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Bush Administration Commits Weapons to Terror Group
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com JERUSALEM -- Members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Force 17 security detail are "praying to Allah" the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq continues and that American soldiers are returned to their homes in body bags, according to an officer of Force 17, which the U.S. is reportedly training and arming. The militant, Abu Yousuf, speaking in an exclusive interview with WND, hinted new weapons reportedly being provided by the U.S. to his group could be shared with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party. Abu Yousuf, like several Force 17 members, is also a member of the Brigades. "The U.S. is in trouble in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and we are very glad for that. We pray for Allah that this situation will go on and the Mujahedeen will keep fighting the Americans and causing them more and more damages so that the taxes that the American people pay are used for transporting the bodies of American soldiers who got killed in Iraq and in Afghanistan," Abu Yousuf said. (Story continues below) The Force 17 officer earlier this week told WND weapons and aid the U.S. may provide to his group will not be used for "force and violence against our brothers in Hamas unless they will endanger [Abbas]. "There is a chance that Israel will attack the Palestinian territories, and in this case, these weapons and others provided (by the U.S. to Force 17) will be directed towards the (Israeli) occupation." Abu Yousuf was responding to reports the U.S. is planning to transfer weapons and aid to Force 17, which protects Abbas and also serves as a special security force on behalf of the Fatah party. The U.S. many times has armed Force 17 and in the past has provided training to many of its members, including Abu Yousuf. Hamas and Fatah have been fighting in the Gaza Strip and West Bank the past 10 days after negotiations to establish a national unity government between the two appeared to have fallen through. At least 14 militants were killed and more than 150 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, the deadliest since Hamas won the majority of Palestinian parliamentary seats earlier this year. A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND Fatah security officials noted in recent firefights Hamas members used weaponry more advanced than what was known to have been in the Hamas arsenal, including newer styles of assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. After a meeting with Abbas in Ramallah last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters the U.S. would "do what it can" to bolster Abbas. Last week, the New York Times reported the U.S. proposed expanding Abbas' Force 17 from 3,500 men to 6,000 as part of a $26-million plan to strengthen the Palestinian leader. The Associated Press and Israel's leading Yediot Aharonot daily reported Friday new training facilities for Force 17 are slated to be set up in the West Bank town of Jericho and in Gaza, at a cost of $2 million each, according to the U.S. proposal. Senior Palestinian officials told WND the U.S. is planning to transfer ammunition and new assault rifles to Force 17 within days and has pledged to procure about $28 million in aid to Abbas. They said the U.S. would help train Force 17 members in the operation of the new weapons and in advanced combat techniques in facilities already in use in Jericho. The State Department did not return repeated calls for comment. Sources in the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem confirmed to WND the U.S. is slated to transfer weapons to Force 17 "within days." David Baker, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Olmert's office had no comment on reports of new U.S. aid to Abbas. Sources in Olmert's office confirmed the U.S. aid package reportedly offered to Abbas. The last known weapons transfer to Force 17 took place in May and reportedly consisted of 3,000 assault rifles and more than 1 million rounds of ammunition. At first, the U.S., Israel and the PA denied the reports of the weapons transfer, but Olmert in June announced he had approved the shipment of U.S. weapons and ammunition, explaining the transfer was meant for Abbas' personal protection. "I did this because we are running out of time and we need to help Abu Mazen," Olmert told reporters. The shipment required Israeli consent to pass through checkpoints. It was delivered by a convoy protected by the Israeli Defense Forces, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials involved in the transfer. Force 17 officer Abu Yousuf told WND this week the latest planned U.S. weapons transfer was meant to spark a Palestinian civil war and ensure Palestinian security forces are "friendly" to the West. "We are aware that a civil war is the dream of the Zionists and the Americans, but it will not happen so quickly," said Abu Yousuf. "The Americans see their situation in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and they know that a war against Iran is a matter of time, and they want to guarantee that in Palestine there will not be a regime who will be hostile to the U.S. and will not endanger Israel." Continued the Force 17 member: "They (Americans) hope that these arms will be used against our brothers in Hamas, but we ask Allah that our brothers are also aware of this issue and will not play into the hands of the Americans and the Israelis." Abu Yousuf told WND in a previous interview the weapons sent by the U.S. in May would be fired at Israelis. "These weapons will not be used in an internal war but against Israelis," he said. "Force 17 is proud that we were the first to lead the Palestinian people during tough times such as resistance operations (against the Israeli army during large-scale operations in northern Samaria in 2002). We will also be the first to lead the Palestinians in the current struggle against Israeli occupation." Like Abu Yousuf, many Force 17 officers are also members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. In June, Abbas appointed senior Brigades leader Mahmoud Damra as commander of Force 17. Damra, who was arrested by Israel last month, was on the Jewish state's most-wanted list of terrorists. He is accused of masterminding a string of attacks and leading a terror cell based in Ramallah allegedly responsible for scores of shootings against Israelis. Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years, including an attack in Tel Aviv in April that killed American teenager Daniel Wultz and nine Israelis. The Brigades also has carried out scores of deadly shooting and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in recent months. Asked to confirm other Force 17 officers also are members of the Brigades, Abu Yousuf replied: "During our official service and during our job hours we are soldiers. What we do in our free time it is our business. Of course, as members of Fatah, some of us are members in the Brigades and we take part in the defense and protection of our people and in the fight against the Israeli occupation." The State Department includes the Brigades on its official list of international terror organizations, while general U.S. policy deems the Fatah party "moderate." American weapons ambushed schoolgirls? Sources close to the Al Aqsa Brigades told WND the American assault rifles transferred in May were used in three separate anti-Israel shooting attacks in June. One attack killed a 35-year-old Israeli Arab on a major West Bank highway on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Israeli security officials say the shooters likely mistook the victim for a Jew. The second attack, which occurred June 13 on the same highway, lightly wounded an Israeli. In the third attack, the Al Aqsa Brigades June 19 a.m.bushed a bus carrying Israeli school girls on a West Bank highway. The bus was armored. The school girls escaped unharmed. Israel arrested two members of Force 17 in connection with the shootings. Abu Yousuf refused to confirm whether the American weapons were used in the spate of highway attacks, but he hinted the information was accurate. "The fighters who were arrested by the Israeli army in relation to these attacks are Force 17 men, but I cannot confirm what weapons they used. It is no coincidence that as soon as these American weapons arrived, we were able to carry out these accurate shootings." Abu Yousuf said.
FATAH RECEIVES GUN SHIPMENTS IN W. BANK The Fatah movement, bolstered by Western aid, has received new shipments of assault rifles and ammunition. Palestinian sources said Fatah units in the West Bank received thousands of U.S.-origin M-16 assault rifles. They said the rifles were supplied to Fatah units as part of Israeli-approved Western aid to forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "The weapons are meant for PA forces but they end up with Fatah in the war against Hamas," a Palestinian security source said. [On Thursday, Palestinian gunners fired three Kassam-class, short-range missiles into Israel. Earlier, at least seven people were killed in an Israel Air Force strike on the UNRWA Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.] In 2006, the United States helped finance the transfer of about 2,000 assault rifles from Jordan to the expanded Presidential Guard led by Abbas. All of the members of the Guard are Fatah members, often used in anti-Hamas violence in the West Bank over the last month. "In many cases, the M-16 has replace the Kalashnikov," the security source said. Palestinian sources said the U.S.-financed plan to expand the Presidential Guard from 2,500 to about 6,000 has led to a weapons flood in the West Bank. They said the Abbas force was being trained in the West Bank as well as in Egypt and Jordan for what was expected to be a confrontation with the Hamas-run PA. For its part, Hamas has encountered difficulties in smuggling weapons into the West Bank. The sources said Hamas has sought to bring weapons from the Sinai Peninsula into Israel's Negev Desert and into the West Bank. "There are some shipments of Hamas weapons that get through, but the amounts are small compared to what Fatah is openly receiving," the source said. "Hamas, however, has the money to buy weapons in the West Bank, including from Fatah people."
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