TEL AVIV – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization has dedicated a fund that is being used to aid and further fuel anti-Jewish riots in eastern sections of Jerusalem, Israeli security sources told WND.
The PA is the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars annually in U.S. financial support.
The security sources said part of the Fatah fund finances a committee to collect information on "Arab collaborators," meaning Arabs who sell property to Jews in East Jerusalem.
The PA numerous times has warned that the sale of land to Jews amounts to "high treason," a charge that carries the death penalty. It has reportedly carried out extra-judicial killings of Arabs it suspects of such property sales.
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In addition, the Israeli security sources said Fatah has been using a dedicated budget to provide legal and financial support to Arab youth arrested protesting Israel in East Jerusalem, including those engaged in violent clashes.
Fatah has further set aside funds to assist Arab rioters who are in hiding from Israeli authorities for committing crimes, as well as assistance to the rioters' families.
Since 2008, the U.S. has provided about $400 million per year on average in economic assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The amount has been divided between direct budgetary assistance to the PA and financing for projects coordinated through the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Arabs have been engaged in violent riots for weeks in East Jerusalem, routinely lobbing stones and Molotov cocktails at Jewish civilians and Israeli security forces.
Numerous terrorist attacks have targeted Jews in Jerusalem and beyond, including a terrorist who used a vehicle to plow through a crowd of Israelis at an East Jerusalem light rail station, killing a 3-month-old baby, an adult tourist and injuring seven other people.
Over the past few weeks, Arabs have engaged in a systemic campaign of rock-throwing at Jerusalem's light-rail system, attacking train cars as they pass through East Jerusalem neighborhoods.
The attacks are so frequent that Jerusalem officials announced last month nearly half the cars used in the Jerusalem light-rail system are out of service and in need of repair.
The violence has spilled into nationwide attacks.
Monday, an off-duty Israeli soldier was critically wounded by a Palestinian in a stabbing at a major Tel Aviv bus and train station.
Some four hours later, a young Israeli woman was killed and two more were wounded by a Palestinian stabber who, according to reports, initially intended to commit a vehicular terror attack.
On Sunday, a Jewish man escaped what appeared to be an attempting lynching when his car was stopped by masked Arab men in a central Arab village in Israel. The Jewish man was reportedly saved by other Arab residents of the village, who chased away the masked attackers.
Fatah is not the only actor fueling the violence, which some fear could escalate into a third "intifada," or uprising.
Hamas and the Iranian-backed group Islamic Jihad have reportedly been behind some of the attacks.
Also, the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, led by Israeli Arab extremist cleric Raed Salah, has reportedly paid hundreds of Muslims to agitate protests on the Temple Mount.
An investigative report by Nadav Shragai of the Israel Hayom newspaper stated the Islamic Movement is financed by Qatar and by hundreds of Islamic foundations worldwide.