On December, 5 a Palestinian suicide bomber exploded in the Israeli city of Netanya. As a result of that of terrorism 5 Israelis died, 95 were wounded. This act of terrorism has a strategic value. It was called to provoke escalation of the Middle-Eastern conflict to affect the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Palestine and Israel.
According to the data from the investigators, radical Islamic organization Al-Asifa from the Balkans is involved in this terrorist act. It unites Slavic adherents of the Islamic fundamentalism and natives of the Arab countries, who settled in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and in Croatia after the 1992-95 war. According to the Israeli secret services, during this war the major part of the present members of Al-Asifa served in the "Al - Mojahid" and "Kataeb Talaat Yasin" divisions. They were a part of the Bosnian Muslim army (by the way, Israel secretly supported the Bosnian Serbs at that time).
There are many Palestinians from the countries of the Persian Gulf, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine among veterans of these divisions. The natives of Samaria – the area on the Western coast of the river Jordan keep aloof among them. Almost twenty "Samarians" of Al-Asifa came from the villages located in the vicinity of the Palestinian city of Jenin (Silat Al Khartia, Rai, Yamun, Jilabun). Majority of them left the native land at the end of the Sixties - beginning of the Eighties, following their well-known fellow countryman, the ideologist and the first prominent
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| Abdallah Azzam |
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leader of the "Afghani Arabs" Abdalla Azzam (he even was Osama Bin-Ladin's instructor for some time.) Together with him the major part of the "Samarians" participated in operations against the communist regime and the Soviet armies in Afghanistan. There they have established close connections with the activists of the radical Islamic organizations of Egypt (in particular Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya and Al-Jihad). These "Samarians" together with Egyptians appeared in Bosnia in 1992-94. The Palestinian mojaheds were especially patronized by one of leaders of the "Balkan Arabs " - the Egyptian native, citizen of Denmark Abu Talal Al Kazemi. In 1994-96 he lived in Zagreb and actively participated in organizing the passage of the Arab mojaheds to Bosnia.
After the war many Palestinians have returned to Afghanistan, or went to the countries of the Western Europe and the Middle East. However, some mojaheds, in particular the natives of Samaria, remained on the Balkans. They married Bosnian or Croatian women and received local citizenship. Soon the new citizens of the republics of former Yugoslavia renewed their connections with their relatives in Palestine and Jordan.
According to the Israeli SHABAQ (General Security Service), in 1997, after a long period of absence Samir Namer arrived in his native village of Rai in Northern Samaria. He had Jordanian and Croatian passports and that allowed him to ply frequently between the Balkans and the Middle East without causing special suspicions. With his help communication between Al-Asifa and one of the Northern Samaria's groups of the Al-Jihad was established. The Balkan Islamists began to render financial help to the Palestinian associates.
In August 2002, 17-years old Mariam Elions, half-Croatian daughter of Samir Namer married
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The body of Iyad Sawalha |
Iyad Sawalha - the head of the Al-Jihad (also known as Palestinian Islamic Jihad - PIJ) branch in Jenin's countryside. Since this moment the group of Sawalha became the main addressee of the assistance from Al-Asifa. In November, 2002 Sawalha was terminated by the Israeli commandos. Salah Jaradat became his successor, but in June, 2003 he was also liquidated by the Israelis. After him the Al-Jihad grouping in the countryside of Jenin was headed by Amjad Abeidi, who was arrested in November, 2003. The next head of the grouping, Ayad Abu Al-Rob, was detained last month by the Israeli commandos in Jenin.
According to the Israeli General Security Service he personally prepared a suicide bomber for the terrorist act in Netanya and an explosive belt for him.
Since the autumn of 2002 this grouping under Iyad Sawalha and his successors carried out tens of terrorist acts. It "specialized" on the usage of suicide bombers, in particular with automobiles filled with explosives. Many of the terrorist act committed by this grouping had a strategic character - i.e. they served as provocation leading to the change of situation in a zone of the Israeli - Arab conflict (as, for example, explosion in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa in October, 2003.) The AIA's sources note that during all this time the Al-Jihad grouping from Jenin's area received financial support from BiH and Croatia.
This is not the only case proving the existence of connections of the Palestinian Al-Jihad in the Eastern Europe. The Israeli SHABAQ possesses information that from the beginning of the Nineties the branches of this organization operated in many cities of the former Warsaw bloc countries. The largest branches on the territory of the CIS at the end of the Nineties functioned in Russia (the cities of Saint Petersburg and Voronezh) and in Ukraine (Odessa.)
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| The activists of Al-Jihad in Gaza |
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The Israelis received valuable data on the Russian network of Al-Jihad from the 32-years old Gaza dweller Ahmad Abid, who was arrested in 1998. He studied medicine in Russia. In 1992 the Al-Jihad head in Russia Ahmad Abu-Dallah recruited him there. From Ahmad Abid's words it became known that the main task of the Russian network consists of recruitment of the Palestinian students (after homecoming they, as a rule, become the activists of the armed units of the organization). The Al-Jihad branches in Russia cooperate with local activists of Hezbollah and Hizb Ut-Tahrir.
32 -years old Walid Mazin from Al-Arub village to the north from Hebron, described in detail the Al-Jihad activity in Ukraine. He arrived there in 1993, also to study medicine. The branch of the organization in Ukraine carried out the same functions, as in Russia. Mazin supported constant communication with the representatives of this organization in Russia, and also with its leadership in Lebanon and Syria. During his studies he Beirut and Damascus several times where he met Al-Jihad leader at that time, Fathi Shkaki.
The AIA's source in Tel Aviv having a direct connection to this issue, has noted that no structure or body is specifically engaged in suppression of connections of the radical Islamic organizations in the Middle East and in the Eastern Europe. As he said, the secret services of Israel, the USA, Britain, France, Germany, and also Russia, and some Balkan and Arab states, especially Egypt and Jordan, are constantly trying to acquire the information on these connections. However, no secret service is paying special attention to suppression of these communications, and in particular, to the blocking of the channels of remittance. According to the AIA's source this task is not a priority for the security services of the abovementioned countries. "They are all busy with more important and urgent tasks. Besides, the level of cooperation between Israelis and Eastern Europeans in the sphere of secret services is insignificant, except, perhaps, the connections with the Russians," he has emphasized.
Terrorism issues:
Political Solution and Terrorism in Macedonia
Ex-Resident of KGB Reveals the Scheme of Al-Qaeda's Net in Europe
Baku is Fearful of Mojahedin
Ex-Representative of the Mossad in Moscow Supports Islam Karimov
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