Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special
Studies (C.S.S)

Special Information Bulletin May 2004

Terrorist organizations exploit UNRWA vehicles: during the Israeli army
operation in the Zeitun quarter of Gaza, UNWRA vehicles were used to smuggle
armed terrorists out of the area and in all probability remains of Israeli
soldiers as well

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/5_04/unrwa.htm

1.Reuters has a video cassette of pictures taken during the Israeli army
operation in the Zeitun quarter of Gaza City on May 11, 2004. It shows armed
Palestinians using UNRWA ambulances to transport terrorists and possibly
also remains of fallen Israeli soldiers.

2.Partial confirmation came from the statement made on May 13 by a UN
spokesman, that during the incident (which occurred in Gaza on May 11),
armed Palestinians threatened an UNRWA ambulance team and forced them to
transport an armed and wounded Palestinian and his two armed escorts to a
Gaza hospital. The spokesman noted that UNRWA censured the action "in the
strongest terms possible." He also noted that armed personnel are not
permitted to enter UNRWA vehicles on any pretext whatsoever, and called upon
Israel and the Palestinians to respect the agency's neutrality.

3.In addition, since the beginning of the current ongoing hostilities,
several incidents have been recorded in which terrorist organizations have
used UNRWA facilities and vehicles (including ambulances) to facilitate
their terrorist operations. Two prominent examples are:

a.Nidal 'Abd al-Fataah 'Abdallah Nizal, a Hamas activist from Qalqiliya who
worked as an UNRWA ambulance driver (arrested in August 2002), admitted he
had used one such vehicle to transport munitions to terrorists and had also
exploited the freedom of movement he enjoyed to transmit messages to and
from Hamas activists in various places.

b.Nahd Rashid Ahmad Atallah, a senior UNRWA employee working in the Gaza
Strip who was in charge of distributing aid to refugees (arrested in August
2002), admitted that during June and July 2002 he had given rides in his
car - an UNRWA vehicle - to armed terrorists belonging to the Popular
Resistance Committees. The terrorists were on their way to attack Israeli
soldiers at the Karni Checkpoint and to fire rockets at Israeli settlement
in the northern Gaza Strip. He also used his UNRWA car to transport a bomb
weighing 12 kg (about 25 lbs) to his brother-in-law, a Popular Resistance
Committees operative (Note: the Popluar Resistance Committees are a militant
faction of Fatah and are active primarily in the Gaza Strip).

4.Nahd Atallah explained that he had used his car to transport terrorists to
their targets because it belonged to the United Nations, and since the
Israeli army did not search such vehicles, he could travel freely. His
admission is a striking example of the way terrorist organizations exploit
the privileges of relaxed security restrictions accorded UNRWA vehicles by
Israeli forces. Such privileges are the result of humanitarian
considerations and the Israeli desire to maintain correct relations with UN
representatives active in the Palestinian Authority-administered
territories.

5.Additional information about past exploitation by terrorists of UNRWA
personnel, vehicles and facilities can be found at the Center for Special
Studies Website.