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Found at Arafat's Headquarters: Weaponry, Counterfeit
Currency and Incriminating Documents
by Betzalel Kahn
At Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah (the "Mukata"), dozens
of soldiers were engaged in a new type of war: gathering as
much weaponry, information and documents as possible. Their
efforts bore fruit, for Arafat had a prodigious store of
weapons and documents.
The haul included millions of shekels in counterfeit 100- and
200-shekel bills. Brigadier General Giora Eyland, the head of
the IDF's planning division who uncovered the ten boxes of
fake currency along with printing blocks for making more,
says the bills are the work of skilled counterfeiters. Other
Israeli sources say the Palestinians made use of the
counterfeit money to purchase weaponry for terrorists.
The weapons cache included 13 micro Kalachnikov rifles, 200
standard Kalachnikov rifles, 19 sharpshooters' rifles, one M-
16, 40 pistols, 43 RPG shells, 2 mortar shells, one Norwegian
sharpshooters' rifle, one Baretta sharpshooter's rifle, 24
sights, 19 sharpshooters' sights, 2 night-vision scopes,
boxes of target-practice ammunition, ammunition boxes
containing 5.56mm caliber bullets, 3 ammunition boxes for
Kalachnikov rifles, 2 MAG rifle ammunition boxes, an
ammunition box containing hunting pellets, dozens of pistols,
20 cartridges, several grenades, commando knives, empty
explosives belts, KP machine-guns, four fuses and ammunition
belts. IDF sources note that a considerable portion of this
weaponry was held by Palestinian Authority officials,
in violation of all of the agreements signed with Israel
and testifying to the direct link between PA officials and
terrorist activities against Israel.
Numerous documents tying the Palestinian Authority--and
Arafat himself--to terrorism were found in the offices of
Arafat's headquarters. These documents demonstrate that the
PA has been coordinating with the Tanzim and other terrorist
organizations.
The most incriminating document was confiscated in the office
of Fouad Shoubaki, Arafat's financial advisor. The document
is a request to the PA to help the al-Aqsa Martyrs Troops
finance the purchase of explosives, guns and ammunition, and
to provide payments to the families of suicide bombers. The
original document, with handwritten notes by Shoubaki, was
displayed by Colonel Miri Eizine of IDF intelligence at a
press conference held at Jerusalem's Binyanei Ha'Uma.
In the request, dated September 16, 2001, al-Aqsa Martyr's
Troops, (a faction of Fatah), asks for a total of NIS 38,000
($8,300), of which NIS 6,000 was earmarked for memorial
ceremonies for two suicide bombers. A portion of the sum was
also designated for the printing of accolades for these and
other suicide bombers.
The main paragraph of the document, Paragraph 5, asks
Shoubaki to pay for explosive materials according to the
following breakdown: "Payment for electrical elements and
chemical substances (used to create explosives) constitute
our primary expenses (the cost of preparing an explosive
device is at least NIS 700); we are in need of at least 5 to
9 explosive devices per week for our various cells in the
field--NIS 5,000 times four weeks is NIS 20,000." The al-Aqsa
Martyrs Troops also make a request to fund the purchase of
guns and ammunition.
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