JAFFA, Israel – Senior members of the military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization were caught today in the process of carrying out a terrorist attack, WND has learned.
All five terrorists involved in the incident, members of Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, were on a new list of gunmen granted amnesty in October by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a stated gesture to help bolster Abbas.
The terrorists were given amnesty on condition they disarm, refrain from attacks and spend three months in PA detention facilities and another three months confined to Nablus, the northern West Bank city in which they reside.
But today the pardoned terrorists engaged in a firefight with the Israel Defense Forces in Taal, a village outside Nablus, where they were supposed to be confined to PA facilities.
One pardoned Brigades leader, identified by Brigades sources as Ibrahim Mesemyia, was killed in the clashes. Mesemyia’s brother, Y’abl, also on Olmert’s amnesty list, was injured along with three other armed Brigades terrorists who were granted amnesty by Olmert in October.
According to IDF sources, the five terrorists were on their way to carry out attacks against Israelis in the northern West Bank.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, is listed by the State Department as a terrorist group. It took responsibility, along with the Islamic Jihad terror organization, for every suicide bombing in Israel in 2005 and 2006 and for thousands of shootings and rocket attacks.
In June, Olmert granted amnesty to 178 Fatah fugitives who pledged their resignation from any so-called paramilitary organizations. In spite of the amnesty deal, many Brigades members openly brandished weapons and were caught carrying out scores of attacks.
Nevertheless, in October Olmert issued amnesty documents to 43 more Fatah terrorists, who were also required to turn in their weapons, spend three months in a PA holding area and restrict their movements for another three months to one city.
Immediately after the original amnesty agreements were signed in June, media reports quoted Palestinian security officials stating pardoned Brigades members turned in their weapons and were abiding by the deal.
But calls at the time to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members who received 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 or 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.
Kamal Ranam, chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Ramallah, laughing, told WND he is still armed.
Not all Brigades members even signed their pardon agreements, but they were still granted amnesty by Olmert.
Nasser Abu Aziz, the No. 2 leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Senakreh’s main deputy, told WND he would 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.
To interview Aaron Klein, contact M. Sliwa Public Relations by e-mail, or call 973-272-2861.
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