Terrorists dupe Israelis on weapons deal

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (PBS.org)

TEL AVIV – Most members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group granted amnesty last month by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have not turned in their weapons despite media reports to the contrary, while some haven't even signed their amnesty contracts, WND has learned.

Part of the amnesty deal required the 178 terrorists – all of whom are members of the Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization – to disarm and to sign a document stating they would not carry out terror attacks.

Meanwhile, Palestinian diplomatic officials yesterday said Olmert told them he would strongly consider granting amnesty to 208 more Al Aqsa Brigades terrorists and would study allowing the return to the West Bank of senior terrorist leaders deported in 2002 after they barricaded themselves in Bethlehem's Church of Nativity five years ago.

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The Al Aqsa Brigades took responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the past three years. Statistically, the Brigades carried out more anti-Israel terror attacks emanating from the West Bank since 2005 than any other group, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Last month, Olmert granted amnesty to a list of 178 Fatah militants WND reported comprise most of the senior leadership of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Olmert's office issued documents for the Fatah fugitives to sign, pledging their resignation from any so-called paramilitary organizations and promising to refrain from terrorism.

The wanted militants also were required to turn in their weapons, spend a week in a PA holding area and restrict their movements to the area in which they reside for three months. After a three-month period, they would be allowed to move freely throughout the West Bank. Since most wanted militants have been confined to their residential areas the past few years anyway due to the threat of Israeli operations, the deal effectively grants them freedom of movement for the first time.

In exchange, Israel will not conduct anti-terror operations to capture the wanted militants.

According to statements by Palestinian officials and reports by the media, most terrorists turned in their weapons in line with the deal.

A widely circulated AP article yesterday quoted a senior Palestinian security official stating "all but three Al Aqsa members have surrendered their weapons and sworn off violence, as part of the arrangement."

But calls yesterday to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members granted amnesty yielded a much different story.

Abu Yousuf, a senior leader of the Brigades in Ramallah, told WND most Brigades members turned in one of several pieces of weaponry they possess. He said most Brigades members have two to three guns, including one to two personal weapons and one assault rifle issued by the PA, since the majority of Brigades members are also members of Fatah's security forces.

"It's true Brigades members turned in one of their weapons as a symbolic act, but they kept the others," he said.

Yousuf is suspected of shooting at Israeli forces operating in Ramallah. He carried out a shooting attack in northern Samaria in December 2000 that killed Benyamin Kahane, leader of the nationalist Kahane Chai organization.

Ala Senakreh, overall chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank and one of the terrorists granted amnesty, told WND the one weapon he turned in to the PA is "easily accessible."

"It's close by and available to me anytime I need an additional weapon," he said.

Senakreh said aside from "protecting" himself from Israel, weapons were also needed for protection from rival clans and members of Palestinian families of suspected "Israeli collaborators" killed in recent years by the Brigades.

"We killed several collaborators, so now I am a walking target. What if one of the family members tries to take revenge?" he asked.

Senakreh's cell, along with the Islamic Jihad terror group, is suspected of directing all suicide bombings in Israel in 2005 and 2006.

Kamal Ranam, chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Ramallah, said he turned in his cousin's old pistol and still is well-armed.

Not all Brigades members even signed their amnesty deals.

Nasser Abu Aziz, the No. 2 leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Senakreh's main deputy, told WND he will not sign the agreement, calling the deal "an Israeli trick."

"I am sure this is part of an Israeli conspiracy against our fighters," Aziz said.

The Brigades' failure to keep their side of the amnesty deal is well-known to the Israeli security apparatus. Members of the Israel Defense Forces military intelligence unit said they complained to Olmert's office in recent days, explaining most of the Brigades members did not disarm.

But according to senior Palestinian officials, Olmert officials said the prime minister would strongly consider granting amnesty to 206 Fatah fighters, mostly Brigades members, who haven't yet officially received amnesty. Some of the 206 are senior Brigades commanders, but most are mid-level militants.

Asked to confirm the report, David Baker, an Olmert spokesman, did not reply with an answer as of press time.

Israeli diplomatic officials said amnesty wasn't yet granted to some of the 206 militants because of the militants' connections to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. But seven senior terrorists granted amnesty by Olmert last month previously told WND on the record they serve as conduits for their terror group's relationship with Hezbollah, and, according to Israeli security officials, the most important Brigades leaders who serve as Hezbollah conduits already received amnesty.

Olmert grants entire terror group de facto immunity

Regardless of whether Olmert grants amnesty to the remaining 206 militants, according to Palestinian officials the Israeli prime minister already has given de facto immunity to the entire Brigades terror group and to all Fatah fighters in the West Bank.

"We were directly told Fatah fighters will not be targeted regardless of official amnesty," the Palestinian official said, speaking on condition his name be withheld.

Olmert yesterday held a historic meeting with Abbas in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank town of Jericho. The meeting marked the first time an Israeli prime minister has visited PA areas since the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000. The meeting took place under heavy security.

Olmert told Abbas he would push for the establishment of a Palestinian state as "fast as possible."

"We have decided to expand the scope of the negotiations between us in order to advance mutual understanding and formulate the framework that will allow us to move forward toward establishing a Palestinian state," Olmert said.

The statements came in spite of grave concern from the Israeli security establishment that the Hamas terror group will soon attempt to take over the West Bank as it did in Gaza in June. A number of Hamas officials pledged in recent interviews their group would stage a coup in Gaza.

According to Israel's Haaretz daily, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad reportedly warned senior Israeli officials during recent meetings that Fatah security organizations are unable to assume control of cities in the West Bank. Fayad reportedly said that Abbas' security forces are unable "to impose law and order in the West Bank at this time."

Israel may allow exiled senior terrorist leaders to return

During yesterday's meeting, Olmert promised to consider Abbas' request for the return to the West Bank of dozens of senior terrorists who took refuge in the Church of the Nativity to avoid a pending Israeli anti-terror operation in the city. The Nativity Church is one of the holiest sites in Christianity.

According to Israeli security officials, Olmert is likely to grant the request, which has already been studied. They said of all the exiled Fatah terrorists Abbas wants returned, only one, Jihad Jaara, the former Al Aqsa Brigades chief is Bethlehem, would likely not be allowed back.

Jaara, who is regularly interviewed by WND from exile in Ireland, carried out dozens of attacks and was responsible for orchestrating several suicide bombings.

The senior terrorists who may return include:

• Ibrahim Moussa Salem Abayat

  Abayat was born in 1973 and served as the chief of the Fatah Tanzim terrorist organization in Bethlehem. He boasted about orchestrating and participating in shooting and mortar attacks on the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo and on Jewish-used Bethlehem bypass roads.

  According to Israeli security officials, Abayat was involved in the following deadly terror attacks: Sept. 20, 2001, shooting attack on an Israeli vehicle near Tekoa, in which Israeli Sarit Amrani was murdered; July 16, 2001, detonation of an explosive charge on the Beit Safafa-Talpiot bridge inside Jerusalem; Jan. 15, 2002, abduction and murder of Avi Boaz, a U.S. citizen residing in Israel. Feb, 18, 2002, detonation of a car bomb at the Zaim checkpoint, resulting in the death of an Israeli policeman; Feb. 25, 2002, shooting attack at an Israeli vehicle close to the Tekoa junction in which Israelis Avraham Fisch and Aharon Gorov of Nokdim were killed and Tamar Lipschitz, in an advanced stage of pregnancy, was wounded; March 2, 2002, shooting attack at a vehicle south of Jerusalem, in which dental technician Devorah Friedman, mother of four, was murdered; June 14, 2002, murder of Israeli intelligence officer Yehuda Edri.

• Ibrahim Mohammed Salem Abayat

  Abayat, born in 1961, was an operative of both the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas. Israeli security officials tell WND Abayat's apartment was used to make bombs. They said he financed terrorist shootings and planned attacks against civilians in Jerusalem. Abayat also was personally involved in shooting at Gilo and at the IDF in Bethlehem.

• Abdullah Daoud Mohammed Abdullah Khader

  Daoud, born in 1962, served as the head of the Palestinian Authority's General Intelligence apparatus in the West Bank city of Nablus and as a senior Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader. He is accused of providing assistance and instructions to senior Fatah Tanzim operatives. He operated a terrorist cell in Nablus and took part in several attacks, including a Feb. 25, 2002, attack in which two men were murdered and a pregnant woman was severely wounded.

• Mohammed Said Atallah Salem

  Salem, born in 1979, was a senior Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander. Israel says he was directly involved in the following attacks: January 26, 2002, dispatch of a suicide bomber to the Talpiot neighborhood in Jerusalem; Feb.18, 2002, detonation of a car bomb by a suicide bomber on a Maale Adumim road, killing an Israeli policeman; March 2, 2002, suicide bombing in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem killing 11 Israelis, among them four children, and wounding dozens more; and the March 29, 2002, suicide bombing of a supermarket in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel in which an Israeli security guard and a teenage Israeli girl were killed in the attack and about 12 more were wounded.

• Mohammed Fouzi Mohammed Muhaneh

  Muhaneh, born in 1980, was an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorist. He served as a member of Fatah's Special Forces and received U.S. training. Muhaneh has been involved in numerous attempts to carry out terrorist attacks in the Bethlehem area, which have included shooting and mortar attacks at military and civilian targets. Israel says Muhaneh used his U.S. training to provide members of his terrorist cell with personal training and instruction in the use of firearms and taught them how to produce and use pipe bomb attacks.

• Rami Kamel Eid Kamel

  Kamel, a resident of Bethlehem, was born in 1980, and, according to Israel, was one of the primary Al Aqsa Brigades terrorists behind shooting attacks and mortar fire directed against civilian residents of southern Jerusalem. He carried out systematic sniper and mortar attacks against Gilo as well as shooting attacks against Israeli civilian and military vehicles on the Bethlehem bypass roads. Kamel took part in the murder of an IDF truck driver, Sgt. Max Hazan, Oct.2, 2000, at point-blank range and was personally involved in a Feb. 11, 2001, shooting attack against an Israeli civilian vehicle south of Gilo in which Israeli civilian Tzachi Sasson was murdered.

• Khaled Mohammed Abd el Hamid Abu Najimeh

  Abu Najimeh, born in 1968, was a Brigades leader based in Bethlehem responsible for a number of fatal terrorist attacks, including a Jerusalem suicide bombing that killed an Israeli woman. He dispatched two suicide bombers to attack an Israeli soccer game, but the terrorists detonated their charged before reaching their objective.

• Annan Mohammed Hamis Tanjeh

  Tanjeh, born in 1978, was a Bethlehem-based Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades leader responsible for carrying out shooting attacks against a Jerusalem tunnel route, against Gilo and IDF forces around Bethlehem.

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