eid Abu Hassira. At the same time, militants kidnapped Hamada Mohammed al-Qerem, 28, a member of Force 17 from Khan Yunis, and 'Aatef Mustafa Abu Dahi, 25, a member of the Preventive Security Service from Rafah, near Doula building in the east of Gaza City. At approximately 01:00 on Monday, al-Qerem and Abu Dahi were brought into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town as they were shot to the feet. I knew that was comin... At approximately 17:00 on Sunday, the kidnappers of Mohammed Salama al-Swairki pushed him down from the 13th floor of al-Ghefari tower building near Gaza Harbor. He was instantly killed. When he landed, did they go down and shoot him in the feet? At approximately 17:30, masked gunmen besieged the house of Dr. 'Alaa' al-Rafati, Dean of Commerce School at the Islamic University near the Blood Ban in Gaza City. They kidnapped al-Rafati's brother, 36-year-old Mohammed, the Imam of al-'Abbas Mosque in the city. They took him to a place near Ansar seceurity compound in the west of Gaza City, where they shot him dead with several gunshots to the chest, the abdomen and the limbs. Holy Man Filled With Holes: Coming up next on Gaza Action News... Soon after, the situation in Gaza City deteriorated and armed clashes broke out between Fatah and Hamas movements. A number of people were also kidnapped by militants who erected checkpoints in the streets. A number of those who were kidnapped were fired at, whereas the destiny of the others has remained unknown. Probably a big argument about whether the Koran says it's okay to whack a "Holy Man". And I'm sure both sides have ample quotations to back up their positions... At approximately 18:00 on Sunday, militants who erected a checkpoint in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood kidnapped 'Omar Zakaria al-Sharif, 20, and Mahmoud Abu Rabee', members of the Palestinian National Security Forces. At approximately 21:00, the militants dumped al-Sharif near the car market in the east of Gaza City, after they had fired at his feet, whereas Abu Rabee's destiny has remained unknown. They probably didn't fire at Abu's feet... At approximately 18:30 also on Sunday, militants positioned near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City kidnapped Eihab Ibrahim al-'Absi, 23, a member of Fatah movement from al-Shati refugee camp. They transported him to al-Nasser Street where they fired at his feet and pushed him out of their car. Idiots! Out of the car, then shoot him in the feet. Whatta buncha maroons! At approximately 19:30, a number of militants kidnapped Mohammed Ahmed al-Khaldi, 23, a worker at Dar al-Arqam Press, in al-Remal neighborhood. They took him to al-Saraya intersection, where they fired at his right leg. I'll bet they wuz aiming at his feet though... At approximately 21:00, militants kidnapped 3 persons in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in the south of Gaza City: Mohammed Ziad Zaqqout, 22; Anas Fu'ad al-Haj, 20; and Hussam Abu Qainas, 35. The militants took Zaqqout and al-Haj to Gaza Beach and fired at their feet. They took Abu Qainas to the roof of Haniya building near the Ministry of Finace. They shot him to the head and pushed his body down onto the street. They must shoot you in the feet if they like you. If they don't, you get a double tap and a dixie ride off the roof...

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

PA pays benefits to Schalit captors' families

2007-06-11

Some of the Palestinian gunmen who participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit last year have long been on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian sources revealed Sunday. The sources named two of the suspected kidnappers as Muhammad Azmi Farawneh and Majdi Tayseer Hammad. The two were killed by Israel in separate attacks over the past year. Farawneh is believed to have played a key role in the abduction of Schalit. Hammad was the commander of the Nasser Salah Eddin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees - one of the groups that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The two were killed a few weeks after the abduction in air strikes launched by the IAF in the Gaza Strip. The fact that they have been on the payroll of the PA was disclosed after their families protested against the low pension that the PA has decided to allocate them. Farawneh's family is now receiving a monthly payment of NIS 38 (less than $10), while Hammad's family is getting only NIS 79 (just under $20). A Palestinian pension law approved in 2005 grants the families of PA pensioners and the deceased monthly salaries constituting 7.5% of the basic salary. The families have sought the assistance of a Palestinian legal group in exerting pressure on the PA to change the pension law so that they would receive larger sums of money. The group wrote over the weekend to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas protesting against the "injustice" done to the families of Palestinian "martyrs" and pensioners. The group, called the Association Center for Palestinian Right, also wrote to members of the Palestinian Legislative Council asking them to change the law immediately, saying it was inconceivable that the families of "martyrs" should receive such ridiculous payments. Almost all Palestinians who are killed in clashes with the IDF are entitled to a salary from the PA to support their families. The PA has also been paying salaries to thousands of Fatah gunmen belonging to the faction's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades. The majority of these gunmen are registered as members of various branches of the PA security forces, particularly the General Intelligence, Force 17 and the Preventive Security Service. But until now it was not common knowledge that members of the Popular Resistance Committees had also been receiving salaries from the PA. The Popular Resistance Committees is an alliance of various armed factions in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The group was also behind the roadside bomb attack that killed three US security guards in the northern Gaza Strip in 2003.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

17 hurt in renewed PA Gaza festivities

2007-06-09

Tensions between Hamas and Fatah are running high following a series of violent incidents in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. One Palestinian was killed and 17 wounded in renewed fighting between the two sides in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian Authority officials expressed fear that the tensions would lead to another round of bloody fighting. About 160 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in internecine fighting in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year. Burhan Hammad, the top Egyptian security representative in the Gaza Strip, warned about renewed fighting between the two parties. He blamed "suspicious parties" among the Palestinians for working to renew the violence. Although he did not name the parties, his remarks were seen as directed toward a number of Fatah warlords, including Muhammad Dahlan. Hammad, who met with PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas late Wednesday night, is reportedly upset about Fatah security chiefs allegedly attempting to resume fighting with Hamas. At the meeting, Haniyeh protested Egypt's readiness to transfer weapons to Fatah. He warned that such a move would lead to civil war, saying Egypt should not be involved in US and Israeli attempts to meddle in Palestinian affairs, a source close to Haniyeh said. Hassan al-Bazam, 20, who works as a bodyguard for Haniyeh, was kidnapped Monday night by Fatah gunmen. He said the kidnappers tortured him and forced him to curse God and the prophet Muhammad. "I was on my way to the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood [in Gaza City] when I was kidnapped by Fatah gunmen who were in two cars," Bazam said. "They took me to a building next to the beach, where they beat me severely with clubs and rifles. "They extinguished cigarettes on my body and melted candles on my back. They also hung me from my hands and started shooting between my legs." He said the kidnappers demanded a list of Hamas activists in his neighborhood and questioned him about the killing last month of a senior Fatah militiaman. Bazam said he was released seven hours later, but only after he agreed to curse God and Muhammad. Bazam said the kidnappers also shaved his eyebrows, beard and part of his head, which was then marked with a Force 17 [Presidential Guard] sign. "These people are real murderers," Bazam said. "Even the Jews did not do such cruel things to us." Fayez Barawi, a prominent physician from the northern Gaza Strip with close links to Hamas, was kidnapped, shot and moderately wounded on Thursday by members of one of the PA security organizations. He was abducted while attending a graduation ceremony of members of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard at a local security installation. His brother was one of the officers who graduated. Barawi was taken to a nearby security base where PA officers shot him five times in different parts of the body. Abdel Latif Kanu, a senior Hamas official in the northern Gaza Strip, strongly condemned the attack on Barawi, saying he had been shot in one of the bases belonging to Abbas's security forces. Kanu said Hamas will not remain idle in the face of "these crimes." Earlier Thursday, a Fatah activist was killed in a clash with Hamas gunmen in Rafah. The victim was identified as 27-year-old Wael Wahbi. Sources close to Hamas said Wahbi was among a group of Fatah gunmen who attacked Hamas supporters outside a local mosque.

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