Israel Witnesses Arafat Terror Attack at Kalandia Checkpoints

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem-----August 14.......The Palestinians have now entered into an intense self-destruct mode.
Rather than removing Yasser Arafat and providing Israel with a peace partner, they are now allowing the "militants" among them to murder their own families.

Last Wednesday, Yasser Arafat's terror organization, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, claimed responsibility for murdering and injuring innocent Palestinians at the Kalandia security checkpoint. The terrorists, whose original goal was to murder innocent Israeli civilians in the heart of Jerusalem, changed plans as they spotted Israeli security forces intensifying their patrols. So the Palestinian terrorists then chose to attack the second largest civilian security crossing area in Israel - Kalandia. Twenty thousand Palestinians pass through the Kalandia (Qalandiya) IDF security checkpoint daily.

Once the Islamic terrorists arrived near the checkpoint, which is located north of Jerusalem between Jerusalem and Rahmallah, again they realized that Israel Defense Forces personnel were too thick too penetrate.
Now, desperate to launch any kind of terror attack, they decided to target a smaller checkpoint just a few hundred meters south of Kalandia, using a baby carriage as cover for a nail filled bomb which could not differentiate an Israeli soldier from a Palestinian grandfather.

Palestinian medics based in Ramallah said two Palestinians were killed, including 56-year-old Salah Abu Sneinah at the wheel of his car, while the other was not identified. Thirteen Palestinians and six Israeli policemen were wounded.

Details of the three terrorists who orchestrated the Kalandia bombing attack on Wednesday were released yesterday by Israel's internal security organization, the Shin Bet.

Bassam Abid, a taxi driver who was arrested shortly after the explosion, supplied security officials with information that led to the arrest of Muhammad Dieb Ayush, on Thursday. Both are residents of Arabe near Jenin.

Late Thursday night security forces arrested Wael Nabil Nuirat, 29, of Metalon, in Samaria who was caught hiding out in a mosque in the Ibn Jabel neighborhood in A-Ram.

The three told officials that Zakaria Zubeidi and Muhammad Khalifa supplied them with the bomb and instructed them to perpetrate an attack in Haifa or any other major Israeli city.

The three Palestinian terrorists set out from Jenin on the day of the attack in two taxis. The bomb and a baby carriage they had purchased were to be used in the attack. The bomb was to be concealed in the baby carriage and smuggled through the checkpoint. The three gather that the Israel Defense Forces' troops and border policemen will not search the unsuspicious carriage.

They were almost correct as the IDF employs humanitarian soldiers at Kalandia to ease the burden of Palestinian families who are passing through this and other Israeli security checkpoints in the West Bank. Palestinians have come to respect these mature Israeli reserve soldiers who actually volunteer to serve at the checkpoints. But both the IDF humanitarian soldiers and the young combat soldiers who serve shoulder to shoulder at these checkpoints are not stupid. Every face, every package and every baby carriage is checked. The IDF has much experience in having intercepted Palestinian Red Cross ambulances at these checkpoints filled with bombs rather than real patients.

When they reached the Kalandia checkpoint they began removing the bomb to place it in the baby carriage. At the same time security forces raised security in the area after receiving warnings that terrorists are planning an attack in Jerusalem.

Deterred by the large presence of security forces at Kalandia, the three decided to detonate the bomb as the young Israeli border policemen approached to inspect their suspicious behavior.

After the terror attack Ayush and Nueirat fled in cars used to evacuate wounded Palestinians to Ramallah hospitals and a clinic in the nearby village of A-Ram.

The attack prompted rare Palestinian complaints about their own militants who are responsible for scores of terror bombings over the past four years.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a terror group that has carried out scores of attacks on Israelis, claimed responsibility for the attack, but apologized for the Palestinian casualties. The 16 wounded included 10 Palestinians and six Israeli border policemen.

Al Aqsa said the intended target was Jerusalem, and the assailant hastily set off the 44 pounds of explosives by remote control when he felt Israeli security forces were closing in on him.

Israeli police said the bomb was apparently destined for Jerusalem. The blast raised the prospect of a fierce Israeli Army response likely to focus on the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah, Arafat's headquarters and the territory's political and commercial center.

The bomb, hidden either in a car or beside it, blew up when Israeli border police approached the vehicle between the Qalandiya and A-Ram checkpoints during a search after a security alert was declared, said police spokesman Gil Kleiman.

"We are not ruling out a suicide bombing either. We just don't have a body to indicate that," he added.

The bomber's apparent disregard for Palestinian civilians touched off an emotional confrontation in a West Bank emergency room where some of the wounded were being treated.

Zakiyah Abu Sneineh, whose 60-year-old husband, Salah, died in the blast, refused to acknowledge that he was killed by Palestinians. ''Arabs couldn't have killed him, only Israelis,'' she said, sobbing in the emergency room of a Ramallah hospital. In an adjacent room, her 6-year-old grandson Mahdi, who was critically wounded in the blast, was fighting for his life.

The Abu Sneinehs were in their car, waiting in a line of vehicles, when the blast went off.

A Palestinian man hurt in the attack said it was too early to judge the militants. ''I don't want to blame them,'' said Rateb Abu Fkhaideh, 47, who had a leg injury.

His comments angered several Palestinians in the emergency room. ''Why are you defending them (the militants)?'' 35-year-old Nader Omar asked Abu Fkhaideh. ''They are wrong. We should raise our voice against them. These guys don't use their minds.'' Two others nodded in agreement.

In four years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, support for the terrorists in Palestinian society has remained high, despite the hardships from Israeli retaliation for scores of bombings and shootings. From time to time, criticism of the militants is voiced. However, while Palestinians may complain in private, they rarely express their misgivings openly. To express opposition to terror attacks created by Arafat, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and Hezbollah on Israeli and even Palestinian civilians can easily lead to accusations that one is an Israeli collaborator and within minutes your complaints will have been silenced by a Palestinian bullet.

The attack on the Kalandia checkpoint also surprised many Israelis. Some had thought that Arafat had directly ordered all of his terror groups to ignore Kalandia, as it serves as his main route for the passing of Palestinian intelligence and the laundering of EU and American humanitarian aid money which finds over 150,000 dollars a month to Arafat's wife Suha who has taken over a full floor in a five star hotel in Paris.

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has warned that PA Chairman Yassar Arafat is very close to being removed from any Palestinian political and military leadership.

Sharon stated that the veteran Palestinian master terrorist and Lebanese terror chief Hassan Nasrallah could become targets for assassination, in interviews published over the last year.

Both Israelis and Palestinians would warmly welcome Arafat's departure. The Israelis are seeking a peace partner while impoverished Palestinians are furious over Arafat's financial corruption. It was revealed recently that one of Arafat's generals is pocketing 2 million dollars every month from EU aid money which was supposed to go to 7,000 fictitious Palestinian policemen.

Asked by Haaretz whether Arafat and Nasrallah are targets for assassination, Sharon said: "I wouldn't suggest that either of them feel immune ... Anyone who kills a Jew or harms an Israeli citizen or sends people to kill Jews is a marked man. Period."

Sharon told Maariv Arafat "has no insurance policy." He added that "today, everyone knows Arafat is the obstacle (blocking) any peace progress."

Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, made veiled threats against Arafat and Nasrallah last week, after Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin. However, at the time, security officials said privately that there were no immediate plans to target the two.

Sharon repeatedly has accused Arafat of involvement in attacks on Israelis, saying he encourages and finances militants. Nasrallah said earlier this week Hezbollah will help Hamas avenge the Yassin killing.
In September, Israel's Cabinet decided Arafat should be "removed," an intentionally vague statement that could mean he would be expelled or killed. However, Israel has not acted on the threat.

For more than two years, Israel has confined Arafat to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Sharon stated that once Israel completes its West Bank security fence, Palestinians living illegally in Israel will be expelled. He said tens of thousands of them are in Israeli Arab villages. Regarding the Gaza withdrawal, Sharon said it was in Israel's interest. "We need to get out of Gaza, not to be responsible anymore for what happens there," he said.

An examination four months ago of the payrolls of the Palestinian Authority's National Security force, considered the largest of the Palestinian security forces, commanded by General Haj Ismail Jabber, has revealed that salaries for 7,000 fictitious troopers were being paid into his pocket every month.

The salaries for police at the lower ranks range from $300-400 a month, which means that some $2 million a month from PA funds was being paid to the general.

For the past eight months the EU, US and other donor countries have been demanding the Palestinian Authority stop the practice of handing over the cash payrolls of the security services to the commanders of each of the separate forces, for them to hand out as pay to their subordinates.

The donor countries have been demanding PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad cease the corruption, and indeed, during the government of Mahmoud Abbas, troops from parts of the Preventive Security force, the police and civil defense units were paid through direct payments into their bank accounts. According to Abbas, some 22 percent of the Palestinian police were paid that way during his term.

But over the same period Haj Imsail, backed by Yasser Arafat, refused to provide a list of his troops, which led to clashes with Fayyad, including attacks on the PA's treasury offices in Gaza.

Stepped-up pressure on Fayyad by donor humanitarian aid countries to come up with the full payroll lists, combined with a PA budget deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars that makes the PA desperate for the donations, led a few days ago to the transfer to the PA treasury of a diskette with the full list of names of people receiving salaries from Haj Ismail. And there, it turned out that while Haj Ismail was claiming salaries for 37,000 people, there were only 30,000 on the list.

In addition, it turned out that Haj Ismail was receiving the salaries for Palestinian policemen according to the exchange rate used in Israel, around NIS 4.5 to the dollar, while he paid his troops according to NIS 3.7 to the dollar, a rate used by the PA. That gap meant another half a million dollars a month went into his pocket. On Thursday, for the first time, the National Security forces will be paid their March salaries through their bank accounts instead of in cash. And Haj Ismail's secret extra salary will cease flowing to him.

The European Union has poured an astonishing 4 billion dollars into Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority (PA) since 1993. Together with contributions from the UK, the US and other individual countries, this, according to a leading World Bank official, is the largest per capita transfer of aid funds ever. But while evidence of high-level corruption within the PA is clearer than ever before, Brussels persists in claiming that it sees reform; its efforts to change the PA are "paying off".

Any serious analysis of the money reaching the PA necessarily begins with Chris Patten. As EU Commissioner for External Relations, he has spearheaded a policy of far-reaching tolerance towards his Palestinian beneficiaries. "We have done more to reform the PA than anybody else ... reinforced transparency in finances … and the adoption of the Law on the Judiciary", Patten has claimed. The true picture is deeply depressing. While the average Palestinian wallows in poverty, and terrorism against Israel created by the Palestinians shows no sign of let-up, their leadership shows few visible signs of financial distress. Where has the investment gone.

Mohammed Dahlan, one of the inner circle of PA powerbrokers, throws some light on the question: "Those who are surrounding Arafat are blocking internal reforms," he explained last month. Hardly surprising. It is no secret that the PLO was established in the 1960s under KGB guidelines. Four decades later, the same terrorist leadership remains in power, advocates terrorism against Israel, blames Israel for all of the Palestinian's problems while enjoying the fruits of a much richer economic climate. Consider that Nabil Shaath, the PA’s current foreign minister, was cited back in 1997 for financial mismanagement. Today, he owns a super-luxury villa in the middle of Gaza.

Suha Arafat, the wife of Yassar Arafat, lives in ostentatious luxury in Paris with her mother and staff, funded from EU-provided budgets. Suha Arafat receives over 150,000 dollars a month, money which was supposed to go to hungry Palestinian children.

Arafat’s hand-picked prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, came under investigation as the owner of a cement company that supplies Israel with material for building settlements and its reviled security fence.

The IMF, in a September 2003 report, revealed that hundreds of millions have been misappropriated and pointed to major structural deficiencies within the PA’s Ministry of Finance.

Then there’s the lawlessness. The mayor of Nablus, Ghassan Shakaa, resigned last month in protest at the absence of progress in dealing with unsolved rapes and unpunished crime. In some towns, rival terror militias, such as Arafat’s Al-Aksa Brigades, compete for control of the streets. As for democracy, Palestinians have often reasoned that elections could not be held since 2000 because of Israel’s reaction to the Intifada. In fact, Fatah’s Revolutionary Council was elected into office more than 15 years ago.

It’s not hard to understand why the EU officials repeatedly raise the flag of reform. It spares them from having to face up to the minimal return on their huge investment. New villas in Ramallah and Gaza are the few visible signs of donor money having passed through town. The European Commission money managers must be seeing this. Otherwise, how do we explain their recently revised strategy of channeling aid into Palestinian NGOs instead of directly to the PA. Yet most Palestinian NGOs are connected to the PA leadership. Some have been caught engaging in corrupt practices or working outside their stated charters.

Consider LAW - a Palestinian human rights agency. Only after some $2m of European taxpayers’ money ended up in private bank accounts, was an investigation started. Or the Palestinian Red Crescent Society - severely criticized by the International Red Cross for using ambulances to ferry terror weapons to be used against Israeli civilians. The Negotiation Support Unit runs activities that directly contradict UK national policy.

European money plays a very significant role in the events affecting the Palestinians. The taxpayer deserves to see a better use of the money. The average Palestinian needs to see it arriving.

As Israel plans to disengage from Gaza, the Israeli government should also take action to remove Arafat.
But the United States and many European countries would not allow that. After all, Yasser did receive the Noble Peace Prize Award. It would not be politically correct to back Israel on removing a leader who openly backed Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin-laden.

So if Israel cannot assassinate Arafat, then it's time that his own people did.
The Abu Sneineh family, rather than spilling tears of self-pity should now join with hundreds of other Palestinian, Jordanian (remember Black September) and Lebanese families who have suffered the loss of loved ones by Arafat, to take immediate action against Arafat.
The Palestinians need to wake up, to overcome their fears and replace Arafat with a Palestinian leader who will confront Palestinian corruption, child poverty, lawlessness and bring real peace and stability to both the Palestinian people and the people of the Middle-East.

Palestinians bombing Palestinians cannot go on for much longer. It will not bring about a state of Palestine and it truly will not advance any peace initiatives.
The river of blood for which Yasser Arafat has created for both the Palestinians and Israelis needs to be turned into a river of commerce and prosperity. It's time that the Palestinian people took action in the right direction and not at Israelis who serve as a soft diversion for Arafat and his many years of genocide against fellow Arabs.

Israel News Agency

Visit the Israel Action Center