Official who worked with U.S. planned suicide attack

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Official who worked with U.S. planned suicide attack 
Palestinian lawmaker, intelligence official also served as terror group chief

A legislator from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization who received U.S. weapons and coordinated security with U.S. intelligence agencies was convicted today of sending a suicide bomber to kill Israelis.

Jamas Tarawi, who was elected in 2006 to the Palestinian Legislative Council and also served as an officer of Fatah's intelligence services, also openly served as the chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Martyrs Brigades terrorist group in the northern West Bank region of Nablus.

The Brigades, Fatah's declared "military wing," took responsibility along with the Islamic Jihad terror organization, for every suicide bombing in Israel the past three years and has carried out multiple suicide attacks since 2000.

Tarawi was convicted in an Israeli military court of having been an accomplice in a suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv cafe in March 2002 in which an Israeli woman was killed. The indictment stated the suicide bomber was sent directly from Tarawi's home in Nablus to Tel Aviv.

Tarawi also was accused of recruiting several successful suicide bombers who carried out attacks between 2000 and 2002 and of carrying out multiple shootings against Israeli civilians and soldiers in the West Bank, including against Jewish worshippers at Joseph's Tomb, Judaism's third holiest site, which is located next to Nablus. Israel retreated from the Tomb in 2000 following a series of shootings perpetuated by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

In his role as a Fatah intelligence official, Tarawi's unit coordinated security with American agencies, including the offices of Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the region. Tarawi's uncle, Tifiq, is chief of Fatah's intelligence agencies; Jamal was seen as Tifiq's potential successor and served as one of his main deputies.

Jamal Tarawi's intelligence unit in Ramallah reportedly received shipments of U.S. military aid, including thousands of high-powered assault rifles. Tarawi, who has granted in-person interviews with WND, himself carried a U.S. assault rifle.

U.S. coordinated security with 'top Hamas agent'

The information follows a WND exclusive two weeks ago reporting that the director of a major Palestinian security force who coordinated security directly with U.S. officials is suspected of being an agent for the Hamas terror organization.

Yussef Issa, director of the Preventative Security Services, is accused by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization of working on behalf of Hamas, Fatah sources said. The PSS was the largest of the U.S.-backed Fatah security forces in Gaza until Hamas took over the territory in June. The force continues to operate in the West Bank and coordinated security there with the U.S.

Issa was one of a handful of top Palestinian militia leaders to hold regular security meetings with American security coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton and his U.S. team. The meetings largely were aimed at implementing the Dayton Plan, which called for the U.S. to strengthen Abbas' security forces against the rival Hamas group.

Last month, an official Fatah committee presented Abbas with a 200-page investigation into the conduct of Fatah leaders and security officers who lost the Gaza Strip to Hamas. The report found the Fatah security forces in Gaza were infiltrated by "hostile elements," including Hamas.

WND first reported on Hamas' infiltration of Fatah last April, quoting a high-ranking Palestinian intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stating Fatah is extensively infiltrated by Hamas.

A member of the Fatah inquiry committee said two weeks ago some 60 Fatah security officers would face court-martial shortly. But Fatah sources said the actual number of suspected Hamas infiltrators was much larger.

A senior Abbas aide, Nabil Amr, who served on the committee, told reporters Fatah security forces were in a "state of infiltration" by Hamas.

Asked whether Issa was listed as a suspected Hamas agent, a member of Amr's team told WND he could not release any names. But the team member pointed out Issa has been living in Egypt since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last month, refusing to return to the Fatah-controlled West Bank, and that Abbas recently downgraded Issa from colonel to the rank of soldier.

"So there's your answer. You can infer from that what you will," said the Amr team member.

A top Preventative Security Services source in Ramallah said Issa is suspected of being "one of the most important Hamas infiltrators in Fatah."

The source said Issa and Siad Siam, who served as Hamas' Interior Minister and is a founder of Hamas' so-called Special Force militia in Gaza, both married sisters from the same family. The source speculated the family relations may have helped facilitate Issa's working on behalf of Hamas, but he said Issa is suspected of accepting significant sums of money from the terror group.

"Hamas has been buying off agents at all levels both in Gaza and in the West Bank," said the Preventative source. "The buying is still going on."

Hamas in June overtook all U.S.-backed Fatah security compounds in the Gaza Strip and reportedly seized large quantities of U.S. weaponry. According to Preventative sources, one hour before Hamas seized the main Preventative Security Service building in Gaza City, Issa was smuggled out of the compound by Hamas' Special Forces.

"The bastard (Issa) was evacuated by Hamas and left his men defending the building. Fifteen Fatah soldiers were killed," said one Preventative source who fought in Gaza.

The information comes as the U.S. in recent weeks pledged large sums of aid to help bolster Abbas' militias and security forces in the West Bank. U.S. security coordinators continue working to arm and train Fatah militias, including the Preventative Security Services and Abbas' Force 17 Presidential Guard units. Thousands of assault rifles last week reportedly reached Fatah security compounds in the West Bank cities of Jericho and Ramallah.

Abu Abdullah, a senior member of Hamas' "military wing," told WND that Fatah in the West Bank is heavily infiltrated by Hamas.

"Fatah hasn't yet touched the extent of our infiltration [of their groups] in the West Bank."

Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesman for the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terror group, told WND his group and Hamas have infiltrated "very deep" in Fatah.

"We already are planning to obtain American weapons and takeover the West Bank like we did in Gaza with help from the Palestinian resistance, including elements in Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Fatah Security Services. The Committees and Hamas has infiltrated very deep in Fatah," Abdel-El said.

Top Hamas leaders vowed to stage soon a coup in the West Bank.

"The moment of our taking control in the West Bank is not far away," said Abu Yousuf, a senior aide to Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Hineyah.

Abu Oubaida Al Jara, chief of Hamas' so-called special forces in Gaza, called on all Fatah members "not to resist because the Islamic project (Hamas) is coming very soon to the West Bank."