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HAMAS DOT COM

Hamas Dot Com
By Amit Cohen
Maariv
July 2, 2003

Approximately two weeks ago, a few hours after the attack on the number 14 bus in Jerusalem in which 17 people were killed and dozens were wounded a question appeared in one of the Hamas forums: "Is brother Ahmed30 who used to write in this forum the one who carried out the operation in Jerusalem?" one of the participants wished to find out. A short while afterwards the answer came back negative. Ahmed30 was the nickname in the forum of a terrorist of the Islamic Jihad organization, Ahmed Fakia, who infiltrated the Otniel settlement last December an Har Hebron and killed four students. Ten days before the murder in Otniel he wrote in the forum about "the heroes of Al Kassam who teach he enemy an unforgettable lesson, for the sake of Allah's victory."

As always in events like these the activity at the Hamas internet site increased after the attack in Jerusalem. At times like these Palestinian surfers and their supporters from around the globe reveal the depth of their hatred for Israel and its citizens. The participants begin to count the number of "children of monkeys and pigs" who were killed, hope that the number of victims will rise more and more, and celebrate the success. "Today I'm buying," rejoiced one of the forum members after last week's atack. His forum colleague sent a message to the Jews: "We will produce bombs from under the ground, drop Kassam rockets upon you from the heavens, flee from our country or you'll be buried in black sacks."

But the internet sites function is not only to celebrate the murder of civilians or to send threatening notices. They have become an efficient way to send information between organization operatives, to recruit additional operatives, and to send warnings about Israeli operations.

In the past the transmission of information about the construction of bombs was much more difficult. Take, for instance, the work of "The Engineer" of the Hamas, Yehia Ayash. In 1995, after a string of very harsh bombings that the area of Samaria was not safe for him. The Israeli security forces viewed him as Public Enemy No. 1 in Judea and Samaria. Ayash managed to flee to Gaza, attached himself to mohamed Daf, commander of the Al Kassam Brigades and continued his operations from Beit Lehia, until he was assassinated by Israel with the help of a booby trapped cellphone.

While he was in Gaza Ayash became a central figure in Hamas, to whom many operatives came in order to learn how to construct bombs. One of them was Abed l Natzar Isa, from Nablus, who came to receive his "continuing education" in terror from Ayash. Isa learned how to improvise explosives and in particular how to deal with "Om El Abad".

"Om El Abad", the mother of Abad, is the Hamas nickname for the improvised explosive TATP- triacetone triperoxide. Ayash, who knew how to make "Om El Abad" into a particularly deadly explosive, passed the information on to Isa. After several weeks Isa returned to Nablus and managed to organize four suicide bombings, in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Jerusalem, until he was arrested. Isa taught the technique to Mochi Al Din Sharif who, after the death of Ayash became "The Engineer no. 2".

The complicated logistics which Ayash and Isa used eight years ago are no longer relevant. Today there is practically no need to send operatives to other cities in order to endanger themselves with unnecessary discovery. Hamas operatives who wish to know how to construct bombs, how to make explosives, or rockets, don't need to leave the house. Al they need is a computer and a connection to the internet. This is not a new discovery- they have been doing this for a long time already.

"My dear brothers in Jihad," wrote a surfer recently who identified himself as Abu Jendal, "I have a kilo of acetone peroxide. I want to know how to make a bomb from it in order to blow up an army jeep, I await your quick response."

About an hour later the answer came: "My dear brother Abu Jendal", answered a Hamas supporter who called himself Abu Hadafa,"I understand that you have 1,000 grams of Om El Abad. Well done! There are several ways to change it into a bomb." Abu Hadafa goes on to explain in detail how to change the homemade explosive into a deadly roadside bomb, and even attaches a file which teaches how to make detonators for the bomb.

However, this exchange was not between members of the military division of the Hamas. Abu Jendal and Abu Hadafa are two anonymous Palestinians who, it seems, never met one another. The exchange was not encoded or concealed, but was published completely openly in the internet site of the Az Al din Al Kassam Brigades, the military faction of the Hamas.

Thus, Om El Abad, which was once the practically unique expertise of Yehia Ayash is now freely available to everyone on the internet.

The communications revolution has not skipped the terror organizations. On their way to carry out murder they have gotten on the information superhighway. Something like 60,000 Palestinians are hooked up to the internet, and hundreds of thousands of others in the Islamic world express their interest through it in the intifada and events in the territories. Because of this each one of the Palestinian organizations has at least one internet site of its own. They use the sites to distribute information quickly and reliably. The Al Aksa Brigades, for instance, note that only announcements which appear on their internet site are authentic. All others, they say, are forgeries.

The more interesting materials are available in the interactive section of the sites. In just about every site there is an "internet forum" in which surfers can express themselves and communicate with their colleagues. The forum is generally divided into a variety of subjects, in different interest areas, like news are Islamic subject matter. After a short registration to the forum, without any need to supply identifying information, everyone can write whatever he feels like writing. It is possible at attach pictures or documents in order that the other participants can see them.

In the news section, for instance, information flows in practically real-time, about every IDF operation which takes place in the territories. "We are calling upon everyone to be cautious, Apache helicopters are flying over Gaza," it was posted last Wednesday, a few seconds before two Hamas operatives from the militant section were killed by airforce helicopters. The taking of responsibility for attacks and the publication of the names of terrorists also quickly finds its way quickly to the news sections of the sites.

In the "Kassami" forum, the section containing most of the information, one can read the column called, "The Security and Jihad Column", Here all those searching for ways to carry out attacks, and those who are excited by the prospect of giving instruction how to, can write to one another. In this section you can read, sometimes with accompanying diagrams and pictures, how to make hand grenades or motors for Kassam rockets, how to prepare poisons and how to kidnap soldiers. A large portion of the messages have to do with the manufacture of improvised explosives with safety tips and methods for making bombs.

Occasionally there are notices on security issues, such as how to identify "birds", or agents of the GSS, in jail, whose job it is to try to get terrorists to talk, and to admit their guilt. In a detailed document written by a Hamas prisoner and smuggled out of prison, appears a long list of signs which should arouse suspicion that someone is a "bird".

The military forums also serve the function of sharing ideas about possible attacks to try. "We are now in a war to the end with the Jews and the blasphemers," writes a man calling himself "Hanai", "so why shouldn't we exploit the lack of security measures associated with ambulances and fire trucks? We can fill them with explosives and detonate them by a restaurant, pub or cafe?"

There is no end to the evil creativity which appears in these forums. One of the participants suggests putting poison in explosives belts, instead of nails and other pieces of shrapnel, or in addition to them. The idea is to always seek ways to increase the number of victims in every attack. Some of the participants pray for the hijacking of an airplane and its crashing into prominent Israeli sites, along the lines of September 11 in New York and Washington. Others openly hope that the Hamas will succeed in toppling an Israeli building by means of a car bomb.

There were incidents in the past where ideas for attacks that appeared ludicrous at first became reality. For several months intensive discussions took place on the Hamas site about how to use remote control planes for attacks. Supporters of he organization across the world, including in the territories, have used the forums in order to pass on information about electronic circuits, models of planes, and technical sugestions. This did not remain a virtual program. Last February, 6 Hamas members were killed all of them active in the Al Kassam brigades, after they tried to build a "plane bomb" to end into an Israeli settlement or army base.

From within this pool of hatred Hamas operatives have recruited more and more partners for their terror activities. The border-crossing access of the internet makes it possible for Hamas members to receive aid from places that it would be difficult to reach physically because of the closures and blockades of the IDF. "I am called SM and I am one of the Arabs of '48," was a message that appeared on one of the sections of the forum, "I am a chemist but I know nothing about explosives. If you connect me to one of the brothers who is familiar with this subject I am sure that we can improve the quality of these explosives significantly. We have the basic materials but I need help with what to do from here."

The methods of recruitment and volunteering through the internet work. Last year three people were arrested in East Jerusalem who had been recruited by a man named "Abu Al Az" who runs the internet forum for Hamas. The three established a militant cell for Hamas and planned attacks, including the poisoning of customers at the Cafe Rimon restaurant in Jerusalem. One of the arrestees, Abu Nassar, received instructions about locating an engineer to help with a rocket project for Hamas. Before he was arrested Nassar managed to locate an Egyptian engineer and to put him in touch with Al Az.

The forums are not used only by the Palestinians. On the internet there are dozens of Islamic sites, most of them in support of Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda organization. These sites and the forums form an especially strong link between Muslims from all over the world. The ability to get updates about hat is happening in Gaza in real-time, in Afghanistan or in Chechnya, gives the Islamic movement a feeling of participation in a worldwide virtual jihad.

The connection between the Palestinian sites and the other Islamic sites does not consist of mutual support only, it is also used to transmit practical information for the execution of attacks. The supporters of Chechens for example pass diagrams and pictures of bombs tot he Palestinians, as well as illustration pertaining to the construction of Kalachnikov rifles and mortars. Instructions about the establishment of terror cells are freely exchanged, with comments, suggestions and ideas for improvement.

Whoever wants to can read large portions of Al Qaeda's handbooks for the organization of an underground and execution of attacks. The book, which contains thousands of pages and includes diagrams and drawings is nicknamed "The Encyclopedia of Jihad" and its distribution through the internet is evidence of how the global infrastructure of the internet is exploited to distribute dark and dangerous ideas.

'This is a global phenomenon that serves the Islamic terror organizations, and especially Al Qaeda," says Dr. Shaul Shai, a research fellow at the Institute for Policies Against Terror at the Inter-disciplinary Institute in Herzliya, "There is also a paradox built-in. Radical Islam, from Al Qaeda to Hamas, sees the West and its values as the principal enemy. But these entities know how to exploit the Western technology and, no less important, the globalist point of view and free exchange of information, and to make them into a central point of operation."

 

HAMAS EXPECTS SHORT-LIVED ISRAELI TRUCE

Hamas expects short-lived Israeli truce
Washington Times

GAZA CITY, Gaza, July 3 (UPI) -- A leading Palestinian militant in Hamas predicts a short-lived lull in violence with Israel, UPI learned Thursday.

Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, who escaped an Israeli attempt to assassinate him last month, said Israel violated the truce by killing Palestinians.

"They have committed a crime in Jenin and Tulkarm," he claimed. "The truce should be global. There are no regions falling under the truce and others outside it," al-Rantissi told United Press International by telephone.

He projected a short life for the truce noting, "I don't believe that Israel will honor its commitments this time and I don't expect the truce to hold for long."

Hamas and the other Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, which have claimed responsibility for the majority of suicide attacks against Israeli targets, agreed last week to observe a three-month truce with Israel to give the so-called "road map" to peace a chance.

 

GULF ALLIES REFECT U.S. CALL TO STOP FUNDING HAMAS

Gulf allies reject U.S. call to stop funding Hamas
World Tribune
July 3, 2003

ABU DHABI - The major U.S. allies in the Gulf have quietly refused a request by the United States to drop their financial support for Hamas.

The U.S. message was relayed by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. Over the last month, Burns has traveled through GCC countries and urged them to halt funding for Hamas, said to receive about $100 million a year, Middle East Newsline reported.

Gulf diplomatic sources said the Bush administration failed to win commitments from several Gulf Cooperation Council states to end financial support for Hamas.

So far, the sources said, at least three countries have rejected the U.S. request to end funding for Hamas. They identified the states as Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

"The policy of GCC countries is to say that there is no official support for Hamas," a diplomatic source said. "That has come to mean that the GCC will not block financing to the movement."

"We want to work as hard as we can in the United States government to support those efforts across the whole range of areas: law enforcement cooperation, intelligence sharing, drying up the financing of terrorist groups, whether it's groups that have carried out acts in Saudi Arabia or any place else in the region or around the world," Burns told a news conference in Kuwait on June 25. "And I think what we've seen is a renewed effort and a stepped-up effort on the part of the United States and Saudi Arabia to cooperate on those issues, and again we work with lots of other partners in the region as well."

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Masha'al has frequently visited the three GCC states. The Gulf Arab governments have given Masha'al an official welcome.

"This [funding to Hamas] is under our control and according to our interests," Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al Jarallah said. "We distinguish between relations [with Hamas] and support. They are different."

Al Jarallah said Kuwait supports and recognizes the Palestinian Authority and its new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. He said the sheikdom does not officially recognize Hamas.

The sources said Qatar and Saudi Arabia have relayed similar responses to the United States. All three GCC countries are said to serve as major contributors to as well as safe havens for Hamas leaders.

"Kuwait can't be part of the U.S. plan to dismantle Hamas," a Kuwaiti diplomat said. "It's not in our interest."