[When all fails - lie] Arafat advisor Imad Shakur: Al Aqsa Brigades not
Fatah

Aaron Lerner 25 March 2004

Arafat advisor Imad Shakur told Israel Radio in a live interview this
morning that the Al Aqsa Brigades, that conned 14 year old Husam Abdu to try
to blow himself up at the Hawara checkpoint so that he could have sex in
paradise, "is not the military wing of Fatah or part of Fatah."

The program anchor did not challenge the assertion.

The PA's own official website states that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is "the
military wing of Fateh movement" [see below]

Palestinian Leadership Condemns Jerusalem Attack
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_02/078.html

RAMALLAH, Palestine, February 22, 2004 (IPC + WAFA) [Official PA
website] - - The Palestinian leadership and the office of the Palestinian
Prime Minister issued a press statement condemning the bombing attack that
occurred in Jerusalem this morning, which left seven Israelis dead and more
than sixty others wounded.

The statement asserted that the targeting of civilians, whether Israelis or
Palestinians, contradicts the principles and ethics of the Palestinian
people, and is condemned by them and international community alike.

"Just one day before the International Court of Justice in the Hague starts
its hearings, and at the peak of the worldwide campaign against the
Apartheid Wall, and after the important condemnations of such a wall,
especially by the Pope, Amnesty International, the International Committee
of the Red Cross, the World Council of Churches, the European Union, the
Scandinavian countries, the Quartet Committee and the United Nations General
Assembly, a bombing attack against an Israeli bus in Jerusalem was carried
out Sunday, leaving Israeli fatalities and casualties," excerpts of the
statement read.

The Palestinian leadership continued by saying that the Israeli government
has used such bombing attack, and others before, against Israelis to provide
the perfect excuses for constructing the Apartheid Wall, which has turned
the Palestinian territories into isolated cantons controlled by the
occupying forces.

As well, a communiqué by the bureau of the Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad
Qurei' also condemned the Jerusalem attack, asserting that the higher
Palestinian interests demand that such actions and reactions be halted
immediately, as they give Israel an excuse to continue building the
Apartheid Wall on Palestinian lands, as well as the continuation of
extrajudicial assassination policy.

"The Prime Minister denounces the killing of civilians on both sides, and
calls on the Israeli government for an immediate and reciprocal ceasefire,
and a swift resumption of the "Road Map" peace plan implementation, which
demands the halting of the circle of violence between the two peoples,"
excerpts from the communiqué read.

Early on Sunday morning, a huge blast ripped through an Israeli bus in
downtown Jerusalem, killing seven Israelis and wounding 66 others, according
to media reports. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fateh
movement, claimed responsibility for the attack, and named Mohammed Zoghol,
23, from the village of Hosan, west of Bethlehem, as the person who carried
out this attack.