Palestinians condemn US reward for info on Gaza bombing
Khaled Abu Toameh Nov. 2, 2003 The Jerusalem Post

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid
=1067749438064

The Palestinian Authority on Sunday condemned the US for offering a reward
of up to $5 million for people providing information about the attack on
American convoy in the Gaza Strip on October 15. Three US security guards
were killed when a remote-controlled roadside bomb was detonated near their
convoy in the northern Gaza Strip.

The offer, on the State Department's Web site
http://www.rewardsforjustice.net , is for information leading to the arrest
or conviction of the people responsible for the attack.

Col. Rashid Abu Shabak, commander of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive
Security Service in the Gaza Strip, lashed out at the US for making the
offer, saying the PA was continuing its investigation into the case. "We
strongly condemn this decision," he said. "This is an insulting announcement
because it deals with a people whose mouth does not water in the face of
financial temptations."

Abu Shabak, whose force has been entrusted with investigating the attack on
the US convoy, said the Palestinians and their security forces refuse to
play the role of mercenaries for the US or any other party. "We don't work
as mercenaries for anyone," he added. "We operate according to our own
security vision, which is to serve the interests of the Palestinian people
and to provide them with security and calm."

He said the PA was continuing to investigate the incident, but declined to
say whether any progress has been made. It's also not clear what happened to
the eight Palestinians who were detained shortly after the attack. Sources
in Gaza City said most of the detainees have been released.

The suspects belong to the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of
different militias, including Fatah, and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine. The Popular Resistance Committees intitially
claimed responsibility for the killing of the three Americans, but
backtracked after the PA strongly condemned the attack.

A senior PA official in Ramallah described the US offer as "imprudent" and a
"flagrant intervention in Palestinian affairs." He added: "The offer is a
stab in the back of the Palestinians, who are doing their utmost to capture
the culprits."

An FBI delegation dispatched to investigate the incident met twice with
members of the PA investigation team near the Erez checkpoint. Gen. Abdel
Razak Majaydeh, the highest-ranking security official in the Gaza Strip who
heads the PA investigation team, claimed on Sunday that the FBI delegation
was satisfied with the cooperation of the PA security forces in the
investigation.

The PA media has accused Israel of standing behind the attack on the
American convoy with the aim of driving a wedge between the Palestinian
Authority and the US. Senior PA officials have also accused Israel in
private of being responsible for the attack.