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Israel Says Documents Link Arafat, Terrorism
One Seized Item Called Invoice for Bomb Parts
By Lee Hockstader
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 3, 2002; Page A10
JERUSALEM, April 2 -- Israel made public seized documents today that it said directly link the office of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, with terrorist attacks carried out against Israeli civilians and other targets.
One of the documents, taken after Israeli troops stormed Arafat's compound last Friday, was said to be an invoice submitted by a leading Palestinian militant group to a Palestinian official described by Israel as Arafat's main weapons buyer. Among other items, the invoice requests 20,000 Israeli shekels, about $4,200, to pay for electrical and chemical components for the production of a month's supply of about 30 bombs.
"It's an invoice of terrorism," said Dore Gold, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Palestinian officials dismissed the document, typewritten in Arabic on stationery headed by the "al-Aqsa Martyrs Troops," as a forgery.
"I think it's phony," said Saeb Erekat, a top Palestinian negotiator. "It's part of a series of Israeli fabrications."
For months, Israel has accused Arafat of financing Palestinian militant groups that conduct terrorist and other attacks, but until now it has produced little documentary evidence to support its allegations. Chief among the recipients of Arafat's support, the Israelis say, has been the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a loose collection of armed groups that have carried out a string of suicide bombings and shootings since the beginning of this year. The group is an offshoot of Fatah, Arafat's movement, which Israel says is fully funded by the Palestinian leader.
Israel described one of the documents made public today as an invoice presented by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to Fuad Shubaki, the chief procurement and finance officer of the Palestinian security services. Israel has said that Shubaki, who is close to Arafat and has accompanied him on trips abroad, authorized payments for a large shipment of Iranian-made weapons bound for Palestinian groups that was seized in the Red Sea by Israel commandos in January. After that, Arafat announced under intense pressure from the United States that Shubaki had been arrested, although Israel says he was never actually confined.
The al-Aqsa document, entitled "Financial Report," is dated Sept. 16, 2001. It includes a number of relatively banal items, such as $250 for "printing announcements and invitations and mourning tents" and $420 for printing posters of Palestinians killed by Israel.
Other entries detailed the price of ammunition for AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles.
The largest expense -- nearly half the invoice's total -- is for the bomb-making equipment. "This has been our largest expense," the cost of a prepared bomb being at least 700 shekels, or about $150, the document notes. "We need about 5-9 bombs a week for our cells in various areas -- 5000 Shekels x 4 weeks=20,000 Shekels."
Israel made special efforts to publicize the document, telephoning foreign correspondents to invite them to a news conference on the subject and posting an explanatory guide on the army's Web site. "This money does not go merely to finance propaganda concerning terrorists involved in attacks, but also to control the planning of future attacks," states the explanatory guide.
Israeli officials noted that in the months following the submission of the al-Aqsa invoice in September, especially beginning this year, the group intensified its attacks on Israelis, including suicide bombings.
According to Israel, the de facto leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is Marwan Barghouti, Arafat's top Fatah lieutenant in the West Bank. He, in turn, passes orders from Arafat down to al-Aqsa operatives, Israeli officials say.
The U.S. government recently added the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to its list of terrorist organizations.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
