Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Jerusalem court: PA must compensate Israeli tour guides for 2nd Intifada losses

2023-06-14

[IsraelTimes] Judge holds Ramallah liable for millions of shekels in damages to tourism industry during terror campaign in the early 2000s

A Jerusalem court ruled on Tuesday that the Paleostinian Authority must compensate dozens of Israeli tour guides for financial damage incurred during the Second Intifada.

The tour guides’ lawsuit claimed their livelihoods suffered during the Paleostinian terror campaign and held the PA responsible.

The Second Intifada, a time of numerous Paleostinian terror attacks, Israeli military operations and mass unrest, lasted between September 2000 and 2005, during which time it was supported by the PA, then led by Yasser Arafat.

The plaintiffs — 59 tour guides represented by the Shurat HaDin law center— said terror attacks and threats of violence caused a severe blow to the tourism industry at the time.

The lawsuit was filed around 20 years ago, at the height of the intifada.

The compensation for the plaintiffs amounted to a total of NIS 5.5 million ($1.5 million).

In a partial ruling on the case in 2019, Judge Moshe Drori held the PA responsible for terror attacks and the resulting economic damage to the Israeli tourism industry.

"The Paleostinian Authority had several aims — not just to kill Jews and Israelis, but also to damage Israel’s economy, including tourism, to put pressure on the Israeli government to submit to Paleostinian demands," Drori said, according to Kan news.

A representative for the PA argued that tourism at the time declined for a number of reasons, including a global economic downturn and the September 11 terror attacks in the US.

The judge rejected this argument, and ruled that the PA was responsible for 95.4% of the reduction to guides’ income between October 2000 and May 2002.

The PA also argued that the Israeli government and settlers were responsible for the conflict, and that terrorism had also hurt the Paleostinian economy.

This argument was also dismissed, with the court citing statements from incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
Paleostinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who said one of the goals of the terror attacks was to hurt tourism to put pressure on the Israeli government.

The PA is not expected to pay the sum voluntarily, but Israel could potentially deduct the compensation from taxes it collects for the PA.

Of the 59 plaintiffs who first filed the case, 14 have passed away since and were represented in the case by their heirs.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Three charged with West Bank arms smuggling ring

2023-06-06

[IsraelTimes] Two Bedouin Israelis and a Paleostinian from the West Bank have been indicted over an arms smuggling plot, the Shin Bet security agency and Justice Ministry say in a joint statement.

According to the indictments, Imad and Abdullah Abu Kaf — an uncle and nephew — residents of the southern village of Umm Batin, sold and purchased dozens of firearms and weapon parts over the past year and a half with Adham Atrash, an arms dealer in Hebron.

...one of many Hamas strongholds in the West Bank...

The trio, arrested in recent months, are charged with various weapons offenses.

The joint statement says security forces "view with severity the involvement of Israeli citizens in the criminal activity of illegal arms trade [with the West Bank], an activity which has real potential to cause serious harm to the security of the state.

"The prosecution has requested the three men be held until the end of legal proceedings.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian shot dead after attempting to stab troops near Ramallah, IDF says

2023-03-18

[IsraelTimes] Military says 23-year-old approached soldiers at West Bank junction, refused calls to identify himself and pulled out a knife

A Paleostinian man was shot and killed after attempting to stab Israeli soldiers near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday evening, the military and Paleostinian health officials said.
Well, he won't do that again
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the Paleostinian suspect approached troops in a suspicious manner at a junction between the town of Baytin and the settlement of Beit El.

Soldiers first called on the suspect to identify himself, before he pulled out a knife, the IDF said. In response, the troops shot up him.

The suspect was initially taken by military medics to the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, but was declared dead.

The Paleostinian Authority Health Ministry said it had been notified of the man’s death, naming him as 23-year-old Yazan Omar Jamil Khasib.

No soldiers were hurt in the attempted attack.

At least 85 Paleostinians have been killed since the beginning of the year, most of them while carrying out attacks or during festivities with security forces

3

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel releases octogenarian behind Karine A arms smuggling ship

2023-03-14

[IsraelTimes] Former Arafat aide Fuad Shubaki, who was oldest Paleostinian inmate in Israeli prison, is sent to West Bank after serving 17 years for role in foiled Iranian weapons transfer

The oldest Paleostinian prisoner in Israeli jail was released on Monday after serving 17 years for arms smuggling, an advocacy group and his son said.

Fuad Shubaki, 83, was released from Ashkelon prison and was "on his way to Ramallah" in the West Bank, a spokesperson for the Paleostinian Prisoner’s Club said, which was confirmed by Shubaki’s son Hazem.

Shubaki, a senior member of Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
’s movement Fatah, was sentenced by Israel in 2009 for his role in attempting to smuggle weapons from Iran
Iran

...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
to the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip aboard the Karine A ship, which was seized by Israel in the Red Sea in early 2002.

The Israeli military claimed the ship was carrying 50 tons of weapons, including short-range Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives from Iran and the Lebanese-based Shiite terror group

Hezbollah.

Shubaki, who dealt with financial issues for then-Paleostinian leader Yasser Arafat, was convicted of purchasing the weapons and contacting a foreign agent.

He was first arrested by Paleostinian security forces in 2002, at the height of the Second Intifada, and held in the West Bank town of Jericho under US and British supervision.

In 2006, the prison was stormed by Israeli forces and Shubaki was taken to Israel, where he was tried in a military court and sentenced to 20 years in jail.

The sentence was later reduced to 17 years.

The Israel Prison Service confirmed releasing Shubaki, who it said had served his complete sentence.

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Science & Technology

How much of a gamechanger is Russia's new potential space laser for US, Israel?

2022-07-15

[Jpost] An open-source investigation published last week by The Space Review found that Russia is developing a new laser system in the Greater Caucasus mountain range that will disable foreign satellites.

US satellites have been under attack by Russia and China since at least 2021 – and they are now going to potentially be even under a greater threat of severe attacks as Moscow develops a new satellite disrupting weapon.

TIPPING THE SCALES
Will the latest development tip the scales against the US, and indirectly Israel, in a way that could alter the playing field in space wars – with significant impacts also regarding military power and surveillance capabilities on Earth itself?

In November 2021, NASA put an International Space Station spacewalk on hold that had been planned, citing a “debris notification” that could put crew members at risk.

Though the specific source of the potential hazard was not disclosed, the decision came within weeks of a Russian anti-satellite weapon test that created a cloud of shrapnel in Earth's lower orbit.

Unlike that anti-satellite weapon, the latest Russian weapon is being presented as more of a blinding and disabling one, suppressing electro-optical systems of satellites using solid-state lasers.

In some ways, this is a relief, as weapons that disable and blind do not leave shrapnel in their wake, which can create substantial future risks to anything and anyone in Earth’s orbit for an indefinite period of time.

However, the latest weapon may also be cheaper and easier to activate, and may especially allow Russia to blind American intelligence, and possibly even Israeli intelligence, in crucial arenas.

For decades, US superiority with satellite intelligence has facilitated Washington projecting power across the globe and giving it distinct advantages.

These advantages have often accrued also to Israel, whether it was tracing the Karine A mega weapons boat in 2001 which was beyond Jerusalem’s surveillance capabilities, or more recent tracking, early warning and sharing of intelligence by the US with Israel to assist with national defense.

If Russia blinds America, Israel will also become a little bit more blind.

Of course, the Jewish state has far more of its own satellite surveillance today than it did in 2001, but it still does not come anywhere near what the US can do.

Moreover, relations between Israel and Russia are tenser now than they have been in more than a decade because of the situation in Ukraine.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas calls day of mourning; Abbas demands end to fire

2011-03-24

[Ma'an] Gazoo government officials declared Wednesday a day of mourning, with a collective funeral in central Gazoo City at midday, for the four civilians and four gunnies killed by Israeli fire a day earlier.

Officials called on residents of Gazoo to join the funeral procession.

In Moscow, President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... Since no one would talk to him anymore in the wake of the Karine A incident, Yasser Arafat appointed Abbas prime minister in 2003. Arafat then proceeded to pretend there was no such thing as a prime minister and Abbas resigned in frustration in October of the same year...
asked the Russian foreign minister to exert pressure on Israel, and demand a halt to what he described as an "escalation" against Gazoo.

PLO Executive Committee Member in Gazoo Zakariyya Al-Agha condemned the deaths as a "massacre" of the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, saying in a statement that the deaths "translated into deeds the Israeli minister's remarks threatening another Cast Lead."

Israel's opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni said Saturday that the time had come for a fresh military campaign against Gazoo, in the wake of a barrage of 50 projectiles which landed in the western Negev, causing no damage or injuries.

"The right way to deal with it is with force, just like Israel did during and after Operation Cast Lead," Israeli news website Ynet quoted Livni telling Gazoo-vicinity Israeli local authority heads.

In January, Gazoo's main jihad boy factions confirmed a year-old truce with Israel, after weeks of increased rocket fire and spiraling tensions along the border prompted a warning from Arab leaders that Gazoo was risking a major new Israeli invasion.

Abbas told news hounds in Moscow that "there has always been an Israeli escalation in Gazoo, West Bank, and Jerusalem," adding that the latest instance of escalation "should not be a reason not to achieve national unity."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Jihad, Fatah meet in Gaza

2011-03-22

[Ma'an] Islamic Jihad and Fatah leaders met in Gazoo city on Monday, following a Fatah invite, and discussed President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. He was one of the founding members of Fatah. Since no one would talk to him anymore in the wake of the Karine A incident, Yasser Arafat appointed Abbas prime minister in 2003. Arafat then proceeded to pretend there was no such thing as a prime minister and Abbas resigned in frustration in October of the same year. Arafat keeled over dead from AIDS the next year, and Abbas ran in the presidential election in January 2005. Fatah managed to split down the middle between the Greedy Old Guard and the Young Bloodthirsty Guys for the legislative elections, which threw the whole thing to Hamäs. This resulted in a Government of National Unity™, which worked about as well as those things usually do, and Hamäs soon beat up Fatah's goons and threw them out of Gazoo. Recently Hamäs points out, accurately, that Abbas' term as president has expired, but refuses to allow any elections to take place, which prevents him from gracefully stepping down. This the sort of thing we usually expect in Paleostine...
' planned visit to the coastal enclave.

The meeting was hosted in the Fatah offices in Gazoo City, where officials reviewed the current Paleostinian political situation and bilateral relations, according to a statement from Islamic Jihad .

Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Nafth Azzam said the meeting focused on ways to foster reconciliation, and set an agenda for continued meetings as efforts for unity go forward.

Alongside Azzam at the meeting were Khader Habib, and Khaled Al-Batsh. For Fatah, those present included Zakaria Al-Agha, Abdullah Abu Samhadaneh, Diab Al-Loh, and Hisham Abdul Razzaq.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

PA: No response from Hamas for Abbas visit

2011-03-19

[Arab News] A senior Paleostinian official on Thursday said that the Paleostinian leadership did not receive an official response from Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement with regard to the visit of President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. He was one of the founding members of Fatah. Since no one would talk to him anymore in the wake of the Karine A incident, Yasser Arafat appointed Abbas prime minister in 2003. Arafat then proceeded to pretend there was no such thing as a prime minister and Abbas resigned in frustration in October of the same year. Arafat keeled over dead from AIDS the next year, and Abbas ran in the presidential election in January 2005. Fatah managed to split down the middle between the Greedy Old Guard and the Young Bloodthirsty Guys for the legislative elections, which threw the whole thing to Hamäs. This resulted in a Government of National Unity™, which worked about as well as those things usually do, and Hamäs soon beat up Fatah's goons and threw them out of Gazoo. Recently Hamäs points out, accurately, that Abbas' term as president has expired, but refuses to allow any elections to take place, which prevents him from gracefully stepping down. This the sort of thing we usually expect in Paleostine...
to Gazoo Strip.

Saleh Ra'fat, a member of the Paleostine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee, said that "the Paleostinian leadership has not received until this moment an official response from Hamas regarding Abu Mazen (Abbas) visit to Gazoo Strip."

Ra'fat told the Voice of Paleostine Radio that "it is clear that the Hamas leadership wants to turn Abu Mazen's initiative to new meetings for national reconciliation dialogue, although it is ended."

The PLO official warned that the "announcements of Hamas leaders and front man of the movement's readiness to meet with President Abbas in Gazoo or any place outside Paleostinian territories indicates that Hamas wants to start new rounds of national dialogue and not to end the internal split."

On Wednesday, Abbas announced that he is ready to go to Gazoo Strip to end the internal split and to form an independent government.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage...
Hamas police in Gazoo jugged a Paleostinian protester and two Paleostinian cameramen on Thursday while breaking up a rally calling for political reconciliation, and 16 other protesters holed themselves up in a UN school, where Hamas police are prevented from operating.

About 40 activists gathered in front of a UN school, waving flags and chanting slogans for unity between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions. When Hamas police approached the group, it dispersed, and police jugged the three Paleostinians.

Protester Nuha Wajeh told news hounds by text message that the group vows not to leave the school until representatives from the dueling Paleostinian parties meet with them and pledge to end their bitter rivalry.

Chris Gunness, front man of UNRWA, which aids refugees, said his agency appealed to authorities in Gazoo to "allow these 16 people safe passage from the UNRWA compound and to guarantee their safety."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

PLO: Israel has exploited Itamar murders

2011-03-17

[Ma'an] The Executive Committee of the Paleostine Liberation Organization accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "waging a vicious campaign" against Paleostinians in the wake of the Itamar murders.

The attitude of Netanyahu and his government in the wake of the killings, secretary of the PLO body

Yasser Abed Rabbo
... Paleostinian politician and a member of the Paleostine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee. He holds an M.A. in economics and political science from the American University in Cairo.....
told news hounds at a news conference on Wednesday, "aimed at destroying all political efforts aimed at reviving the grinding of the peace processor."

Israeli officials immediately branded the murder of the Fogel family in the Itamar settlement a terrorist attack, sparking waves of settler violence and accusations from Paleostinians that Israeli soldiers were doing little to stop the tide.

Netanyahu announced, in retaliation for the attack, the construction of hundreds of new settler homes in the West Bank, adding to half a dozen illegal settlements.

Abed Rabbo, speaking after the PLO meeting which was chaired by President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. He was one of the founding members of Fatah. Since no one would talk to him anymore in the wake of the Karine A incident, Yasser Arafat appointed Abbas prime minister in 2003. Arafat then proceeded to pretend there was no such thing as a prime minister and Abbas resigned in frustration in October of the same year. Arafat keeled over dead from AIDS the next year, and Abbas ran in the presidential election in January 2005. Fatah managed to split down the middle between the Greedy Old Guard and the Young Bloodthirsty Guys for the legislative elections, which threw the whole thing to Hamäs. This resulted in a Government of National Unity™, which worked about as well as those things usually do, and Hamäs soon beat up Fatah's goons and threw them out of Gazoo. Recently Hamäs points out, accurately, that Abbas' term as president has expired, but refuses to allow any elections to take place, which prevents him from gracefully stepping down. This the sort of thing we usually expect in Paleostine...
, said the Paleostinian leadership "reject the attempts to take advantage" of the killings, and called for "Israeli public opinion not to be dragged by attempts of its government to slander the Paleostinians."

The course of action taken by Netanyahu, he said, was effectively "abuse to the future of the Paleostinian cause."

The official urged on youth groups protesting in Ramallah and Gazoo City, saying their calls for unity must be heeded as a first step on the Paleostinian political sphere in a move that would ultimately "confront settlements and the brutal Israeli crimes carried out against the Paleostinians."

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Abbas calls for vote, Haniyeh wants emergency talks

2011-03-16

[Ma'an] President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. He was one of the founding members of Fatah. Since no one would talk to him anymore in the wake of the Karine A incident, Yasser Arafat appointed Abbas prime minister in 2003. Arafat then proceeded to pretend there was no such thing as a prime minister and Abbas resigned in frustration in October of the same year. Arafat keeled over dead from AIDS the next year, and Abbas ran in the presidential election in January 2005. Fatah managed to split down the middle between the Greedy Old Guard and the Young Bloodthirsty Guys for the legislative elections, which threw the whole thing to Hamäs. This resulted in a Government of National Unity™, which worked about as well as those things usually do, and Hamäs soon beat up Fatah's goons and threw them out of Gazoo. Recently Hamäs points out, accurately, that Abbas' term as president has expired, but refuses to allow any elections to take place, which prevents him from gracefully stepping down. This the sort of thing we usually expect in Paleostine...
on Tuesday proposed holding elections "as soon as possible" in order to end the divide within the national movement.

"I am with the people and in favor of going back to the people to put an end to the divisions through presidential and parliamentary elections," he said after talks with Cyprus President Demetris Christofias.

Gazoo Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's response to the protests was to invite Abbas for "immediate" talks to mend the bitter divide between their two movements.

"I invite the president, brother Abu Mazen (Abbas), and Fatah to an immediate meeting here in Gazoo or in any location which we agree upon, to start national dialogue in order to achieve reconciliation," Haniyeh said in a live broadcast.

Haniyeh blamed division on "external interference and the lack of political will of the Paleostinian leadership in the West Bank," he said Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, did "not want division," but was ready once again to talk with Fatah.

As an estimated 300,000 protested in Gazoo City, and another 3,000 gathered in Ramallah, all demanding an end to the political division, appointed West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad headed a meeting to discuss unity options.

Fayyad is expected to propose a new PA cabinet to Abbas on Monday. Initial reports suggested that the cabinet could include Hamas members, but were never confirmed.

The PA media office said Fayyad and the resigned PA cabinet held a meeting in Ramallah, where they welcomed protests "as a means of ending the occupation and achieving national readiness for statehood."

The statement said the resigned cabinet urged young Paleostinians to direct efforts to the international community, and ask nations to apply international law to the situation in Paleostine.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Ex-Arafat aide guilty in Karine A case

2009-07-29

An IDF military court in the West Bank has convicted Yasser Arafat's former financial aide Fuad Shubaki of illegal arms dealing, as well as organizing and financing the Karine A weapons boat, which the IDF caught carrying advanced weaponry in the Red Sea as it was making its way to the Gaza Strip in 2002.

Shubaki, who was arrested three years ago, was also convicted of bankrolling terror attacks and providing funds for the Aksa Martyrs' Brigades terror group during the second intifada. According to the court, Shubaki coordinated the purchase and subsequent shipment of the arms from Iran, and also channeled money from his office to Fatah terror cells, in both cases acting on direct orders from then-Palestinian Authority chairman Arafat.

When he was arrested, Shubaki told his Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) interrogators that Arafat had diverted millions of dollars in international aid and taxes transferred to the PA by Israel to purchase large quantities of weapons and fund Palestinian terrorism.

Shubaki was apprehended during an IDF raid on the Jericho prison where he was being held together with Ahmed Sa'adat - leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - and the other assassins of former Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

He revealed that several senior Palestinian officials were involved in the allocation of the money for military purposes. Among them was Jibril Rajoub - head of the PA Preventative Security Force in the West Bank - who together with the other officials received payments for his part in the weapons purchases.

In 2001, Shubaki said, Iran offered to assist the Palestinians in training soldiers, providing weapons and funding the construction of weapon factories. One of the largest arms deals struck between Iran and the Palestinians was the attempt to smuggle over 50 tons of armaments aboard the Karine A.

In addition to the light weaponry used by the Palestinians at the time, the Karine A also carried Sagger guided anti-tank missiles used by Hizbullah against Israeli armor in Lebanon, LAW anti-tank missiles, long-range mortars, and mines. Also on board the vessel were short and long-range Katyushas, including 122 mm rockets with a range of some 20 kilometers. The ship was intercepted by naval commandos without firing a shot, some 500 nautical miles from Israel in an operation codenamed Noah's Ark.

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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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