The Official Palestinian Authority Media Reports: Al Qaida, The End of Ramadan, Suicide Bombs, Hamas and more

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December 16, 2002

Al Qaida in Gaza: Quietly, the PA Moves Against Suspected Cell

Amid pressure from the United States and the European Union, the Palestinian Authority is quietly moving to stop Al Qaida recruitment in the Gaza Strip. Israeli intelligence discovered the recruitment and relayed the information to the United States. At first, the PA denied the Israeli assertion and accused the Mossad of planting bogus Al Qaida insurgents to embarrass Yasser Arafat. But soon PA security services began to increase the monitoring of foreigners suspected of being linked to Al Qaida.

On December 8, Palestinian dailies extensive news coverage of a December 7 news conference given by PA International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath and PA Preventive Security Apparatus chief Rashid Abu Shback.

The Al Quds daily headlined its page one article: “President Arafat: Israeli Accusations of Al Qaida Presence Is a ‘Very Big Lie.'” The PA-owned Al Ayyam asserted that the “Preventive Security Apparatus uncovers Israeli Attempt to Recruit People in the name of Al Qaida in Gaza.” The articles reported Abu Shback and Shaath as saying that Israeli intelligence officers, claiming to be Al Qaida operatives, tried to recruit Palestinian citizens. Shaath told foreign diplomats and consuls that Israel was trying to delegitimize Palestinian resistance against the occupation by linking it to the Al Qaida attacks on the United States on September 11.

For his part, Abu Shback said Israeli intelligence officers claiming to be Al Qaida operatives approached Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip. The intelligence chief said he knew of at least eight Israeli approaches.

At the same time, PA officials reported capturing a Palestinian ring that was trying to recruit for Al Qaida. The officials said they were working for Israel. PA officials did not disclose the number of arrests or the identities of the suspects.

The London-based Al Hayat daily reported on December 10 that the PA has agreed to meet with U.S. intelligence officials and diplomats this week to discuss Israel’s charges regarding Al Qaida’s presence in the Gaza Strip. The Saudi-owned newspaper, quoting senior Palestinian sources, said PA intelligence has ordered an intensive monitoring effort against Arabs and other foreigners in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to gather evidence to dismiss the Israeli accusation. The newspaper said PA Preventive Security discussed the alleged Al Qaida presence in the Gaza Strip in August and PA intelligence officials charged Israel with fabricating the issue.

Al Hayat reported that Preventive Security also briefed British and French intelligence agencies regarding the alleged Al Qaida presence. PA officials said both Israel’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies are involved in what they termed the Al Qaida fabrication. Preventive Security met separately with U.S., British and French agencies on December 7 in Gaza City.

Regardless, the PA-owned media have been continually discussing the prospect of Al Qaida cells in Palestinian-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip. They have raised the issue whether this will serve as an Israeli pretext to attack the Gaza Strip. As Al Ayyam put it on a front-page article on December 8, “The Al Qaida Episode: Is This the Prelude to an Invasion of Gaza?”

PA Media and Suicide Bombings

The Palestinian Authority has told the United States and the European Union that the regime of Yasser Arafat is opposed to suicide bombings. But PA-owned newspapers, radio and television continue to encourage suicide bombers and glorify their deeds. The most recent example was in a PA television interview on December 5.

The television interview was with a mother whose two sons blew themselves up in terrorist attacks against Israel. The mother said she went on a pilgrimage to the Saudi city of Mecca, where she prayed that her son would die in a battle against Israel. She said she prayed that Israel would suffer from Palestinian attacks.

“I have one wish for all Israeli mothers, for all Israelis,” the mother said. “They should not relax, they should not sleep peacefully, they should always have nightmares, night and day, wherever they go, and whatever they do. No Israeli of any kind should live in comfort. Even in their sleep, they should have nightmares. We will blow them up day and night, wherever they go. If I see an Israeli I will blow up among them.”

“They should dream of how the Palestinian people kill them, and blow them up,” the mother continued. “They should not be relaxed, and should not sleep. Not them and not there sons, not their children, nor the Israeli army. They should not be able to travel on the buses, nor drive a tank, nor even ride a bike. Wherever they turn, the Israelis should see [someone] and say: “Maybe it’s a Palestinian.”

“This Jerusalem is our Jerusalem, and not yours. We are the children of Palestine, the Muslim nation, you will not live in comfort: not an Israeli’s mother, nor a soldier’s mother, nor a soldier’s grandfather, nor a soldier’s father. No Israeli of any kind should live in comfort. Even in their sleep, they will have nightmares. We will blow them up day and night, wherever they go. And I, as the mother of two Shahids, if I see an Israeli I will blow up among them.”

At this point, the presenter congratulated the mother and her dead sons. “We are, of course, always very proud of all of our martyrs,” the PA television presenter said.

PA Media Sets Religious Framework for Jihad

The PA used the fast month of Ramadan to encourage the recruitment of Palestinians for suicide attacks against Israel. PA television and radio carried programs, the theme of which was that Islam wants its followers to sacrifice themselves in the mission to kill Jews. These messages have been transmitted through interviews and talk shows.

But the message appears most prominent during sermons by Islamic clerics broadcast by Palestinian television. There, Jews are called an accursed nation and relatives of monkeys and pigs, anathema in Islamic society.

A sermon given by Mustafa Najem on December 6 urges Palestinians to fulfill Allah’s mission and kill Jews. Najem, entitled a doctor, quoted passages from the Koran to demonstrate that Islam requires its followers to “torment” Jews until the resurrection.

“Praise be to Allah, who has cursed [the Jews], the brothers of monkeys and pigs, with a stream of curses that will continue until the resurrection of the dead,” Najem said in his sermon. “He has warned us against their evil and their arrogance, and has said: ‘You will find that the most brazen among mankind, with hatred towards the believers, are the Jews and the idolaters.'”

Najem calls Jews “idolaters, heretics, whose faith is false.” He said the Jews are waging a war against Islam and seek to subjugate Muslims and ruled out any reconciliation with the Jewish state.

“Allah said against the Jews and the idolaters ‘Your lord has declared that he will surely send against them [Jews] until resurrection, those [Arabs and Muslims] who will afflict them with terrible torment,'” Najem said. “Prayer and blessing to the imam of the Jihad fighters, Mohammed, who waged a Jihad against the Jews, and a significant Jihad. He warned us, in strongest terms, against them. He said, after he expelled them from Arabia, ‘Two religions will not be here together.'”

PA Documents

The PA has refused to acknowledge its own documents. Most of the PA media either ignored the publication of Israeli-captured PA documents that discussed terrorist activities and the manufacture of weapons. Some newspapers termed the documents as forgeries prepared by Israel. But the media have not reported the details of the PA documents.

The exception was a report in much of the Palestinian media on December 14 on a Hamas rally during the previous day in Khan Yunis and other areas of the Gaza Strip. The occasion was 15th anniversary of the founding of Hamas.

At the rally, Hamas displayed a range of weapons during a march in a stadium in the central Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis. The weapons included mortar launchers and anti-tank missiles. The missiles were identified as the Al Bana, a new weapon that has been launched against Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and armored buses.

There was no sign of the Kassam short-range missile at the parade. Hamas has completed three models of the Kassam.

The Kassam-1 is said to have a range of 4.5 kilometers. The Kassam-2 has a range of 6 kilometers and the advanced -3 model a range of 10 kilometers.

“We will not lay down their weapons and will not stop firing their bullets until the end of this battle,” Hamas leader Ahmed Nimer Hamdan said.

PA documents captured by Israel cite names, orders, figures and intrusive details of the PA war machine. One document found in the offices of the Preventive Security Apparatus in Tel Hawa, captured in a raid in November, disclosed a strategic project to produce nitric acid, a key element in the assembly of bombs. The document also discussed constructing a factory that would produce 400-450 mortar bombs a month.

Hamas, according to the document and interrogation of a PA security official, received mortars, bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons from the Preventive Security Apparatus, General Intelligence Service and Force 17. Over the last two years, the documents and interrogations asserted, hundreds of mortars, bombs, rockets and weapons were produced by the PA and distributed to a range of terrorist groups.

Threat of Abduction

Hamas has threatened to abduct Israeli soldiers and use them as a bargaining chip for the release of Palestinian terrorists held by Israel. A lead article on Hamas’s web site [http://www.kataebq.com] said it plans to renew the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, begun in the early 1990s. Hamas, in an appeal made on December 8, urged other Palestinian groups to do everything within their power to free Palestinians imprisoned in the maximum-security Ashkelon prison.

Several months ago, Hamas distributed to its members an instruction manual on abducting soldiers and holding them for ransom.

The Egyptian Factor

Egypt is said to have pressed Islamic Jihad for a recess in suicide attacks against Israel.

The London-based Al Hayat said on December 15 that Egyptian officials succeeded in obtaining a commitment from the Iranian-backed Jihad for a respite in suicide missions during Palestinian reconciliation talks last week in Cairo. The talks included representatives from the ruling Fatah movement and the opposition Hamas regarding the Palestinian war against Israel.

Jihad has claimed responsibility for a series of suicide missions in November in northern Israel as well as the killing of 12 Israelis in Hebron in December. The organization is said to have been bolstered over the last few months with funding from Iran and cooperation from the Lebanese-based Hizbullah.

Egypt has pressed Fatah and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire on suicide missions in Israel during the election campaign. The Palestinian insurgency groups were told by Egypt and the European Union, which sponsored the Fatah-Hamas talks, that attacks on civilian targets in Israel would strengthen the reelection prospects of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Al Hayat reported that a Jihad delegation, which did not include leader Ramadan Shalah, had requested to be included in the Fatah-Hamas talks. The newspaper said Egypt pledged to examine the request.

Fatah and Hamas met on December 10 and December 11 at a secret location in the Cairo area. The meeting site was secured by Egyptian security officers and contents of the session were not disclosed.

The intentions of Fatah do not seem to be in line with any ceasefire effort. A statement by the Fatah-dominated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades on December 11 called for a resumption of suicide attacks, termed martyr operations. Fatah pledged to head the Palestinian war against Israel in a joint effort with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Earlier, PA International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told the Al Ayyam daily on December 9 that Fatah and Hamas seek to reach an agreement on a ceasefire. But Shaath said no such accord would go into effect unless Israel ends its attacks.

Sha’ath said other issues on the Fatah-Hamas agenda include the adoption of a strategy regarding Palestinian statehood and the question of Palestinian refugees.

Hamas Speaks

On November 24, Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rentisi, a member of the Hamas leadership, said suicide missions would not end. He said the goal is to topple the regime of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the way Hamas succeeded in doing against predecessors Ehud Barak, Binyamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres. In an interview with the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily, Rentisi said:

“Martyrdom missions will not strengthen the Sharon’s victory for this is impossible if it comes amid the election slogan of Israeli security as they had promised. We will now topple [the regime] by activing martyrdom operations.”

Rentisi said there is no difference between the ruling Likud and the opposition Labor Party. He said most of the killings of Palestinians took place during Labor Party rule. He said more than 80 percent of the Jewish settlements were built by Labor.

Regarding the recent Hamas suicide attack in Jerusalem in which 11 people were killed, Rentisi said, “We always tell our Palestinian people the truth and we don’t fear anything. We told the facts after the Cairo meeting and we said there was no agreement to end martyr operations — not for a month and not for three months and not even for three seconds. This operation was a natural response to the crimes of the Israeli occupation that are committed against the Palestinian people.”

Rentisi also tried to take credit for the Jihad operation in December in which 12 Israelis, most of them soldiers, were killed. He said the operation was planned by Hamas and Jihad later joined the operation. “We are not diminishing their role,” Rentisi said. “At the same time, we won’t diminish our own role. We launched the attack and after a quarter of an hour the Jihad group entered the battle and were martyred. These are the facts.”

Shefa Fund Responds to Criticism

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Center for Near East Policy Research

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December 15, 2002

[Besides the invective in the enclosed response, Shefa Fund indeed acknowledges that it does fund the IDF deserter movements. Shefa tries to say that they are part of Israel’s peace movement, without acknowledging that the mainstream Israeli peace groups have rejected the idea of deserting the IDF. Shefa tries to say that that the “Courage to Refuse” movement only works with reservists and not with IDF soldiers doing compulsory service. However, although “Courage to Refuse” was organized by IDF reservists, its target audience are indeed the new inductees. Witness the fact that “Courage to Refuse” is organizing a rally for young soliders who have deserted their units. That rally is scheduled for Thursday, December 19th, in Tel Aviv. – DB]

The Shefa Fund is a 15-year-old Jewish public foundation committed to Jewish values, including emphatic support for the State of Israel and the well-being of the Jewish people. Shefa is currently the target of an extremely inaccurate and highly inflammatory e-mail campaign that challenges our fundamental right to exist and specifically attacks our grantmaking to two Israeli peace organizations, Yesh G’vul and Courage to Refuse (CTR).

This e-mail attack began with public postings on the website of the far right settler movement’s radio station, Arutz Sheva the same station that unconscionably fanned hatred of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the months before his assassination. David Bedein, a zealot who has a history of distorted “reporting” about pro-peace Jewish organizations, is urging his readers to “stop the Shefa Fund in its tracks” as “one practical way to help the state of Israel.” Naomi Ragen, a journalist who was a self-confessed participant in building that hateful climate leading to Rabin’s murder, has further circulated Bedein’s poison and added her own slanders that we are”low-lifes” and should be “put out of business.”

Bedein and Ragen falsely accuse us of encouraging desertion in the Israeli military and supporting “a political campaign” in a fashion that is illegitimate for non-profit organizations. As a result, The Shefa Fund has received more than 200 e-mails and many phone calls, with content ranging from hatred to support. Now we need to set the ecord straight, and defend our integrity and right to express our views.

The Shefa Fund operates three distinct but related programs to help American Jews and their institutions practice socially responsible tzedakah. Our grantmaking program promotes social justice, Middle East peace, and innovation in American Jewish life; our Tzedec program organizes loans fromJewish sources for low-income community development in the United States; our Torah of Money program educates individuals and institutions about money and Jewish values. We work in close collaboration with many Jewish institutions, including Federations and large Jewish foundations in many cities. In Israel, the majority of our grantmaking historically has supported acculturation for Russian and Ethiopian immigrants, and other community development.

In 2002, more than 800 individuals made contributions to Shefa specifically intended to support Middle East peace through the activities of Yesh G’vul and CTR. (No other contributions to The Shefa Fund were used to make these grants.) These contributors know Yesh G’vul as one of Israel’s oldest peace organizations, founded in 1982 to oppose the invasion of Lebanon, and CTR as more recently organized by Israeli reserve officers, who are ready to defend Israel but are no longer willing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza. Both organizations educate the public about the rights and responsibilities of soldiers, and offer solidarity with those in the IDF who choose to express their conscience through selective refusal ofmilitary service.

Yesh G’vul and CTR conduct activities that are legal and widely reported, discussed and debated in the Israeli media. Both organizations share Shefa’s fundamental concern for the security of Israel and its citizens. Contrary to Bedein and Ragen’s claims, Yesh G’vul and CTR, as a matter of policy, do not distribute flyers on buses or at points where soldiers are returning from the front. CTR, in fact, works only with reservists, not with soldiers who are under compulsory service. These organizations do not encourage desertion, and do not pay anyone to recruit members or to refuse military service. Such charges are libelous, and both Yesh G’vul and CTR are contemplating libel suits against Bedein and Ragen.

Since Bedein and Ragen cannot add any substance to their “report,” they simply resort to dehumanizing us as “despicable enemies of Israel” and “pro-terror.” There seems to be no sense of boundary to their rage: They want to characterize all opposition to Israeli occupation policies as treason. And they know full well that in the communities they call home, such characterization constitutes an invitation to violence.

The American Jewish community must not permit this kind of intimidation and marginalization to take place. Israel itself tolerates an enormous range of debate over peace, war and occupation policies, despite the clear and present danger that hovers over the land every day. Here in the U.S., we should emulate our Israeli brethren, not breed senseless hatred that mocks Israel’s and our own commitment to democracy and dialogue…

The Shefa Fund will not permit support for Israeli peace work to be portrayed as disloyal, nor allow our broad range of programs to be undermined by ugly rhetoric. We urge you to read Internet postings like those cited with a critical eye. Please contact Shefa directly if you have any concerns or would like more information about our work.

Jeffrey Dekro and Debbie Fleischaker are President and Chair of Shefa Fund

An Open Letter to the Shefa Fund

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Center for Near East Policy Research

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December 15, 2002

Dear Jeffrey Dekro & Debbie Fleischaker,

Do you think that your comments below are responsible ones? I quote: “the far right settler movement’s radio station”, “the same station that unconscionably fanned hatred of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the months before his assassination”, “a zealot who has a history of distorted “reporting” about pro-peace Jewish organizations”, “a journalist who was a self-confessed participant in building that hateful climate leading to Rabin’s murder, has further circulated Bedein’s poison and added her own slanders that we are “low-lifes” and should be “put out of business.” Do you think that such defamatory statements should come from what you describe as a “Jewish Foundation committed to Jewish values.” Even if everything you wrote was correct (it is not), why do you sink to such a low level? Frankly, I would not be surprised if one or more of the above parties end up suing you for defamation.

In addition, I note that you do not answer the original questions posed:

1. “you should direct your money towards the families of the Israelis who have been murdered or the many small business owners that have been devastated by the drop in tourism caused by the Oslo”. Isn’t this more important or at least as important as any of your current efforts?

2. You heap all the blame on Israel, but there is no mention about the more than $1 billion that Arafat has stolen from his own people which would have made a substantial difference in the lives of those he is supposed to ‘represent.’

3. The majority of your support seems to be to organizations who take a negative view of everything that Israel does. Do you know that there are more Israelis over the age of reserve duty who are today doing reserve duty as volunteers than all the members of the two organizations which you support?

How do you explain Arafat’s outright rejection of the Camp David proposals made by President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak? He did not even attempt to negotiate further concessions. Just a simple rejection.

I don’t expect you to share this message with those 800 individuals who made contributions to your organization in the past, but you must understand that the majority of people in Israel would see your efforts as undermining the efforts of the State and have every right to encourage the public to refrain from supporting the Shefa Fund and those it supports.

There is certainly not a lack of good positive causes and organizations in Israel (taking care of handicapped children [Beit Issie Shapiro], helping sick people find the right medical treatment [Ezra LeMarpeh], helping victims of Arab terror, feeding the hungry in Israel [Hazon Yeshiya], helping Israeli businesses adversely affected by the current reign of terror, sending packages to Israeli soldiers [the Israeli soldiers fund], helping Israelis to defend themselves against terror, etc.). I notice that Federation is in the midst of supplying the Israel Civil Guard with new vehicles and communication equipment to help defend our civilians against further terror attacks. Are all of these efforts contrary to your program?

I know and understand that you have an agenda and a right to express your views, but it is contrary to what the vast majority of Israelis want and I would urge you to move to more positive efforts. Until I see actual evidence of this, I will encourage everyone I know not to support the Shefa Fund and to continue writing to you so that perhaps you will better understand that your current efforts are not helpful and are in fact the antithesis of what Israelis really want.

Jack de Lowe lives in Raanana, Israel

“Promoting Middle East Peace and Justice”

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Center for Near East Policy Research

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December 15, 2002

Read the Shefa Fund Peace Folio: “Promoting Middle East Peace and Justice”. It was published on their website at www.shefafund.org/middle.htm. You can read it here. Close the window when you have finished to return to this point in the Israel Resource Review.

Leaflet Distributed for IDF Deserter Rally: December 19, 2002

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Center for Near East Policy Research

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December 15, 2002

“Dear friend,

The following young Israelis are currently in jail for refusal to enlist in the army of occupation, and are being subjected to repeat sentences in a bid to break their spirits:

Yonathan Ben Artzi, 6th sentence, total of 161 days’ jail;

Uri Yaakovi – 6th sentence, total: 133 days

Dror Boimel – 5th sentence, total: 119 days

Yoni Yehezkiel – 4th sentence, 98 days

Haggai Mattar – 3rd sentence, 84 days

Mattan Kaminer – 1st sentence, 28 days;

Noam Bahat – 1st sentence, 28 days;

Hillel Goral – 1st sentence, 28 days;

The following reservists are currently in jail for refusing to serve in the occupied territories:

Ido Harari – 2nd time, 28 days;

Hen Alon – 21 days;

M.G. – 21 days;

Eshel Herzog – 28 days;

Dror Luzatti – 18 days;

Uri Rotloi – 21 days;

Itzik Shabbat – 28 days;

Since the onset of the present intifada, 190 young Israelis have been jailed for refusing to take part in the campaign of repression against the Palestinian people.

Thursday December 19, at 8:00 p.m.,
Zavta (30, Ibn Gvirol Street)
Tel Aviv

Yesh Gvul and the High School Seniors (“Shministim”) join in an evening of solidarity with the refuseniks.

The privilege of saying “NO!”

Please come along and your support for the refuseniks!

Peretz Kidron * Ram Rahat… “

Saddam and Al Qaida

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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December 10, 2002

Despite their bitter divisions over possible war in Iraq, doves and many hawks on this side of the Atlantic share a common, often-stated belief: that there is “no evidence” of a link between Osama bin laden’s Al Qaida network and Saddam Hussein’s regime. In London and Washington, the Foreign Office, MI6, the State Department and the CIA have been spinnng this claim to reporters for more than a decade, long before the attacks of September 11 last year.

Constant repetition of an erroneous position does not, however, make it true. Having investigated the Iraqi connection for more than a year, I am convinced it is false. The strongest evidence comes from a surprising source – the files of those same intelligence agencies who have spent so long publicly playing this connection down.

According to the conventional wisdom, Saddam is a “secular” dictator, whose loathing for Islamic fundamentalism is intense, while bin Laden and his cohorts would like to kill the Iraqi president almost as much George W. Bush. All reports of a link can be disregarded on this ground alone.

Though they may get scant attention, some of the facts of Saddam’s involvement with Islamic terrorism are not disputed. Hamas, the fundamentalist Palestinian group, whose gift to the world is the suicide bomb, has maintained a Baghdad office – funded by Saddam – for many years. His intelligence service, the Mukhabarat, has a special department, whose sole function is liaison with Hamas. In return, Hamas has praised Saddam extravagantly on its website and on paper.

Since his defeat in 1991, Saddam’s supposed secularism has looked decidedly thin. Increasingly, he has relied on Islamist rhetoric, in an attempt to rally the “Arab street”. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden’s 1998 fatwa justified its call for Muslims to kill American and Jewish civilians on the basis of a lengthy critique of US hostility towards “secular” Iraq.

It is also undisputed that Iraqi-sponsored assassins tried to kill George Bush I on a visit to the Gulf in 1993. The same year, Abdul Rahman Yasin mixed and made the truck bomb which wrought destruction and killed six in the first New York World Trade Centre attack – then coolly boarded a plane for Baghdad, where he still resides. There is strong evidence that Ramzi Yousef, leader of both the 1993 New York bombing and a failed attempt two years later to down 12 a.m.erican airliners over the Pacific, was an Iraqi intelligence officer. All this was known in the nineties. Nevertheless, the “no connection” argument was rapidly becoming orthodoxy.

The 9/11 attacks were, self-evidently, a failure of intelligence: no one saw them coming. Awareness of this failure, and its possible consequences for individuals’ careers, are the only reasons I can find for the wall of spin which the spooks have fed to the media almost ever since. Iraq must have been more intensely spied upon than any other country throughout the 1990s.

If the agencies missed a Saddam-Al Qaida connection, it might reasonably be argued, then many heads should roll.

My own doubts emerged more than a year ago, when a very senior CIA man told me that, contrary to the line his own colleagues were assiduously disseminating, there was evidence of an Iraq-Al Qaida link. He confirmed a story I had been told by members of the anti-Saddam Iraqi National Congress – that two of the hijackers, Marwan Al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah, had met Mukhabarat officers in the months before 9/11 in the United Arab Emirates. This, he said, was part of a pattern of contact between Iraq and Al Qaida which went back years.

Yet the attempts to refute the link were feverish. The best known example is the strange case of the meetings in Prague between Mohamed Atta, the 9/11 plot’s alleged leader, and Ahmed Khalil Al-Ani, a Mukhabarat sabotage expert. For at least the third time, the New York Times tried at the end of October to rebut the claim that the Prague meetings ever happened, reporting that President Vaclav Havel had phoned the White House to tell Bush that it was fiction. Barely had the paper hit the streets before Havel’s spokesman stated publicly that the story was a “fabrication”. Not only had Havel not phoned Bush, the Czechs remained convinced that Atta did meet Al-Ani. They had been surveilling him continuously because his predecessor had been caught red-handed – in a plot to detonate a terrorist bomb.

As I reveal in the new issue of Vanity Fair, earlier this year the Pentagon established a special intelligence unit to re-examine evidence of an Iraq-Al Qaida relationship. After initially fighting the proposal, the CIA agreed to supply this unit with copies of its own reports going back ten years. I have spoken to three senior officials who have seen its conclusions, which are striking. “In the Cold War,” says one of them, “often you’d draw firm conclusions and make policy on the basis of just four or five reports. Here there are almost 100 separate examples of Iraq-Al Qaida cooperation going back to 1992.” All these reports, says the official, were given the CIA’s highest credibility rating – defined as information from a source which had proven reliable in the past. At least one concerns bin Laden personally, who is said to have spent weeks with a top Mukhabarat officer in Afghanistan in 1998.

This week, attention remains focused on the UN weapons inspectors, and the deadline for Iraq’s declaration of any weapons of mass destruction. But last month’s Security Council resolution also noted Iraq’s failure to abandon support for international terror, as it had promised at the end of the 1991 Gulf War. If there were the political will – rather a big if, admittedly – this could constitute a casus belli every bit as legitimate as Iraqi possession of a nuclear weapon.

Ignoring Iraq’s support for terror is a seductive proposition, which fits pleasingly with democracies’ natural reluctance to wage war. But if we are serious about winning the war on terror, self-delusion is not an option. An attempt to achieve regime change in Iraq would not be a distraction, but an integral part of the struggle.

David Rose is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine. His article on Saddam, Al Qaida and the Iraqi opposition goes on sale today.

This article ran in the Evening Standard on December 9, 2002

USAID To Monitor Transfer Of Funds From Israel To PA

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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December 10, 2002

[No restrictions here on salaries for PA security personnel who have been involved in terror action and no restrictions on funds for incitement activities of PA Education or PA media or PA Ministry of Religious Affairs]

December 10, 2002

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Agency for International Development will help monitor the transfer of tax revenues from Israel to the Palestinian Authority to make sure they are not misused.

Israel has withheld the transfer of some $600 million in tax revenues owed the Palestinians for the last two years, charging that the funds would be used to fund hostile attacks against Israel and its citizens.

The U.S. has pressed for the transfer of the funds to the PA, arguing that the money was necessary in order for the PA to carry out critical reforms.

During the summer, Israel agreed in principle to transfer the funds to the PA if a mechanism could be found to ensure the monies were not being used to fund terrorists, terror attacks or weapons.

Since then, 270 million shekels (about $59 million) were transferred to the PA in three installments, but further payments were delayed because of suspicion that some of the money was being misused.

On Friday, 130 million shekels (about $28 million) was transferred to the PA after a deal was worked out between the U.S., Israel and the PA whereby USAID would monitor the money to ensure it was not being used to support terrorism.

According to one source familiar with the deal, those funds included revenues for the month of October and did not include any of the previously frozen monies. The payment was the first of several installments expected to be paid on the previous month’s revenues. It is not clear when or how the backlog would be transferred.

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv welcomed the agreement to transfer funds on Wednesday “as a critical step towards addressing the serious economic and humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“It signals support for the reform of Palestinian finances already underway, and which we hope can lead to an efficient and transparent Palestinian financial system,” the Embassy said.

According to the Embassy, both the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which deals with Palestinian affairs, were very active in helping Israel and the PA reach the agreement.

“We will continue to work with the Palestinian Ministry of Finance to develop its own systems to track and monitor use of the funds it provides to the Palestinian entities,” the Embassy said.

“We note that USAID has agreed to fund experts to assist in the training and auditing program led by the Palestinian Ministry,” it said.

One source, who did not want to be named, emphasized that USAID’s role would combine training and auditing, indicating that the Palestinians preferred to look at the USAID role as “training” while the Israelis saw it as “auditing.”

The source said presumably USAID officials would have access to Palestinian records otherwise there was “no point in doing it.” He added that the systems are in place and the U.S. was not “just going to walk away” from the project.

See Earlier Story, US Tax Money Funding Palestinian Propaganda, Critics Charge (August 27, 2002)

The Significance of the Appointment of Elliott Abrams as the Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs on the National Security Council staff at the White House

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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December 8, 2002

Sometimes the Washington press corps reports a story, but entirely misses its significance. This was the case with last week’s naming of Elliott Abrams to the position of senior director for Near East and North African affairs on the National Security Council staff at the White House. The job makes Abrams a major player in setting policy on Israel and the Palestinians. And Abrams’s view of the right policy is quite different–more pro-Israel, less solicitous of Palestinians–from that of Secretary of State Colin Powell and the permanent cast of characters at the State Department.

As early as this week, Abrams will be knee-deep in Middle East affairs. What must be worked out is the so-called road map for pursuing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Abrams’s job is to make certain that the conditions and guidelines laid down by President Bush in his speech last June 24 are not watered down or ignored by the Powell forces. This is easier said than done, particularly since Bush’s attention has turned to the war on terror and regime change in Iraq.

The appointment of Abrams, 54, is an important statement by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice–and by Bush–that the White House will not cede control of Middle East policy to Powell. In the past, a foreign service bureaucrat has held the NSC post and more often than not echoed State’s view. Until late 2001, a holdover from the Clinton White House, Bruce Reidel, had the post. Over the past year, a fight was waged over who would replace Reidel. One potential appointee after another was blocked. Rice was urged to name someone from inside the system, either from State or the CIA. But she insisted on Abrams, who comes from outside the system and whose pro-democracy, pro-Israel, and anti-peace process views on the Middle East are anathema to the State/CIA establishment.

Abrams’s background is in Latin American affairs and human rights. But he expressed his opinions on the Middle East in his essay in a book, “Present Dangers,” published in 2000. Most striking was the absence of enthusiasm for resuming the “peace process.” He wrote: American interests “do not lie in strengthening Palestinians at the expense of Israelis, abandoning our overall policy of supporting the expansion of democracy and human rights, or subordinating all other political and security goals to the ‘success’ of the Arab-Israel ‘peace process.'”

Such a view pits him against Powell’s State Department. There, the key to all good things in the Middle East is thought to be a quick return to the peace process with full-blown negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Abrams’s view–and Rice’s and Bush’s–is that since September 11, 2001, the war on terror is a higher priority. But September 11 has also reinforced Bush’s view of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not as a leader seeking independence for his people, but as someone more like the terrorists who attacked the United States.

At the moment, the White House plans to implement the Bush guidelines from his speech last June. Among these are the easing aside of Arafat, the end of Palestinian terrorism against Israel, and reform of the Palestinian Authority. The Bush speech indicated these steps must be taken first, before moving on to concessions the Israelis might make and, finally, to high-level negotiations. However, State’s position is that the Palestinians don’t have to complete their required steps, only begin them. Under State’s plan, Arafat would merely have to start leaving office, not actually be gone, and reforms would only need to have begun, not be fully implemented. A final administration policy must be reached by December 20. That’s when representatives of the “Quartet”–United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations–meet to discuss the Middle East.

It is Abrams’s strong public views on the Middle East that make his appointment surprising. No doubt it has caused heartburn at State and among Palestinians and their sympathizers. In Israel, the choice of Abrams was seen favorably as further evidence of Bush’s commitment to support both Israel and democracy in the Middle East.

Abrams joined the NSC staff in June 2001 as senior director for democracy, human rights, and international operations. After the Reagan administration, he worked with Latin American interests and then became head of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. But while out of government, he kept in touch with Dick Cheney, now Bush’s vice president. He barely knew Rice at all when he was hired. But he had other contacts, including Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Rice’s deputy Steve Hadley. Wolfowitz is said to have been instrumental in getting Abrams his initial job at NSC, where he helped draft a tough new policy toward Cuba.

Press stories about Abrams’s elevation to the new job stressed a single point: Iran-contra. In 1991, Abrams pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress, for which he was pardoned by the first President Bush in December 1992. The Washington Post headlined a wire story on the Abrams appointment, “Iran-Contra Figure Named To Senior Post In White House.” The lede of the story in Newsday said, “Iran-contra figure Elliott Abrams, who received a pardon from the first President Bush for his role in the scandal… has been promoted to a key post among the current President Bush’s national security aides.” Neither newspaper mentioned the policy significance of Abrams’s appointment.

They missed the real story.

This piece ran in the Weekly Standard in Washington, DC on 12th December, 2002, Volume 008, Issue 14

Ometz Lesarev: The Funding Funnel for the Shefa Fund’s Support for IDF Deserters

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

-

December 8, 2002

Memo from August 13, 2002

Dear Ometz Lesarev supporters,

Last Tuesday we recieved the Military Attorney General’s response to the appeal of David Zonsheine and 4 other friens of our group. The four who have joined David’s appeal started to serve their time in jail, since the Military Attorney decided not to postpone it. Full details after the legal update.

Legal update

Last Tuesday the Military Attorney General has given his verdict concerning the appeal of David Zonsheine, Rami Kaplan, Maor Parsai, Uri Phine and Shaham Ramah against the results of their disciplinary hearings. Here are the main points of his verdict: We have no justification for disobeying orders during military service- If we thought that the service we were summoned to was illegal we should have claimed that our summoning to reserve service was illegal, instead of taking the law in our hands during the service itself.

The occupation is legal- it stands in all criteria of international law, laws of war. As proof for this claim he cited verdicts of the High Court of Justice concerning the legality of curfews, closures, etc. Freedom of conscience isn’t hurt- Conscience objectors have the right not to enlist (“total refusal” for pacifists), yet there is no right for selective refusal (namely, objecting service in certain areas or objecting certain orders) as the legal situation is in Austarlia, Britain and the U.S.

No change in the occupation- The differences that were underlined in our appeal between the occupation during the last two years and the occupation since 1967 do not exist. The present state of occupation is legal exactly as it was till two years ago.

The verdict was well-prepared (implying the IDF is quite frightened of the outcome of our appeal to the High Court), though I believe anyone can see that these claims can be refuted, as attorneys Feldman and Sfard will try to accomplish. In 30 days they shall petition to the High Court against the Military Attorney’s verdict. Till the fianl ruling of the court David Zonsheine will stay free, as the court ruled formerly. Yet, four of our friends who have joined the appeal and petition were sent yesterday to serve their time in prison.

List of prisoners:

Rami Kaplan
Maor Parsai
Uri Phine
Shaham Ramah
Ran Ron
Uri Tocker Maimon
Udi Elifantz
Shuki Sade
Itamar Shahar (Yesh-Gvul)

Activities

Last Friday we held a demonstration (which has become a tradition) at the Rakevet Junction. As usual many have argued with us, while some have hunked in support. I’m allways glad to see us at that juction instead of the Moledet transferist freeks who ussually are left there alone. Our huge flag, which wasn’t hang on Friday, has been hanged on Wednesday near the Ayalon Freeway. Please tell us if the location was effective.

This Saturday, 17.8 at 12:00, we will hold a solidarity demonstration infront of Military Prison 6 nera Atlit. Buses leave from Binyanei ha’uma at 09:45 and from Rakevet Tzafon at 10:30, Come with your families, the conscience objectors imprisoned need our support.

And to the amusing conclusion: We don’t really know how. Yet, David Zonsheine is candidate for “the Man of the year” event of Yedioth Ahronot and Keshet. We decided to go for it and vote for David. So go to this link and vote as well, help us to arrive to the heart of the Israeli consensus: www.keshet-tv.com/special.asp?Progid=807

Who would believe a refusenik would get close to such a consensual title half a year ago?

Ometz Lesarev
www.seruv.org.il

Each one of you can help us in our struggle against the occupation in the following ways.

Our supporters in Israel:

Participating in demonstrations and other protest activities
Participation in activities such as distributing flyers, sticking up posters, manning our stalls
“Adopt a refusenik” – adopt a jailed refusenik – send letters, keep in touch with his family
Organize house meetings (of 10 to 20 participants with members of the group)
Organizational and professional help (administration, foreign languages, advertising, fundraising, or any other kind of assistance you can think of)
Sending letters to newspapers, participating in radio talk-shows that are open to the public
Donation (account details at the end of this letter)

Write to us at support@seruv.org.il, with your name, where you live, telephone number, and how you would like to help. We promise to keep you up to date on our activities, which are set to increase in the near future. At the end of this letter you find a list of our future activities.

Our overseas supporters:

Organizing conferences on the subject of refusal amongst Jewish communities, in universities, and any other place that might be supportive of us
Sending letters to those in prison (addresses below)
Sending letters about us to the press
Donations (details below)

To organize a speaking tour of one of our members, or with any other idea, please write to community@seruv.org.il.

To enable you to keep in touch with those in jail we have rented a postal box in order to receive letters, books, limericks or pictures. Whoever can devote some time to this important cause is invited to write to Postal Box 16238, Tel Aviv, and we promise that your letters will be passed as quickly as possible to the prisoner (in our experience, the army does not rush to pass on prisoners’ post). Please write the name of the addressee along with the Postal Box number (and not “Courage to Refuse”, and so on – this is for technical reasons).

Or, the address of Jail 6 is (note the name of the prisoner):

Jail 6
Army Post 01860
IDF
Israel

Donations

Bank Hapoelim
Branch:754 (Pinkas, Tel Aviv)
Account number: 105377
Holders of the account: Omets LeSarev

In America:

The Shefa Fund, which defines its mandate as Advancing Jewish Social Responsibility Through Grantmaking, Investing and Education, is more than happy to accept tax-deductible donations on our behalf, thus making the process of contributing to our campaign that much easier.

Funders should make checks payable to “The Shefa Fund”, with a note on the memo line that indicates they learned of Shefa via “Courage to Refuse” (the English translation of the name of our group). Their contact information is as follows:

The Shefa Fund
8459 Ridge Avenue, 2nd floor
Philadelphia, PA 19128-2119
Phone: (215) 483-4004
Fax: (215) 483-4429

E-mail: info@shefafund.org
Website: www.shefafund.org

Jews Who Raise Funds to Pay Israeli Soldiers to Desert the Army

By

David Bedein

-

December 6, 2002

Over the past two years, the Palestinian Authority has conducted a campaign to encourage the cold blooded murder of 682 men, women and children throughout the land of Israel.

As a result, the IDF has been forced to conduct operations in the areas controlled and protected by the Palestinian Authority, to locate, arrest and neutralize the terrorists from their home bases.

While the IDF operations are taking place, a few small groups have been conducting a well financed campaign to encourage IDF troops to desert their units. These groups spread the word that IDF combat soldiers are “war criminals”

I write as the father of Noam, an Israeli soldier who serves in an IDF combat unit.

It gives my family the greatest of pleasure to welcome my oldest son home every other Shabbat.

Noam arrives exhausted and appreciating the support that he gets from the “home front” – from our community and from our home.

Yet it is rather distressing to know that every bus station that he goes through are frequented by paid professionals who distribute leaflets to IDF soldiers to encourage them to desert from their units, offering to pay them to do so.

It is even more distressing to know that these paid professionals and their leaflets that call IDF soldiers “war criminals” are financed through a Jewish organization in my home community of Philadelphia.

Yes, Israel is a nation which welcomes democratic difference.

Israel’s perspectives that range from those who would like to throw the Arabs out of Israel to those who advocate full independence and sovereignty for the local Arab population.

That wide range of opinion in Israel has not stopped a consensus of opinion about one fundamental issue: serving in the Israel Defence Forces.

For that reason, The Peace Now movement, despite its opposition to Israeli government policies in Judea and Samaria, encourages its members to serve everywhere.

For that reason, Peace Now leader and Meretz MK Ron Cohen commanded an artillery unit that led the IDF attack on Beirut in 1982, despite the Peace Now criticism of the IDF invasion of Lebanon.

For that reason, Peace Now leader and Meretz MK Musy Raz commands an infantry unit in the Hebron region every year as part of his IDF reserve duty, despite the Peace Now criticism of Israel’s presence in Hebron.

There is one US organization that acts as the funnel to finance IDF troops to desert the IDF, and that organization is the Shefa Fund in Philadelphia.

Just read their website: www.shefafund.org, where they proudly state that the Shefa Fund provides funds to the “Courage to Refuse” campaign to pay for any IDF soldier for the time that he might spend in prison and for any legal expenses involved.

On page seven of the Shefa Fund report, the Shefa Fund proudly states that it has most recently allocated $5,000 to the Courage to Refuse campaign, which has enabled the Israel draft desertion campaign to take out ads, distribute leafets at army bases and at bus stops, and to hire a PR firm to incite IDF troops to desert their units.

All this, while undermining the morale of the IDF by accusing Israeli soldiers of conducting war crimes against an Arab population that harbors, encourages and celebrates the murder of Jews.

The time has come for US citizens those who are looking for ways to support the state of Israel during these times of trouble to take action against those US citizens who are undermining the IDF.

The Shefa Fund, as an IRS tax deductible organization is not allowed to support a political campaign. Perhaps the time has come to bring down the tax authorities on their back.

To stop to Shefa Fund in its tracks is one practical way to help the state of Israel.

And a way to help the morale of the IDF at this time.

Israel Behind the News

The Official Palestinian Authority Media Reports: Al Qaida, The End of Ramadan, Suicide Bombs, Hamas and more

Shefa Fund Responds to Criticism

An Open Letter to the Shefa Fund

“Promoting Middle East Peace and Justice”

Leaflet Distributed for IDF Deserter Rally: December 19, 2002

Saddam and Al Qaida

USAID To Monitor Transfer Of Funds From Israel To PA

The Significance of the Appointment of Elliott Abrams as the Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs on the National Security Council staff at the White House

Ometz Lesarev: The Funding Funnel for the Shefa Fund’s Support for IDF Deserters

Jews Who Raise Funds to Pay Israeli Soldiers to Desert the Army

Column from the Director