Ties and Links between Supporters of Bin Laden and Palestinians
By Dr. Reuven Erlich and Col. (res.) Shalom Harrari

[Source: IDF Spokesperson 19 November 2001]

The Nabil Abu Aucal case: General Characteristics
" Nabil Madris Muhamad Abu Aucal is a Palestinian resident of Jabaliya in
the Gaza Strip, born in 1973. He was drafted into the "Hamas" in 1990.
During his first years he was an activist in the "Daawa" aparatus - a
religious and social apparatus that is the civilian infrastructure of the
organization. The "Daawa" apparatus includes nursery schools, schools,
universities, and medical centers. It is also used to recruit those who will
become fighters or suicide bombers in the military wing of the "Hamas." And,
indeed, three years after Abu Auchal was also drafted into to the military
wing of the "Hamas." (The main Islamic Terrorist Organization in the
Palestinian Authority. The meaning of "Hamas" is - The movement of
Palestinian Islamic Resistance).

" In 1997 Abu Aucal traveled, within the framework of his activities in the
"Daawa", to Pakistan were he was recruited into an Islamic extremist
organization (al-Ansar). He underwent training, was sent to Afghanistan, and
was recruited into Bin Laden's organization (al-Qaeda). In Afghanistan Abu
Aucal underwent sabotage training and was sent back to the Gaza Strip in
order to found a terror infrastructure that would receive its instructions
from Bin Laden's organization. After his return to the Gaza Strip he
contacted senior "Hamas" members including Sheikh Yassin (the spiritual
leader of the "Hamas" in the Gaza Strip).

" Abu Aucal was arrested on 1 June 2000 on his way to another visit to
Afghanistan, at the end of a period of organization and preparation for
terrorist attacks, for the purpose of advanced training and acceptance of
additional instructions. He is currently on trial. (Nov. 2001)

" It is still not completely clear whether in this case the "Hamas"
organization received only "training services" from Bin Laden's organization
as a subcontractor or if this is an example of direct operation of "Hamas"
members by Bin Laden. An analysis of the nature of the ties between Abu
Aucal and international terrorist factors as transpires in the indictment
sheet against him, clearly points to the second possibility. Either way, the
Abu Aucal, affair as well as other affairs involving other Palestinians who
trained in Afghanistan, open up a window to the understanding of the
modus-operandi of Bin Laden and his organizations in activating fellow
Islamic extremist terror movements around the world, including the "Hamas."

" The following analysis is based on the indictments served against three
Palestinians who trained in Afghanistan. The importance of the Abu Aucal
case derives from the fact that it is the first one, because prior to the
year 2000, no such activity by Bin Laden is known to us.

Stages of the Recruitment and Activation of Abu Aucal

" Following are the stages of the recruitment and activation of Nabil Abu
Aucal by Bin Laden's organization according to the indictment sheet served
against him:

" Stage 1: Recruitment during "Daawa" Studies in Pakistan (October 1997 -
February 1998)

Abu Aucal was a member of a group of five activists of a "Hamas" "Daawa"
apparatus that traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, for "Daawa" studies. A student
from the West Bank in Pakistan recruited him to military training (February
1998) while he was studying at the "Daawa" center in Karachi.

" Stage 2: Primary Military Training in Pakistan (February 1998)

Abu Aucal underwent a month long basic military training (small arms,
hand-to-hand combat) in a military base of the "al-Ansar" movement - a
fundamentalist Islamic Pakistani movement, connected to the Bin Laden
organization ("al-Ansar" is also a byname for people from the city of
al-Medina who joined the army of Muhamed in the conquest of the cities of
the Arabian peninsula). The training took place in a mountainous area in
Kashmir. It seems that in this case the movement was used as a
"subcontractor" for Bin Laden's organization. After the training, Abu Ucal
was transferred into the hands of Shiekh "Abu Iyad" Azzam, a former
Palestinian resident of the Jenin area, in the northern West Bank, in order
to transfer him to Afghanistan.

" Stage 3: Sabotage Training in Afghanistan with Osama Bin Laden's
Organization (March 1998)

At the end of his training in Pakistan, Abu Aucal was transferred to
Afghanistan and met with an activist known as "Abu Hamza" who introduced
himself as one of Bin Laden's assistants. Abu Aucal underwent a month long
sabotage training in a Jalalabad training camp near the Afghanistan -
Pakistan border. The training including bomb making, different methods of
bomb detonation, and weapons training.

" Stage 4: Briefing, Accordance of Terror Missions and Dispatch to the Gaza
Strip (April 1998)

Upon the completion of his training, Abu Aucal returned to the home of
Sheikh "Abu Iyad" Azzam in Pakistan. There he received a briefing before his
return to the Gaza Strip which included: Communications (telephone and
internet, including the telephone number of a terrorist from the Azzam
family living in the United States); Recruitment of a terrorist cell to
carry out attacks; definition of the targets of the attacks: Israeli
citizens within the 1967 "Green Line", Israeli settlers, Israel Defense
Forces soldiers,; Recruitment of Israeli Arabs, members of the "Islamic
movement."

" Stage 5: Establishment of a Military Infrastructure and Planning of
Attacks (1998-2000)

Following his return from Afghanistan, Abu Aucal began intensive activity to
build a terror infrastructure in accordance with the instructions he
received, in cooperation with the "Hamas". These activities included:
Establishment of ties with Sheikh Yassin (Summer 1998). Abu Aucal reported
to Yassin on the training he underwent in Pakistan and the establishment of
ties with Bin Laden's organization. Following this, he received money from
Sheikh Yassin to finance terrorist activity.

Recruitment of additional "Hamas" members for military training in Pakistan
and Afghanistan.

Maintaining ties with the "al-Ansar" movement in Pakistan (through the
Internet) and with a Palestinian terror activist (from the "Hamas"?) in
England (in order to bring him to this region to carry out attacks).

Recruitment of Israeli-Arabs to assist in carrying out attacks in Israel and
sending them to military training in Pakistan (already during his activity
in the "Daawa" in 1990 Abu Aucal visited mosques in Israel). In practice
there were talks about recruiting two Israeli Arab residents of Um el-Fachem
(an Arab town in Israel that is run by the Israeli "Islamic Movement"), who
were members of the "Islamic Movement."

Planning of terror attacks (staring at the end of 1998) that included:
" Kidnapping of IDF soldiers using anesthesia for the purpose of
"bargaining" the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons on
terror attack charges.

" Detonation of explosive charges in densely populated areas within Israel
(markets, residential neighborhoods, military installations) using a
cellular phone code. This as part of the "bargaining attacks" aimed at
releasing Palestinians imprisoned in Israel on terror attack charges.

" Detonation of explosive charges in military installations.

" Firing missiles at Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

" Planting a bomb on the Netzarim (an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip)
access road.

Preparation of explosive devices activated by cellular phones, conducting
experiments to detonate devices.

Establishment of a laboratory to manufacture explosives in order to prepare
improvised bombs and grenades.

Stage 6: Additional Trip to Afghanistan, via Pakistan, to renew ties with
Bin Laden's people and advanced military training (May - June 2000)

Nabil Abu Aucal, together with a terrorist he recruited, planned to travel
to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan, in order to renew his ties with Bin
Laden's organization and to take part in advanced military training
(detonation of bombs using cellular phones). To finance their trip they
received a pre-trip sum of $5000 from Sheikh Yassin and prepared a cover
story (medical treatment in Jordan). On 1 July, 2000, before he managed to
leave Abu Aucal was arrested after a gunfight in Rafah in the Gaza Strip
between Israeli security forces and Palestinian Policemen who attempted to
prevent the arrest. Following this arrest, his plans were thwarted.

The Link between the Case of Abu Aucal and Bin's Laden's Network of
Terrorist Organizations

" During Abu Aucal's investigation it was revealed more than once that there
are clear indications of operational ties between the terrorist cell he
headed and terrorists around the world connected to Bin Laden and his
organization. The "national variance" of factors involved in the assistance
and activation of Abu Aucal were revealed.

" Within this framework, we can mention Abu Aucal's connections with the
"al-Ansar" organization in Pakistan; an activist named Abu Hutzifa residing
in Britain was supposed to assist in carrying out of attacks and the name of
his contact man in the US known as Abu Raazi Azzam was given to Abu Aucal
through Sheikh "Abu Iyad" Azzam. In the case of Abu Aucal (and in other
cases that involved Palestinians training in Afghanistan for terror
missions) instructors and trainees from Algeria, Morocco, Egypt - a kind of
extremist Islamic federation, connected to Bin Laden and his organization
"al - Qaeda" were mentioned.

" Special interest can be found in the ties between Abu Aucal and the Azzam
family. This is a Palestinian family from the Jenin area, that holds a
distinguished position in the history of Muslim warfare in Afghanistan
against the former Soviet Union, in the history of Bin Laden's organization,
and in the history of the establishment of the Islamic terror infrastructure
in the U.S..

" Dr. Abdallah Azzam, born in Silat al-Hartiya, near Jenin, and a doctor in
Islamic law in the el-Azhar University in Egypt was one of the first
Palestinians to join the fighters in Afghanistan in the early 1980s. He
served as "spiritual teacher" of Osama Bin Laden (whom he received in
Afghanistan) until he was killed in 1989 by a mysterious explosion with two
of his sons. Due to his activity in Afghanistan, Dr. Andallah Azzam was
revered by "Hamas" members and at the beginning of the first Intifada of
1987-1993 (the Palestinian Uprising) some of the fugitive terrorist cells
from the "Hamas" in the Jenin - Nablus area were named "battalions of
Abdallah Azzam."

" After the death of Abdallah Azzam, his cousin, Faaiz Azzam, continued to
operate in the U.S. and also, apparently, in Afghanistan in the
infrastructure service of the "Afghanistan volunteers". It is possible that
the man referred to as "Abu Iyad" Azzam, the mentor of Abu Aucal, is an
alias for Faiz Azzam. Another option is that another family member of
Abdallah Azzam is referred to as "Abu Iyad." It is also possible that the
contact man in the U.S. "Abu Raazi" Azzam is in fact the same Faiz Azzam.

" In any case it is no coincidence that "Abu Iyad" Azzam gave Abu Aucal the
name of the contact man of the Azzam family in the U.S. During 1988-1989 Dr.
Abdallah Azzam and Faiz Azzam operated throughout the U.S. in preaching
"Daawa". A film made by the American journalist Steve Emerson about the
extremist Islamic infrastructure in the U.S. ("Jihad (Islamic Holy War) in
America" 1994) shows the U.S. Azzam family members Abdallah and Faiz
preaching in mosques about Islamic holy war ("Jihad") wearing traditional
Afghani dress. Their sermons included blatant anti-American incitement,
calls for assistance in the fighting in Afghanistan, and encouragement of
the armed struggle against Israel.

" The recruitment of Nabil Abu Ucal in Pakistan by Bin Laden's organization
was not the only case. In the past two years there have been other cases of
Palestinian students from the territories who studied in Pakistan and were
recruited and trained in Afghanistan by Bin Laden's organization and then
sent to the territories with the goal of activating them in the future to
carry out terrorist attacks.

Recruitment and Training of Palestinians Studying in Pakistan

The Case of Sa'ad Hindawi (1988)

" Sa'ad Sita'an Mahmud Hindawi from Halhul, was born in 1974, and studied in
1998 in the "Sind" University in Pakistan. He heard from a Palestinian
friend about the possibility of taking part in military training in
Afghanistan. Around June 1998 he and his friend left, escorted by an
additional student to the Jalalabad region for training (the same area where
Abu Aucal trained).

" Through use of their contact man in Afghanistan (Abu Shalha) the two
arrived at the "Durunta" training base in the Jalalabad region. Like Abu
Aucal, Hindawi and his friends underwent two courses, basic and advanced:

" The Basic Course (June 1998) that took place in the "Open Wing" of the
"Durunta" base lasted two weeks. Some 12 other people from various places
participated in the course. The course included theoretical and practical
lessons on explosive and chemical materials, including assembly and
detonation of bombs. Likewise, the course included a short exercise in the
use of small arms.

" The Advanced Course (around November-December 1998) that took place in the
Moroccan wing in the "Durunta" camp lasted around two months. The course
included theoretical and practical training in different weapons (small
arms), on the assembly of electrical circuits, and for the detonation of
explosive devices.

" When he returned to the territories Hindawi planned with two Palestinian
friends who trained with him to carry out attacks against Israeli targets.
They intended to blow up a car bomb or to shoot at IDF vehicles. The cell
was uncovered by the Israeli security service (GSS) before they were able to
carry out the attacks.

The Case of Bassel Daka (1999)

" Bassel Rashad Muhamad Daka from Tul Karem (Palestinian city in the
northern West Bank), born in 1975, is the son of a senior police officer
(Brigadier General) in the Palestinian Authority. He studied pharmacy at
1999 in the Karachi University in Pakistan.

" While studying in Karachi, Daka joined a fundamentalist Islamic
organization named "Salafyun." This organization aspires to return the
Islamic way of life to its fundamentals, as was practiced in the days of the
Prophet Mohammed. Its believers, who can also be found among the Palestinian
population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, do not hesitate to take violent
steps against any expression of modernity and progress among the local
population.

" During his activities in "Salafyun," Daka watched videos displaying the
war in Bosnia and the problems with Islam there, emphasizing Muslim
solidarity throughout the world. During his studies Daka heard from friends
about the option to train in Afghanistan.

" In July 1999 Daka joined a group of Arabs from different Arab countries,
and like those before him arrived in the Jalalabad area to the "Darunta"
training base. Daka and his friends also underwent two stages of training:

I. Basic Training - three weeks long, was given by a man of Algerian descent
(Abu Muhjen). The training included theoretical and practical lessons in the
use of small arms.

II. Advanced Training - two weeks long, was given by a man of Egyptian
descent (Abu al-Habab). The training included theoretical and practical
lessons in the assembly of bombs from explosives and chemical materials and
detonation. (Daka wrote and drew in his notebook what he learned and brought
the notebook to the territories in order to use it to carry out attacks when
required).

" Daka returned to the territories and was arrested before he operated. He
was tried and convicted. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison, three active
and three on probation.