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Friday, October 8, 2004
Archives: Palestinians terrorists and PA use PRC ambulances, international documents to evade inspection

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

Special Information Bulletin December 2003
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

Members of Palestinian terrorist organizations and security apparatuses of
the Palestinian Authority, as well as their collaborators, use Palestinian
Red Crescent ambulances, vehicles of international organizations and
internationally recognized documents to evade thorough searches at the IDF
checkpoints.

All the privileges granted to these Palestinians at the checkpoints are
exploited in attempts to smuggle Palestinian terrorists and various
explosive devices, thereby facilitating the perpetration of terrorist
activities (including suicide bombing attacks) against Israel.

An intensive care ambulance carrying the acronym of the Palestine Red
Crescent Society (PRCS), delivering an explosive belt found underneath a
stretcher on which a sick child was lying (March 27, 2002). The ambulance
driver, a wanted terrorist and member of the Fatah-Tanzim organization,
revealed to his Israeli interrogators that the explosive belt and other arms
found in the ambulance were handed over to him by a Tanzim operative in the
Samaria region, to be delivered to other Tanzim operatives in Ramallah
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

Overview

As recently as November 2003, an attempt at using an ambulance for terrorist
purposes was again exposed in the Palestinian Authority administered
territories. The ambulance was carrying chemicals intended for the Hamas
infrastructure in Nablus , for the preparation of explosives .

This was yet another example of the way Palestinian terrorist organizations
and security apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority have misused, during
the Palestinian-Israeli violent conflict, emergency vehicles and cars
belonging to international bodies, to smuggle wanted terrorists, deliver
arms and explosives and perpetrate terrorist activities against Israel . In
addition, several cases of using medical and UN documents, as well as
medical uniforms, and even of recruiting medical staff to collaborate in
Palestinian terrorist activity, were uncovered.

Indeed, on many occasions during the violent conflict, the Palestinian
terrorist organizations have attempted to exploit the freedom of passage
through Israeli army checkpoints granted to the users of ambulances and
other emergency vehicles as well as to the users of vehicles belonging to
international bodies. In this way, they tried to evade the searches
performed at the Israeli military checkpoints for the detection of wanted
terrorists and explosive materials. Palestinian terrorists have also been
hiding in hospitals, assuming that the Israeli army would refrain from
entering these institutions. They have also been using hospital grounds to
launch Qassam missiles targeted at Israel proper, and even placed explosive
charges around hospitals, as a means of deterring the Israeli security
forces from searching them.

The following are some conspicuous examples:

The use of ambulances to supply chemicals for the preparation of explosives
to the
Hamas infrastructure in Nablus (November 2003)

Rashed Tareq Rashed Agha Nimr , a Palestinian from the village of Hawara,
was arrested on November 24, 2003. Nimr, the nephew of the wife of PLO
Political Department head Faruq Qaddumi, studied in Germany and holds a
Ph.D. in chemistry. He worked at hospitals in Nablus and Bethlehem , and
exploited his position to lend assistance to the terrorist activity of
Hamas.

Dr. Rashed Nimr - a Palestinian chemistry expert who used an ambulance
to deliver chemicals to Hamas for the preparation of an explosive charge
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

During his interrogation by the Israeli General Security Services, Nimr
confessed to having served as a supplier of chemicals to the operational arm
of Hamas in Nablus , taking advantage of the accessibility of these
materials in the hospital where he was employed. In other words, chemicals
originally intended for civilian health care landed instead in the hands of
the Hamas infrastructure in Nablus, to serve as bomb-making materials .

Nimr also told his interrogators that he used an ambulance in order to
transport two hydrogen peroxide containers to the premises of the ambulance
operating company in Nablus . There the containers were delivered to Sa'id
Kutab, a Hamas operative in Nablus , who took them to his home. Hydrogen
peroxide is known to serve as raw material for the preparation of improvised
TATP-type explosive, as used by Hamas in numerous devastating attacks that
caused dozens of Israeli casualties .
Nimr also made inquiries with a gold merchant in Bethlehem about the
acquisition of nitric acid and sulfuric acid . He had been assigned by Hamas
operative Sa'id Kutab two days before his arrest, to help acquire these two
chemicals. Nitric acid and sulfuric acid are commonly used for the
preparation of nitroglycerin (a liquid type of explosive ). Nimr told his
Hamas operator that upon locating the requested materials in Bethlehem, he
would dispatch them by ambulance to Nablus.

Palestinian suicide terrorist youth using an ambulance on his way to
perpetrate a suicide bombing attack against Israel, accompanied by a female
Palestinian collaborator (May 2003)
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

On May 8, 2003 a Palestinian young man named 'Amer Nayef 'Amer Hilwan and
his female companion, Zuhur Hamdan, were arrested on their way to perpetrate
a suicide bombing attack in Petah Tikva (a city east of Tel-Aviv). Under
interrogation, Hilwan admitted that both had passed across the IDF
checkpoints through the use of an ambulance (which was not checked at the
time). He also added that his female companion had carried the explosive
belt (to be used by him for the attack), assuming (correctly) that she would
not be subjected to body search as well.

"Creative thinking" on a Hamas website about the use of emergency vehicles
for terrorist purposes (May 2003)
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

On May 19, 2003, two surfers visiting the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades
website suggested using emergency vehicles to perpetrate terrorist bombing
attacks. The following is the main concept, as formulated by one of the
surfers: "I have a suggestion which will help our brothers at the Izz al-Din
al-Qassam Brigades increase the number of casualties among the Zionist
enemy. Why not take advantage of the Jews' avoidance of searching
Palestinian ambulances and fire brigade [vehicles] , fill them with
explosives and drive them in high speed, as they are unlikely to arouse any
suspicion. or else, hijack a Zionist ambulance from the 1948 territories
[i.e. Israel], pack it with explosives and drive it into restaurants or
cafés [where they will be blown up]?"

Using a car with EU emblems to transport arms and explosives (March 2003)
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

During a raid launched on March 25, 2003 in search of wanted Palestinian
terrorists, an alleged EU car - carrying EU insignia and diplomatic license
plates [guaranteeing that it will not be searched by Israeli checkpoint
soldiers] - was apprehended in Ramallah. Investigation revealed that this
was not a diplomatic vehicle, and that the insignia and license plates had
been forged . Both of the car's occupants were arrested.

The suspects' interrogation revealed that they had intended to use the car
to transport arms and explosives from Nablus to Ramallah , or alternatively,
to serve as a car bomb on Israeli territory . The car, a Suzuki Baleno, was
confiscated by the Israeli security forces.

A Suzuki Baleno carrying EU insignia, which was intended to serve terrorist
purposes
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

Using an ambulance of the Palestinian Red Crescent to deliver an explosive
belt
and explosive devices (March 2003)

On March 27, 2002, an intensive care ambulance carrying a wanted terrorist,
an explosive belt and explosive devices was intercepted at an Israeli army
checkpoint south of Ramallah. The explosive belt was found hidden underneath
a stretcher on which a Palestinian sick child was lying. Also present during
the incident were the sick child's relatives - a man, a woman and three
children. The driver was Islam Jibril , a Fatah-Tanzim operative and wanted
terrorist, who was employed as ambulance driver for the Palestinian Red
Crescent . During his interrogation, Jibril admitted having received the
bombing devices from Mahmud al-Titi , with the assignment to deliver them to
other Fatah-Tanzim operatives in Ramallah. Titi, himself a Fatah-Tanzim
operative from Samaria, closely linked to Marwan Barghuti (head of the
Palestinian Fatah-Tanzim organization in the West Bank at the time) and
active in the Palestinian Preventive Security apparatus, has already been
involved in shooting and bombing attacks in the Nablus region.

Among the documents seized during IDF's Operation Defensive Shield (April
2002) is a report by the Palestinian General Security to Tawfiq al-Tirawi,
Director of the Palestinian General Intelligence (apparatus) in Gaza (March
27, 2002). The report mentions the above ambulance incident, along with the
assumption that the entire incident is an "Israeli set-up". However, a
handwritten note at the bottom of the report states that " there is
information indicating that behind the affair is al-Titi from the Preventive
Security , [the person] through whom 50,000 Israeli shekels are being paid
as(?) bonuses(?) to these [sic!] squads of the Preventive Security".

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

A report by the Palestinian General Security mentioning an incident in which
an ambulance as used to smuggle explosives
and a wanted terrorist (March 27, 2002; for translation of the document -
see Appendix)

The following are some additional pictures taken at the incident in which an
intensive care ambulance was apprehended while carrying a wanted terrorist
and an explosive belt (see also the front page of this bulletin):

Unloading the explosive belt
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

A close-up of the explosive belt
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

Safe detonation of the explosive belt outside the ambulance
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

The use of medical documents of the Palestinian Red Crescent (and possibly
also a Red Crescent vehicle) to perpetrate a car suicide bombing attack in
Jerusalem (January 2002)
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

A blatant example of misusing medical documents - and possibly also a
medical vehicle - of the Palestinian Red Crescent for terrorist purposes is
the suicide bombing attack of January 27, 2002 on Jaffa Street, Jerusalem.
In this attack, one Israeli civilian was killed and 127 were wounded . The
suicide bomber was Wafa Idris , a women terrorist from the Am'ari refugee
camp near Ramallah, who was employed as medical secretary for the
Palestinian Red Crescent. Wafa Idris became a role model following the
suicide bombing attack which she perpetrated and in which she found her
death .

Investigation of the suicide bombing by the Israeli security forces revealed
that Wafa Idris was recruited by Muhammad Hababa , a Fatah-Tanzim operative
from the village of Beit Iksa in the Ramallah region. Hababa was employed as
ambulance driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent . Evidence also pointed to
the involvement of Munzer Nur from the village of Anabta near Tulkarm. Nur
was employed by the Red Crescent in Ramallah as well . It appears that
Palestinian Red Crescent documents held by the woman terrorist and her
assistants, and possibly also a Red Crescent vehicle , helped them pass
through the Israeli army's checkpoints, and eased the security checks
performed by the Israeli soldiers.

Hamas uses medical staff to assist in the infiltration of suicide terrorists
into Israeli territory (June 2002)

In June 2002, Israeli security forces arrested Dr. Amjad 'Izzat Hassan
Mustafa, MD , a general practitioner at the Al-Ghazi Hospital in Jenin . Dr.
Amjad had been recruited by a military cell of Hamas in Jenin for the
smuggling of suicide terrorists to Baqa al-Sharqiyya, and from there to the
adjoining Baqa al-Gharbiyya, a village near the "seam line" [1]. It is worth
noting that the Al-Ghazi Hospital in Jenin is owned by the local Charity
Committee, an integral part of the civilian infrastructure of Hamas in
Jenin.
[1] A term describing the area adjacent to the pre-1967 border between
Israel and the West Bank.

Dr. Amjad confessed during interrogation to having escorted two suicide
terrorists on June 17, 2002 to Baqa al-Sharqiyya, on his way to deliver
medicines . From there, the two terrorists intended to penetrate into
Israeli territory to carry out a suicide bombing attack. Dr. Amjad traveled
by taxi while the terrorists were driving a car behind him, and made sure
that the road was clear. The terrorists eventually called off the attack on
account of Israeli forces operating in the area, and returned to the
Palestinian Authority administered territories.

Other examples of using ambulances to smuggle terrorists and explosives

On November 26, 2002 , a Fatah-Tanzim operative from Ramallah by the name of
Muhammad Yussuf al-Salqan was arrested. He admitted under questioning to
having engaged in smuggling explosive devices by means of ambulances .
Salqan was about to transport an explosive belt from the Samaria region to
Ramallah.

In March 2002 , several wanted terrorists from Ramallah used ambulances to
move from one place to another while carrying arms. They wore medical
uniforms and some of them hid in various departments of the town's hospitals
. On July 1, 2002, several Fatah-Tanzim operatives moved around Nablus using
ambulances. On June 30, 2002, ambulances of the Sheikh Zaid Hospital in
Ramallah transported wanted terrorists to and from various places in the
town.

In October 2001 , Israeli security forces arrested Nidal Abd al-Fattah
Abdallah Nazzal , a Hamas operative from Qalqilya . Nidal Nazzal, the
brother of Nasser Nazzal, a senior member of Hamas in Qalqilya, was employed
as ambulance driver for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) . He confessed during
interrogation to having delivered arms and explosives to terrorists , and
used his freedom of movement as ambulance driver to transfer messages
between Hamas headquarters in various Palestinian towns .

Using UNRWA vehicles and UN documents to facilitate terrorist acts (January
2002; June /July 2002)

Nahed Rashid Ahmed Attalah , from Jibaliya in the Gaza Strip, was employed
for UNWRA since 1987 and was in charge of the food supplies provided by the
local UNRWA bureau to the Gaza Strip refugees. Attalah had at his disposal a
UN vehicle, a white Fiat Punto marked with the letters UN. He also carried a
free travel permit (laissez-passer) of the UN, no. 80340 . Attalah made
recurrent use of both the UN car and travel permit to lend assistance to
terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip against Israel (see below), while
maintaining contacts with senior terrorist operatives belonging to the
Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Lebanon .

A page of the UN laissez-passer used by Attalah to enter Syria
and Lebanon for the purpose of contacting PFLP operatives
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

Nahed Atallah was eventually arrested and tried. He confessed to having used
his UN car on several occasions to transport arms and explosives , and drive
terrorists on their way to perpetrate terrorist attacks and back from the
site where the attacks took place. Following are some details:

In late June 2002 , Nahed Attalah drove two operatives of the Palestinian
Resistance Committees (a militant faction of the Fatah whose terrorist
activity centers mainly in the Gaza Strip) to the nearby Karni region . Both
terrorists were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, and they intended to
carry out a shooting attack against an Israeli army base. The attack
eventually did not take place (due to operational considerations) and Nahed
Attalah drove the two terrorists back home in his UN car .
In late June 2002 , Nahed Attalah drove two operatives of the Palestinian
Resistance Committees and helped them transport a gas container for the
purpose of perpetrating a terrorist attack. ( Note : this may refer either
to an empty gas container subsequently filled with explosive material, or to
a gas container filled with regular cooking gas, which would be added to an
explosive charge in order to create a thermal effect.)

In late July 2002 , Nahed Attalah drove two operatives of the Palestinian
Resistance Committees to the Beit Lahiya area (north of Gaza Strip), where
they intended to perpetrate a terrorist attack. They had in their possession
three RPG rockets and three gray-colored plastic pipes ( Note : the
description suggests that they were apparently using locally manufactured
improvised rocket launchers, with the RPG ammunition possibly serving as
improvised rockets). Nahed Attalah dropped his passengers at their
destination, and was instructed to await their call when they finished what
they had been assigned to do. Half an hour later, he returned to the spot in
his UN car and brought the two terrorists home, after being told that they
completed their mission.

Nahed Attalah explained to his interrogators that operatives of the
Palestinian Resistance Committees had repeatedly asked him to use his UN car
for their transportation, since the Israeli army does not perform security
checks on this type of vehicle; hence, it can move around freely.

Nahed Attalah also admitted having used his UN laissez-passer to travel to
Egypt, Lebanon and Syria . There he established contacts with the PFLP
terrorist organization , in order to raise funds and transfer arms to the
Gaza Strip, in support of the Palestinian Resistance Committees . During his
stay in Lebanon (January 2002), he met with Samih Rizq aka Abu Rami, a
senior operative of the PFLP . The latter, according to the indictment
against him, had been involved in operating terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
After Nahed Attalah's return to the Gaza Strip on January 26, 2002, he
maintained ongoing contact with Abu Rami, through phone calls made once
every two or three weeks and through the Internet.

Nahed Attalah used the laissez-passer issued to him by the UN to facilitate
his moves between the Gaza Strip, Syria and Lebanon. The UN laissez-passer
is recognized throughout the world, including in Israel, as an official
document used for the purpose of performing official assignments on behalf
of the UN and its institutions . Hence, Nahed Attalah and his operators took
advantage of the UN laissez-passer to promote contacts between the Gaza
Strip and terrorist elements in Syria and Lebanon, thus misusing the
privileges afforded by the UN document.

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

The above is a page of Nahed Attalah's laissez-passer, featuring the entry
visa to Syria issued to him by the Syrian Embassy in the Jordanian capital,
Amman . The visa was granted on January 2, 2002, and its validity extends
over "a number of trips". The visa is defined as " special " (meaning an
official visa granted to him in his capacity as UN employee). Handwritten on
the right-hand side of the page is the note " UN memo [dated] 31.12.2001 ".
This apparently refers to a UN certificate presented by Nahed Attalah to the
embassy officials who granted him the visa.

Terrorists use hospitals as safe hiding places (2001 - 2003)

Ever since the violent conflict in the Palestinian Authority administered
territories broke out, hospitals have been used time and again as safe
hiding places for operatives from all the Palestinian terrorist
organizations .

During a raid launched in Nablus by the Israeli security forces on August 8,
2003, two wanted terrorists of the Fatah-Tanzim were hit: Khaled Amin
Muhammad Namruti was killed and Uthman Ibrahim As'ad Yunes was injured. Both
were hiding inside the Fatah-Tanzim headquarters located on top of the roof
of the Rafidiya hospital in Nablus , close to the operation rooms and the
maternity ward .

Both terrorists mentioned above had been involved in numerous attacks
against Israeli civilians, including suicide bombing attacks that killed and
injured dozens of Israelis. For example, Uthman Yunes , a senior operative
of the Fatah-Tanzim, was responsible for planning bombing, shooting and
suicide bombing attacks. These include the suicide bombing at a supermarket
in Rosh Ha'ayin (a city east of Tel-Aviv) on August 12, 2003, and the
shooting attack in a banquet hall in Hadera (a city situated north of
Tel-Aviv) on January 17, 2002.

Additional examples of using hospital premises as safe hiding places:

On June 26, 2003, Israeli security forces arrested U mar Hamdan Ahmad Abu
Snena from the Abu Snena neighborhood in
Hebron, a senior operative of Fatah-Tanzim who also was employed for the
Palestinian General Intelligence. He confessed to having engaged in dozens
of terrorist attacks against the Israeli army, involving gunfire and
roadside bombs and resulting in the killing and wounding of Israeli
soldiers. He admitted under interrogation that, in early 2002, he placed
explosive charges all around Al-Mizan Hospital (a private hospital in Hebron
owned by the local Qawasmeh family) where he was hiding from the Israeli
armed forces

'Imad 'Issa Ibrahim Hammoud , a resident of Bethlehem who served in the
Ramallah-based " Force 17 " (the personal security force for Yasser Arafat),
surrendered himself to the Israeli army during Operation Defensive Shield
(April 2002). He admitted under interrogation that he had participated in
numerous shooting attacks against the Israeli army, and had agreed to
perpetrate a suicide bombing attack. He also confessed to having once, in
2001, found refuge at the Al-Mustaqbal hospital, a private medical
institution in Ramallah. From there, together with three of his associates,
he had shot fire on an Israeli tank that was moving in their direction.

Launching Qassam missiles from hospital grounds (October 2003)
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

On October 20 and 21, 2003, Hamas operatives launched Qassam missiles from
the Muhammad al-Dura Hospital complex , located in the Tuffah neighborhood
in Gaza. The missiles were directed towards the nearby Israeli town of
Sderot and Kibbutz Sa'ad.

A poster published by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad testifying to the use of
an ambulance
(laden with explosives) to carry out a terrorist attack
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

In December 1993, Anwar Abdallah Abd al-Karim Aziz , a Palestinian Islamic
Jihad operative from the Jibaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, drove an
ambulance with the intention of perpetrating a terrorist attack. Stolen from
the Beit Lahiya Charity Association in the Gaza Strip, the ambulance was
loaded with 48 kg of explosives , clearly intended to be used for a suicide
bombing attack . While being chased by Israeli security forces, the
ambulance crashed into a military jeep, killing the ambulance driver and
wounding three Israeli soldiers. However, the explosives did not blow up.

A poster of al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyyah (i.e., "the Islamic Group", the
students' movement of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad ) seized during the
IDF's Operation Defensive Shield, features a picture of the terrorist Anwar
Aziz (as shown below). In this context, it should be noted that a yard in
Gaza, bearing his picture and named after him, is being used for rallies by
the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

The photograph of Anwar Aziz on a poster commemorating the martyrs of the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The legend reads:
" Anwar Aziz - a suicide bombing attack [meant to be perpetrated by Anwar
Aziz through the use of]
an ambulance ". It testifies that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization
does not shy away from admitting the use of
an ambulance by one of its operatives for terrorist purposes
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

Appendix

Translation from Arabic of a document seized during the IDF's Operation
Defensive Shield, April 2002

Palestinian National Authority
General Intelligence
[emblem]
Palestinian General Security
General Intelligence
Directorate of the West Bank Districts
In handwriting:
[For] follow-up and
[additional] information
Serial Number: 18
Date: March 27, 2002
In handwriting:
For the information of (?)
our Brother, the Director
To our Distinguished Brother, Director of the Palestinian General
Intelligence in the West Bank [i.e., Tawfiq al-Tirawi]
Greetings,
Islam Jibril from the Balata [refugee] camp [near Nablus], an ambulance
driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent [Society], was caught [while driving
the ambulance] on the Jaba - al-Ram road [north of Jerusalem]. The Israelis
allege that he was in possession of explosives. [Consequently,] the road was
closed [to traffic]. After two hours, the car [i.e., the ambulance] was
towed away by the Israeli defense forces. Then a blast was heard, and
according to Israeli allegation, explosives that had been in the driver's
possession were blown up [by the Israelis].
We should keep in mind that the Israeli Supreme Court has requested
clarification from the Israeli army regarding the incidents of opening fire
[by the Israelis] on Palestinian ambulances, and has [even] fixed a deadline
of five days [only] for response. It is likely that the incident is an
Israeli set-up.
For your information,
The Director of [the Palestinian General] Intelligence [Bureau] in Jerusalem
(-)
The bottom of the memo features a handwritten note by a person who read the
memo (possibly prior to its being sent to al-Tirawi, the Director of the
Palestinian General Intelligence in the West Bank), and commented as
follows:
"There is information [underlined in the original note] indicating that
behind the affair is [Mahmoud] al-Titi from the [Palestinian] Preventive
Security, [the person] through whom 50,000 Israeli shekels are being paid
as(?) bonuses(?) to these [sic!] squads of the [Palestinian] Preventive
Security."

The original document
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/tr/amb_1_04.htm for illustrations

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