Posted on 07/04/2003 8:26:21 AM PDT by knighthawk
Commander using Internet to direct attacks
‘I don’t believe in this truce at all,’ Maqdah said. ‘Resistance will continue’
AIN AL-HILWEH REFUGEE CAMP, Lebanon: A veteran Palestinian guerrilla commander is using the internet to fund and guide rogue cells of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade from his headquarters in this teeming refugee camp near Sidon.
The cells, based mainly in the northern West Bank around Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem, reject the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire and have claimed responsibility for several shootings since it came into effect Sunday, including the killing of a Bulgarian worker Monday. The attacks are an embarrassment for the Palestinian Authority, which has pledged to abide by the cease-fire and reign in militants.
But in an interview with The Daily Star, Mounir Maqdah said that his cells rejected the cease-fire and would continue to mount resistance operations.
“No one consulted us about this truce,” he said. “We have said very clearly that we will never put down our arms while there is occupation and if one Palestinian prisoner remains in an Israeli jail.” It is the first time that Maqdah has openly discussed details of his involvement with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.
In Lebanon, Maqdah is known more for the ferocity of his public rhetoric. But the Israelis and now the PA perceive him as a genuine threat, someone who has played a significant role in funding and directing attacks against Israelis since the intifada began.
Operating from his headquarters in Ain al-Hilweh, modern technology has allowed Maqdah to participate directly in the intifada. He uses mobile phones and e-mails to communicate with his cadres and the internet to channel funds from Lebanon to the West Bank. He hinted that instructions are also delivered via the media.
The extent of Maqdah’s role in the intifada emerged last year following the capture by Israel of two militants, Nasser Oweiss and Jamal Ahwal. Oweiss claimed that Maqdah had channeled $40,000 to $50,000 from a Lebanese bank to an account in Nablus to purchase arms and bomb-making equipment. Ahwal said that he had received $5,000 a week from Maqdah in exchange for information on attacks carried out by the group.
Maqdah’s cells are accused of carrying out multiple shootings and several suicide bombings. In 2001, the Israelis foiled a plan concocted by Maqdah to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his home in East Jerusalem.
Israel says Maqdah receives his funds from Iran and coordinates with Hizbullah. But he said all his funding came from private donations.
“We receive donations from Palestinians in Lebanon and outside the country, from Arabs, from Islamic associations. We don’t need state support,” he said. Maqdah likened the group’s structure to a “spider’s web,” saying it consisted of semi-autonomous cells independent of each other. They reportedly include Kataeb al-Awda, the Battalions of Return, and Al-Nathir, The Harbinger, two small groups that fall under the general banner of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. He refused to say how many fighters are under his command, but the Israelis and Palestinians say the number is several dozen.
“It’s a very well-organized network,” Maqdah said. “The leaders of the cells are not known to people. There is a leadership committee which operates here in Lebanon, in Palestine and even in Israeli jails.”
His network is far removed from the hierarchical structure of traditional militant groups, such as the PLO in which Maqdah once served. It underlines how modern technology has radically altered how militant underground organizations operate and how much harder it is, therefore, to combat them.
Maqdah said he formed the original Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade in 1997, naming a batch of freshly graduated fighters in Ain al-Hilweh after the Jerusalem mosque in response to Israeli efforts to Judaize the Islamic holy site.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, mainly composed of young Fatah militants and consisting of several different factions, came to public attention after the start of the intifada in September 2000. But Maqdah said that the nucleus of what would become his own faction of the brigades had arrived in the Palestinian territories six years earlier.
“When Yasser Arafat returned to Palestine (from exile in Tunis in 1994) a lot of our cadres went in with him,” he said. They were activated once the intifada gathered strength. Although nominally a colonel in the Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Maqdah’s rejection of the cease-fire places him in direct confrontation with the PA.
Last week, Fatah formally relieved Maqdah of his command, allegedly over his refusal to participate in recent clashes in the camp between Fatah and extremist Islamist factions. Maqdah says he refuses to take sides in Palestinian in-fighting and is known to have good relations with Islamist groups in the camp.
Analysts believe the real intention behind Fatah’s decision was to undermine Maqdah’s power base ahead of the expected cease-fire agreement.
“I don’t believe in this truce at all,” Maqdah said. “It won’t last and the resistance will continue … We are bored of all the promises and guarantees of the US administration. We have heard it all before and it has got us nowhere. We want liberation and independence and to be able to live in freedom and dignity.”
It is not the first time that the fiery guerrilla fighter has been at odds with the mainstream Palestinian authorities.
Maqdah split from Arafat over the signing of the Oslo Accords in September 1993, although he retained his official status and rank within Fatah. Along with his supporters and disaffected Fatah members in Ain al-Hilweh, he formed the Black September 13 Brigades and grew to become the dominant military force in the camp.
Black September 13 carried out numerous attacks against Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon in the summer of 1995, some in coordination with Hizbullah.
Sentenced to death in absentia by Lebanese and Jordanian authorities, Maqdah has been targeted several times by the Israelis, including a helicopter missile strike in April 1996.
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