Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)
Special Information Bulletin January, 12 2005 [1]
Photographs taken at a memorial ceremony held in Gaza City for Ghaleb Awali, a Hezbollah operative who directed Palestinian terrorist activities in the Palestinian Authority administered territories [Abu Dhabi Television, July 22]. Spokesmen for the Palestinian terrorist organizations spoke with great respect, gratitude and admiration of the assistance Awali had provided to the Palestinian armed struggle and of Hezbollah's support of the Palestinians.
* * *
One of the major trends in 2004 was Iran's growing involvement in Palestinian terrorism through Hezbollah, used by the Iranians as an operative leverage vis-a-vis Israel. In July 2004, against the backdrop of the death of Ghaleb Awali, a Hezbollah operative who directed Palestinian terrorist operatives in the Palestinian Authority administered territories. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly admitted (for the first time) that his organization was providing assistance to Palestinian terrorism.
The objectives of Iran and Hezbollah's orchestration of Palestinian terrorism in the Palestinian Authority administered territories
1. Since IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon, Iran and Hezbollah have placed a significant emphasis on directing Palestinian terrorist elements in the Palestinian Authority administered territories and in Israel. In Iran and Hezbollah's view, the assistance provided to Palestinian terrorism serves as a means to preserve Hezbollah's militant (jihad-like) character, while providing an adequate response to the constraints inherent in operating across the Lebanese border.
2. Furthermore, the continuation and even escalation of the violent confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians (in the era of Abu Mazen as well) are perceived by Hezbollah (and by Iran and Syria, states that support and assist the organization) as a valuable strategic device for undermining Israel's internal social and political stability, and as a potential leverage for extorting concessions from Israel.
General characteristics of Hezbollah's orchestration of Palestinian terrorist elements in 2004
3. Hezbollah operates dozens of terrorist operative groups in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. In 2004, these cells perpetrated 68 terrorist attacks, killing 24 Israelis (approximately 21% of the 117 Israelis killed in terrorist attacks in 2004) and injuring 52 (approximately 8% of the 589 Israelis wounded in terrorist attacks in 2004).
4. The methods employed by Hezbollah to direct the activities of the terrorist organizations in the Palestinian Authority administered territories are reminiscent of those characteristic of the Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad headquarters on the "outside" in their activities vis-a-vis their "inside" infrastructures. Within this context, Hezbollah's activity vis-a-vis the terrorist organizations has several prominent characteristics:
a. Giving instructions to perpetrate mass-murder terrorist attacks inside Israel to the terrorist infrastructures on the "inside".
b. Dispatching Palestinians from the "outside" to carry out terrorist missions in Israel (see the Appendix for an example).
c. Transferring significant sums of money to the various terrorist infrastructures.
d. Mediation between operatives located at various focal points of activity in the Palestinian Authority administered territories.
e. Exerting efforts to upgrade the terrorist capacities of the terrorist infrastructures in the Palestinian Authority administered territories by:
i. Providing know-how on explosives.
ii. Delivering high-quality arms to the Palestinian Authority administered territories.
iii. Sending operatives from the "inside" for military training abroad.
Hezbollah funds as the fuel for the terrorist organizations in the Palestinian Authority administered territories
The fuel for the activities of the Palestinian terrorist organizations in the Palestinian Authority administered territories nowadays is the numerous fund transfers made to the terrorist infrastructures by Hezbollah and by the Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist headquarters in Syria . These three terrorist organizations operate from Syria and Lebanon, under the direction and with the cooperation of Iran and Syria, and serve them as a means for perpetuating anti-Israeli terrorism and for hindering attempts to curb the situation and bring the confrontation to a halt, even during Abu Mazen's era.
5. The terrorist headquarters located in Syria and in Lebanon initiate terrorist activities in the Palestinian Authority administered territories and control them using funds as a leverage. They do so by transferring large sums of money to operatives on the ground, who make their living by coordinating terrorist activities, not necessarily out of ideological motivations. On many occasions, the terrorists recruited to carry out acts of suicide bombing are Palestinians who have financial or social problems. They agree to perpetrate the terrorist attacks in exchange for promises that the organization responsible for dispatching them will provide their families with financial support after their deaths.
6. In 2004, Israeli security forces arrested several senior Fatah Tanzim operatives. In their interrogations by the Israel Security Agency, they provided information on Hezbollah's "tariffs for terrorist attacks" according to which they were handled:
a. Ahmed Sari Hussein, an Islamic Jihad operative from Tulkarm: a terrorist who was involved in a suicide bombing attack on a promenade in the city of Netanya on March 30, 2003, in which 32 civilians were injured. He received approximately NIS 10,000 (about $2200) in advance for his activities by the then chief of the Islamic Jihad in Tulkarm. A Hezbollah handler from Lebanon informed him he would receive additional funds only if he would carry out terrorist attacks.
b. Wael Ghanem, a Fatah Tanzim operative from Tulkarm refugee camp, was in contact with a handler from Lebanon who provided him with:
i. $7,000 in exchange for manufacturing explosive charges.
ii. $1,500 for purchasing arms (the money was deposited in his sister's bank account).
iii. $10,000 for funding his military activity (the money was deposited in the bank accounts of women he was involved with).
c. Muntasir Abu Ghalyoun, one of the Fatah Tanzim leaders in Jenin, was involved in the orchestration and funding of numerous terrorist attacks, including 4 shooting attacks carried out in June 2003, in which 4 civilians were killed. In his interrogation, he stated that the basic tariff for carrying out a terrorist attack ranged from NIS 3,000-5,000 (about $650-1100).
A photograph of Fatah Tanzim operatives in Ramallah against the background of a poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (the photograph was found in an album seized during Operation Defensive Shield, April 2002).
Encouragement and orchestration of suicide bombing attacks in Israel by Hezbollah
Suicide bombing attack at a supermarket in the town of Rosh Ha'ayin (east of Tel-Aviv)
7. On September 8, 2004, four senior wanted terrorists, all members of the Fatah Tanzim operative system in Nablus, were arrested. The activity of two of the detained terrorists was directed and sponsored by Hezbollah elements in Lebanon.
8. One of the detainees, Musa Sami Muhammad al-Sarouji, was involved in the preparation of a significant number of suicide bombing attacks intended to be perpetrated inside Israel proper. Among other things, he was involved in the recruitment of terrorist Khamis Ghazi Faysal Jerwan, who perpetrated a suicide bombing attack at a supermarket in the town of Rosh Ha'ayin (east of Tel-Aviv) on August 12, 2003 (1 person killed). Sarouji's activity was funded by Hezbollah elements in Lebanon.
Israeli security forces thwart a suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem
9. A joint operation carried out by Israeli security forces in Ramallah led to the arrest ( July 2, 2004) of a Fatah Tanzim squad that had arrived from Nablus and was on its way to carry out a suicide bombing attack. The terrorist attack was meant to take place in Jerusalem on July 2, 2004.
10. During the operation, the Israeli security forces seized an explosive charge weighing approximately 25 lbs. The explosive charge, which was meant to be used by the suicide bomber, a 16-year-old teenager, was detonated in a controlled blast in the center of Ramallah. The terrorist squad was sent by Fatah Tanzim operatives from Balata refugee camp in Nablus, headed by Abd al-Mun'im Salah Rajah Sanakreh, handled by Hezbollah elements based in Lebanon.
Hassan Nasrallah's admission of Hezbollah's assistance to Palestinian terrorism
11. Up until the summer of 2004, Hezbollah meticulously tried to obscure the part it played in supporting Palestinian terrorism; least of all did it take pride in it in public. However, following the death of Ghaleb Awali (July 19, 2004), a Hezbollah operative who directed Palestinian terrorist squads in the Palestinian Authority administered territories, Nasrallah publicly admitted for the first time that his organization provided assistance to the Palestinians who fight in "occupied Palestine".
12. In the eulogy speech given by Hassan Nasrallah at Ghaleb Awali's funeral, Nasrallah stated: "Today, we give away Ghaleb Awali as a martyr of Lebanon. He is also a martyr of Palestine. For the martyr Ghaleb Awali, same as the martyr Ali Saleh, belonged to the group [of those who] in recent years dedicated their lives to supporting the brothers in occupied Palestine. We do not wish to hide the truth. We declare it openly and take pride in it . Ghaleb Awali is today a martyr in the path of Palestine.He is a martyr of Jerusalem. He is a martyr of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.He is a martyr of the confrontation with the Zionist enterprise" (Al-Manar Television, July 19, 2004).
13. Hassan Nasrallah's above statement drew fierce criticism from elements on the Lebanese internal scene.
* * *
[1] Based on a report by the Israel Security Agency on Palestinian terrorist activities in 2004.
Posted on 20 January 2005 @ 08:55