Marwan Barghouti confessed in his GSS interrogation that he was involved in terror attacks in which dozens of Israelis were wounded and killed. New testimony has been revealed,uncovering the involvement of Palestinian security mechanisms in terror attacks.

In recent weeks, significant progress has been noted in Barghouti’s interrogation. He confessed his involvement in directing and financing shooting attacks. In addition, Barghouti said that he referred Ismail Radaida, a Palestinian who expressed willingness to commit suicide, to a senior Force 17 official in Ramallah, Mahned Diria, who would send him on an attack. Diria himself was killed by Israel a few months ago.

The heavy involvement by Force 17 (Arafat’s presidential guard) in terror attacks also becomes clear from a series of events that have been released for publication: the interrogation of Amar Nasser el-Din, a senior Tanzim operative in Hebron, revealed that members of Force 17 also took part in terror attacks that were carried out in the area. Among them were Hatem Jemal and Yar Sharbati. Freij Adwan, a Palestinian police officer from Ramallah, told in his interrogation that Force 17 operatives had suggested he join them in forming a cell that would carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets. Adwan said that during the operation of the unit, which carried out shooting attacks and smuggled weapons, he met with Barghouti, who financed the unit.

Adwan also said that a videotape filmed by the cell that carried out the terror attack on the Atarot-Givat Zeev road, was given to Tawfik Tirawi, director of the general intelligence mechanism in Gaza. According to him, the tape was given to Yasser Arafat, who watched it himself.

Tirawi’s involvement in terror attacks, which led to his becoming wanted by Israel following Ma’ariv’s exposure of it, also came up in the interrogation of Issa Jibarin, a Tanzim operative from Ramallah, who said that last March, Tirawi ordered him to help a terrorist infiltrate the Green Line to perpetrate a shooting attack. The attempted attack was thwarted by IDF soldiers, and following that, Tirawi confiscated Jibarin’s car and took away his identity card. Mahmad Hamaisa Abu Tul, a Tanzim operative from Jenin, said that he had received a Kalashnikov assault rifle to commit a terror attack against IDF troops in Ramallah.

This piece ran in Maariv, July 4, 2002

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