Roadside-bomb threat to Bush Mideast visit?

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Bush in Oval Office

In advance of President Bush's visit to the West Bank later this week, Palestinian security forces took the unusual step of digging up concrete to search for planted bombs around and undernath a building in which the U.S. leader is scheduled to hold a meeting, WND has learned.

Bush is due in the region Wednesday as part of a follow-up to last November's U.S.-led Israeli-Palestinian Annapolis summit.

During his trip, the American president is scheduled to hold talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, and meet quickly with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Bush may also travel to Jericho and Bethlehem, both Palestinian controlled West Bank cities.

In Ramallah, Bush and Abbas will hold talks in the main Palestinian presidential compound known as the Muqata, which was the headquarters of late PLO Leader Yasser Arafat and serves as a de facto Palestinian White House.

Israeli security sources told WND that PA police teams yesterday began using heavy machinary to break up the concrete around the Muqata in search of planted bombs.

A Palestinian security official confirmed the digging but said it was a routine measure ahead of the visit of a world leader, a notion disputed by informed Israeli security sources, who said they were not aware of any other time in which such a measure was taken at the Muqata for a foreign dignitary.

Both Israeli and Palestinian security officials said there was no specific threat against Bush.

Bombs planted by terrrorists under Palestinian roads and buildings has become a phenomenon in recent years. In 2006, Palestinian forces reportedly foiled two attempts to bomb Abbas' convoy with explosives buried under the Palestinian leader's offices and official residence in the Gaza Strip. Abbas' Fatah party blamed rival Hamas for what it labeled as assassination attempts.

Also that year Palestinian forces in Gaza said they discovered a 165-pound bomb planted under a main road in Gaza they said was set to be used to attack the convoy of Fatah's former Gaza security chief Rashid Abu Shebak.

Terrorists prep to protect Bush

While Palestinian officials denies any terror threat to Bush, WND has learned members of the most active West Bank terror organization are set to participate in security forces being deployed to protect Bush during his visit to the Palestinian territories.

Two members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing, told WND they have been called upon by the PA to participate in securing the perimeter during the meeting with Abbas in Ramallah. One of the Brigades members said he will participate in "secret police missions" in securing Ramallah's periphery when Bush arrives.

A third Brigades member stationed in Jericho said he will be deployed in there if Bush visits Jericho.

All three Brigades members serve as officers in Fatah's security forces.

The Brigades members said they were speaking as members of Fatah's security forces and not as part of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, but they acknowledged they serve in the Brigades. They said during Bush's visit they will function only as Fatah security officers and will work to protect Bush.

The Brigades members who double as Fatah officers told WND "hundreds" of other members of their terror group who double as Fatah security officers are set to participate in protecting Bush.

"The president [Bush] is a guest of Fatah and we will do everything to protect him," said one Brigades member.

One Israeli security official familiar with the Brigades deployment during Bush's visit said Israel was not concerned about threats from Fatah forces while the U.S. president travels to Ramallah.

"Brigades members who double as Fatah forces have countless times participated in the protection of American and foreign leaders. Unfortunately, the state of Fatah forces is fully saturated with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The Brigades may fire at Israel but while they serve in the Fatah forces they will be loyal to Abbas and will protect Bush," said the security official.

The Brigades is listed as a terror organization by the U.S. State Department. The group took credit along with the Islamic Jihad terror organization for every suicide bombing in Israel between 2005 and 2006, and is responsible for thousands of shootings and rocket firings. Statistically, the Al Aqsa Brigades perpetuated more terrorism from the West Bank than Hamas, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Hundreds of Brigades members, including the group's well-known chiefs, serve openly in Fatah's Force 17 presidential guard units and the Palestinian Preventative Security Services; thousands of Force 17 and Preventative officers are slated to secure Ramallah during Bush's visit there.

Among other Brigades leaders slated to secure Ramallah during Bush's visit is Abu Haiphin, chief of Force 17 in Ramallah who doubles as a senior Brigades member, WND has learned.

WND last month quoted Israeli security officials who were coordinating deployments of forces with the PA for Bush's Ramallah visit stating members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have been called upon by the PA to participate in the protection of Bush's convoy and in securing the perimeter during the meeting with Abbas.

Many high-profile Al Aqsa Brigades terrorists serve in Fatah's security forces, including those in Ramallah.

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

The chief of the Brigades in Ramallah also serves in the Preventative Security Services.

WND two weeks ago reported Muatasum Sharif, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group who was killed after he allegedly shot at Israeli forces, served as the main bodyguard of the Palestinian Authority's chief peace negotiator.

Sharif was an active member of a Brigades cell in Ramallah that carried out scores of shootings, including an attack in northern Samaria in December 2000 that killed the leader of the ultra-nationalist Kahane Chai organization, Benyamin Kahane, according to security sources.

Sharif doubled as an elite soldier in Fatah's Preventative Security Services, one of Abbas' main security forces.

He also served as the primary bodyguard for chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia, who is slated to meet President Bush during the U.S. leader's visit to Ramallah. Qureia has been leading negotiations started at November's U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian conference at Annapolis.

It was not immediately clear whether Sharif would have been present during Qureia's meeting with Bush, but according to Israeli security officials, the Al Aqsa terrorist accompanies Qureia during most of his meetings in Ramallah.

Also last week, the PA released for publication three gunmen who killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers near the West Bank city of Hebron were members of Fatah's security forces.

Bush's upcoming visit will not be the first time a U.S. official would be protected by Brigades terrorists.

WND reported that during an October visit to the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, U.S. security coordinator for the Palestinian territories, was protected by a security team that included the chiefs of the Brigades in that city. Nablus is the stronghold of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Among those in Nablus protecting the route of Dayton's convoy as official members of the Palestinian security forces were Ala Sekakreh, the Brigades' overall West Bank chief, and Nasser Abu Aziz, No. 2 of the Brigades in the West Bank.

Speaking about his role in protecting Dayton, Senakreh told WND during a recent interview he was "impressed" with the U.S. envoy's bodyguards.

"One of them could eat 10 of our people," said Senakreh, who also commented he liked the "fancy" vehicle in which Dayton arrived.

Senakreh's cell is accused of planning four suicide bombings in Israel, including an April 2006 bombing in Tel Aviv that killed eight Israelis and American teenager Daniel Wultz.

Bush's visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories is his first trip here as president. He'll spend two days with Israeli and Palestinian leaders before continuing on a larger nine-day Middle East tour that will bring him to Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

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