U.S. plan to fund militias backed

JERUSALEM -- Israel has backed a plan for the U.S. to fund militias associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.

Congress last week approved $59 million in aid to Fatah's militias after an earlier pledge of $86.4 million was blocked for fear the money might reach terrorist groups. The aid package contains a new qualification stipulating the money must not be used to purchase weapons.

The qualification follows a series of WND exclusive interviews quoting Fatah militia members stating they will use any American weapons to target Israel; WND also quoted top terror leaders claiming they will obtain U.S. arms; and Israeli and Palestinian security officials stating Fatah forces slated for American assistance are heavily infiltrated by terror groups.

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday he approved of the U.S. aid package to Fatah, which will fund a security plan devised by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the region.

Dayton's plan calls for the strengthening of Abbas' Force 17 presidential guard units, which serve as de facto police forces in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Some $14.5 million reportedly will be used for "basic and advanced training," $23 million for equipment, $2.9 million to upgrade Force 17 facilities and $3 million to provide "capacity building and technical assistance" to the office of Mahmoud Dahlan, Fatah's strongman in Gaza.

Many members of Force 17 are openly members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization.

The Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing, took responsibility together with the Islamic Jihad terror organization for every suicide bombing in Israel the past two years and for scores of shootings and rocket attacks.

Israel has multiple times raided Force 17 compounds and arrested wanted terrorists from the units. WND reported Israel earlier this month arrested 18 Fatah fighters in the West Bank wanted for shootings against Israeli civilians. Seventeen of those arrested also were members of the Brigades, Israeli and Palestinian security officials said. Israel this weekend conducted a raid of a Fatah complex in Ramallah and arrested a Force 17 fighter wanted for anti-Israeli shootings.

Abbas last June appointed senior Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader Mahmoud Damra as commander of Force 17. Damra, who was arrested by Israel in November, was on the Jewish state's most-wanted list of terrorists.

WND last week quoted Israeli and Palestinian security officials stating intelligence and security organizations associated with Fatah, including Force 17, are infiltrated by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations.

A top Palestinian intelligence official admitted to WND: "We are leading a large number of investigations and some of the results prove that such an infiltration by Hamas (of Fatah's security and intelligence forces) exists."

The official oversees intelligence for Fatah's police forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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"I can say that in some cases we diagnosed a deep infiltration to high posts in some Fatah security services," the high-ranking Palestinian intelligence officer told WND. "In some cases we believe there are officers that are exposed to very sensitive information."

He said that since the U.S. announced it is providing Abbas' forces with additional funds, Fatah intelligence officials at the direction of American security coordinators here have been attempting to expel Hamas infiltrators. He said the past month "dozens" of members of Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and Islamic Jihad were found operating in the Fatah forces.

The U.S. has been attempting to isolate Hamas, which it labels a terrorist group. The Popular Resistance Committees regularly carries out rocket and shooting attacks and took credit for a 2003 bombing in Gaza that killed three American contractors.

Terrorists: We infiltrated U.S.-funded militias

Terror leaders and spokesmen for terror groups told WND their militants are "well-placed" within Fatah's militias.

Muhammad Abdel El, spokesman for the Committees, told WND last week Fatah's attempts to discover militants from his group "have not even scratched the surface of our infiltration."

"We are very well-placed within Fatah's units and their little investigations made no difference," he said.

Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, told WND, "It doesn't seem Fatah's campaign to oust Hamas from inside their organizations has made a difference for us as far as our penetration of Fatah."

Fatah attempts to expel Hamas members from its midst might be in vain since the two factions earlier this week agreed to forge their militias together and incorporate Hamas militias and terror cells into a unified security force under the authority Abbas.

The PA cabinet Sunday approved a comprehensive security plan that incorporates Fatah and Hamas militias into one central organization. According to the plan, Hamas' so-called military wing, responsible for scores of anti-Israel terror attacks, will be allowed to continue operating under the aegis of the PA's Interior Ministry. The plan calls for all armed organizations, including the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, to maintain a single operations center under the authority of Abbas.

The Bush administration in January pledged $86.4 million to strengthen the Fatah forces.

At the time, Abu Yousuf, a Fatah militant from Abba's Force 17 security forces, told WND U.S. funds and weapons being transferred to his group would be utilized to "hit the Zionists."

Last month, Congress placed a hold on the transfer pending a clarification from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as to where exactly the money would end up.

During a hearing before the House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee, Rice said she would make a new request for less money.

She conceded, "I will request less money, precisely because some of the money that I would have requested I did not think I could fully account for."

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