Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)
   
   
 
Special Information Bulletin
        January 2004
   
   
 
Iran and its Proxies are Sponsoring and Encouraging Terrorism
in the Palestinian Authority Administered Territories
   
 

 
A photograph of Fatah terrorist operatives in Ramallah against the background of a picture of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah , the leader of Hezbollah. The operative on the left was identified as Nasser Muhammad Yusuf Naji Abu Hamid , a key figure in a Fatah Tanzim cell in Ramallah , who initiated and coordinated dozens of terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.
   
 
The arrest of three Nablus-based Fatah Tanzim operatives – all brothers – sheds light on the extensive financial assistance extended by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (hereinafter: “IRGC”) and Hezbollah to support Fatah terrorist infrastructures across the Northern West Bank. As part of this activity, apparently innocent funds ostensibly gathered for social activities were transferred through Jordan by these three brothers. The funds, totaling approximately NIS 1,000,000 (approx. $220,000) were used to finance terrorist activities. Among else, some of this money served as a direct source of funding for a terrorist attack at the Kfar-Saba railway station (April 2003), where one Israeli citizen was killed and fifteen more were wounded.
   

During the course of the current Palestinian Israeli violent conflict, Iran's funding of Fatah terrorist infrastructures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has become a commonplace phenomenon. Groups and organizations related to Iran (mainly Hezbollah and the IRGC stationed in Lebanon ) routinely transport arms and funds to Fatah terrorist organizations with the purpose of perpetrating terrorist attacks against Israel, including suicide bombing attacks. An obvious example of the above was the double suicide bombing attack in the neighborhood of Naveh Sha'anan in the vicinity of the Tel-Aviv old central bus station (January 5, 2003), perpetrated by a Fatah cell in Nablus, which was sponsored by the IRGC. The death toll in that suicide bombing attack reached 22; a number of foreign workers (many of whom residing in that area) were among the casualties.

   
 

  Overview
 
During the last six months, Israel's General Security Service and the IDF have arrested three brothers residing in Nablus, all three of them Fatah Tanzim operatives. Fadi, Hamdi, and Shadi Abdu were arrested for their alleged involvement in transferring a sum of approximately NIS 1,000,000 that originated in Iran and Hezbollah. An investigation of the three brothers revealed some of the methods and techniques used by Iran and Hezbollah for sponsoring and encouraging terrorist activities in the Palestinian Authority administered territories.
 
Within this context, it is worth mentioning that during the ongoing Palestinian Israeli violent conflict, Iran has been involved in operating additional Fatah terrorist cells in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in an attempt to fan Palestinian terrorism and to extend its influence inside Israeli territory. Thus, for example, the double suicide bombing attack at the Tel-Aviv old central bus station (January 5, 2003, 22 dead) was perpetrated by a Nablus-based Fatah cell that was funded by the IRGC.
 
In its endeavors to step up Palestinian terrorist activities against Israel, Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization operating under the patronage of Iran and Syria, invests many resources in the Palestinians living in the Palestinian Authority administered territories. Hezbollah's assistance to terrorist cells in the Palestinian Authority administered territories is realized, for the most part, in transferring funds toward financing terrorist activities, training Palestinian operatives sent to Lebanon and smuggling arms and ammunition to the Palestinian Authority administered territories (the emphasis being on “quality” arms, “power boosters” for the Palestinian terrorism).
 
Among all terrorist organizations it sponsors, Hezbollah's chief beneficiary is Fatah. Hezbollah encourages operative terrorist cells of Fatah (known as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) to perpetrate devastating terrorist attacks in order to inflict more damage upon Israelis and prevent security and political agreements. Such was the suicide bombing attack in Rosh-Ha'ayin, a city east of Tel-Aviv (August 12, 2003), perpetrated by a Fatah cell in Nablus and coordinated by Qays Obeid, a former Israeli Arab recruited by Hezbollah.
 
 
The methods used for transferring funds from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah
to the Fatah terrorist infrastructures in Nablus, as uncovered during Fadi Abdu's interrogation
 
On July 4, 2003, Fadi Nazmi Hamdi Abdu, a resident of Nablus and key Fatah Tanzim operative, was arrested. For several years, Fadi served as the general secretary of the Fatah students' movement (the Shabibah ) at Al-Najah University in Nablus . Under interrogation, Fadi admitted that since July 2002 he had received funds toward Fatah activities from Fouad Balbisi, a Fatah activist operating from the Jordan office of Farouq Qaddumi, head of the PLO political department. Fouad Balbisi coordinates Fatah groups from his office in Jordan and serves as a link between Fatah and Iran and Hezbollah. Fadi admitted that he had received sums of money totaling about NIS 160,000 (approximately $35,000) from Fouad Balbisi.
 

Under interrogation, Fadi Abdu admitted that as of October 2002, he had been receiving funds (totaling approximately $30,000) from Ali Hussein Saleh as well. According to foreign publications, Saleh was a key operative for the IRGC stationed in Lebanon, from where he used to coordinate terrorist cells in the Palestinian Authority administered territories until his death in August 2003. Ali Hussein Saleh was the former handler of Kamel Taha Ahmad Ghanem, head of a Fatah cell in Ramallah that operates from within the Muqata'ah , Arafat's compound (serving as his headquarters 1). In this context, Ghanem, sponsored by the Iranians, acted in coordination with operatives in Nablus to carry out suicide bombing attacks in Israel proper. As part of this activity, two female suicide bombers were supposed to travel from Nablus to Kamel Ghanem in Ramallah and, once there, depart to carry out suicide missions in Tel-Aviv's nightclubs.
1 On August 2, 2003, Kamel Ghanem granted an interview to the Al-Jazirah TV network. In that interview, it was reported that Ghanem was staying in the Muqata'ah (Yasser Arafat's compound) along with other wanted members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

 
Fadi admitted to employing young women, mostly students, to transfer funds from Jordan to the Palestinian Authority administered territories. Through the use of those proxies, Fadi funneled funds that originated in Iran to the Fatah Tanzim terrorist infrastructures across the Northern West Bank. These funds were ostensibly transferred to sponsor social activities; in practice, however, they were used to finance terrorist attacks.
 
  Under interrogation, Fadi admitted to transferring a sum of about NIS 100,000 (approximately $22,000) to Amir Saber Sharif Sawalmeh, chief of Fatah / Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus (detained as of June 2003). Sawalmeh was involved in the coordination and perpetration of numerous terrorist attacks, the funding and coordination for most of which were provided by Iranian elements. During Sawalmeh's interrogation, it was discovered that the funds he had received from Fadi Abdu, originating in Iran and Hezbollah, were the direct source of funding for a suicide bombing attack at a train station in Kfar-Saba (April 24, 2003), where one Israeli citizen was killed and fifteen were wounded.
 
  Under interrogation, Fadi admitted to serving as a link between Fouad Balbisi and Husni Abd al-Ghaffar Zaloum, head of a Fatah Tanzim cell who was also involved in acts of murder and coordinating terrorist attacks (detained as of November 2002). Under interrogation, Zaloum admitted to maintaining contacts with Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and with Jordan-based Balbisi, drawing upon their assistance to fund his activities. He admitted that he had used the funds received from Balbisi to acquire arms and finance regular expenses related to the terrorist activity.
 
  Fadi also served as a link between Fouad Balbisi and Nasser Na'im Muhammad Jum'ah, a senior Fatah Tanzim operative in the Nablus area who was involved in a series of terrorist attacks. Jum'ah also served in the military intelligence apparatus of the Palestinian Authority and was one of the key figures among the Fatah Hawks (Palestinian vigilantes) in Nablus.
 
   

Fadi Abdu :
The key figure among the three brothers.
Through a Fatah activist in Jordan, he received funds originating in the IRGC stationed in Lebanon and Hezbollah.
     
   

Hamdi Abdu :
His bank account in the Arab Bank was used for the transfer of funds originating in Iran;
in addition, he received funds from an operative of the IRGC stationed in Lebanon.
     
   

Shadi Abdu :
Served as contact person with the IRGC. After Fadi Abdu's arrest, he was sent to Jordan to meet with
Lebanese operatives in order to procure equipment for operatives in the Palestinian Authority administered territories.
 
Transfer of funds from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to Nablus
through Fadi Abdu's two brothers
 
Fadi Abdu recruited his two brothers, Hamdi and Shadi , to the funds transfer activity. A reference to a forty-year-old Fatah operative residing in Nablus who helped transfer the funds came up during Fadi's interrogation. On October 27, 2003, Hamdi Abdu was arrested as well. Under interrogation, he admitted that Fadi had provided him access to his bank account in the Arab Bank for the purpose of transferring funds. He had knowledge of several transfers totaling tens of thousands of shekels carried out through his bank account. After Fadi's arrest, Hamdi continued receiving funds from Ali Hussein Saleh of the IRGC.
 
The other brother, Shadi Abdu, a thirty-year-old Fatah operative residing in Nablus as well, served as Fadi's second in command. When Fadi was arrested, Shadi took his role as contact person with Ali Hussein Saleh of the IRGC. On September 25, 2003, Fadi dispatched Shadi to Jordan to meet with Lebanese operatives from whom he was to procure equipment for operatives in the Palestinian Authority administered territories. Shadi, too, was arrested when he returned to the Palestinian Authority administered territories on October 7, 2003.
     
 
Appendix
 
Displays of admiration for Hezbollah leader: Photograph of Fatah Tanzim operatives in Ramallah against the background of a picture of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah
 

A photograph of Fatah terrorist operatives in Ramallah against the background of a picture of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. The operative on the left was identified as Nasser Muhammad Yusuf Naji Abu Hamid, a key figure in a Fatah Tanzim cell in Ramallah, who initiated and coordinated dozens of terrorist attacks against Israeli targets including but not limited to Jerusalem (arrested on May 6, 2002). The photograph was found in a photo album seized by IDF forces during the course of Operation Defensive Shield; it probably belonged to Nasser Muhammad Abu Hamid.
 

A photograph of Fatah terrorist operatives in the Ramallah area. Nasser Muhammad Yusuf Naji Abu Hamid is in the center; pictures of Yasser Arafat are in the background to the right. Fatah terrorist operatives, while supported by Iran and Hezbollah, consider Yasser Arafat to be their leader. The full scale of the tripolar cooperation between Yasser Arafat, Iran, and Hezbollah was exposed in the Karine A incident.
 


Terrorist operatives, probably of a Ramallah Fatah cell, against the background of a picture of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. The photograph was found in a photo album that probably belonged to Nasser Muhammad Abu Hamid, a key figure among a Fatah Tanzim cell in the Ramallah area.

 
   
 
Back to Top                                     back to Home Page