Palestinian convicted of training with al-Qaida + Arafat must pay Israeli bus company

[Sirotnikov]

Israeli court sentences Palestinian to 27 years for training with al-Qaida

EREZ, Gaza Strip (AP) - An Israeli military court sentenced a Palestinian man to 27 years in jail on Monday for training with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and planning to carry out attacks against Israelis.

The case of Nabil Okal, 29, marked the first time Israel has convicted a Palestinian of having ties to al-Qaida, the Israeli military said. Other Palestinians who allegedly worked with the network have been arrested but not yet indicted. As a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas operating in the Gaza Strip, Okal travelled to Afghanistan in 1998 where he met a deputy of bin Laden, and attended a training camp, according to the indictment.

At the camp, Okal learned how to make bombs, including those with chemical substances. He was arrested in June 2000 in the Gaza Strip on his way back to Afghanistan to receive more training, the indictment said.

Okal's lawyer, Tamim Younis, said his client denies all the Israeli allegations.

Okal sat quietly in the courtroom in a brown prison uniform with a green wool hat, listening as the sentence was read aloud in Hebrew and translated to him in Arabic.

Military prosecutor Capt. Ronen Shor told reporters that Okal never joined al-Qaida, but he trained with the group with the intent of bombing Israeli targets.

After the training in Afghanistan, Okal "came back to form and set up a military force to make military actions against Israeli targets here in the Gaza Strip and also here in Israel," Shor said.

Prosecutors did not link Okal to any attacks that were actually carried out.

Okal's activities abroad began in 1997 when he travelled from his birthplace, the Jebaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, to Pakistan to study Islam, according to the indictment. Okal received weapons training there, then travelled to Afghanistan.

In Kabul, Okal met bin Laden deputy Abu Hamza, the indictment said. After Okal passed a security check, he went to the eastern Afghan town of Jalalabad where he participated in a monthlong training camp.

Upon his return, Okal met in 2000 with the Hamas spiritual leader in the Gaza Strip, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Okal and another suspect in Israeli custody, Mahmed Abu Libdeh, received Yassin's blessing and $5,000 US to travel to Afghanistan for more training.

Hamas leaders have denied that they sent Palestinians to Afghanistan to receive weapons training.

Okal received a permit from Israel to travel to Jordan, purportedly for medical treatments, the indictment said. But when Okal tried to pass into Egypt from the Gaza Strip, he was arrested.

Younis, the defence lawyer, said the severity of the sentence reflects a hardened opinion in Israel and the world on such subjects since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.

TA Court: Arafat must pay Egged NIS 52M for lost revenues

By Zvi Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The Tel Aviv District Court on Monday ruled that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat must pay a sum of NIS 52 million to the Egged bus cooperative, because of the company's lost revenues during one year of the current intifada. According to the decision, Arafat must also pay Egged's legal expenses, amounting to NIS 100,000. Judge Adi Azar's verdict was issued without having received Arafat's written defense statement.

Three months ago, Egged filed a suit against the PA, the Palestinian Council, and Arafat on grounds of decreased revenues due to terror attacks and suicide bombings on public buses. According to the suit, the terror attacks led to major financial losses for Egged, because the public refrained from taking public buses due to fears of attacks.

According to statistics presented in the suit, 53 attacks were carried out against Egged buses since the outbreak of the current intifada - 20 of them suicide bombings - in which 200 people were killed. The claim states that during that same period, the number of bus passengers decreased by 15-20 percent, which Egged said was a direct result of the attacks.

In addition to the suit, Egged filed a request for a lien on PA funds held by the state of Israel. The court agreed to the request, and issued a lien of the PA's value-added tax monies. The PA filed a written defense in this regard, in which it asked for a reversal of the lien

[Sirotnikov]

Palestinian Authority resumes efforts to prevent
Qassam launches in Gaza

By Amos Harel

For the first time in many months, Israeli intelligence officials say they are seeing signs that the Palestinians are taking steps against terrorist groups. In the last two weeks, a Palestinian Qassam rocket cell was arrested in Gaza, and PA security groups have disrupted the activity of several other cells in Gaza.

Although there is large measure of skepticism in the defense establishment about this being a trend, they see a connection between these efforts and other developments, including the Cairo talks for a Palestinian cease-fire and the Israeli elections.

According to reports from Gaza, at least one cell was arrested by the Gaza Preventive Security Forces, headed by Rashid Abu Shbak. There have been attempts to disrupt Qassam rocket-fire from various parts of the Gaza Strip, and security force troops have been deployed in those areas where the rockets have been fired.

There have also been reports of a number of occasions when Palestinian security officials helped reveal hidden bombs.

Apparently, the explanation for the Palestinian activity is connected to the IDF's widening efforts against the production of the rockets and mortars. In recent months, the IDF has conducted dozens of raids against the tool and die workshops where the rockets and mortars are made deep inside Palestinian towns and cities, often causing much damage to the environs around those workshops.

Dozens of mostly armed Palestinians have been killed as they tried to rebuff Israeli incursions.

The Palestinian Authority fears that the continuing IDF incursions will eventually smash what remains of the PA's government in the Gaza Strip, and further damage the status of the Palestinian security apparatus in the Strip.

The Cairo talks are also part of the background to the change in the PA approach to the terrorist activity in Gaza. So far, the Cairo talks have been an Egyptian effort to reach a pan-Palestinian agreement on an end to attacks inside Israel (More exactly: a year long shuada - cease fire, on attacks inside the green line (the 67' borders) - Siro)- and the talks have so far failed. There is enormous Egyptian pressure on the PA to start meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's demands. The PA is blaming the Hamas for the failure of the talks so far, and now the Palestinians are trying to lasso the Saudis into applying pressure on Hamas to reduce the number of attacks.

There also were efforts by some PA leaders to end the attacks before the elections, in the hope it would influence the vote ([i]Arafat issued a call to end attacks inside Israel "until the nearing elections" as he said in a recorded interview[i] - Siro). But even after the elections there is a trend of declining numbers of rocket attacks. "We're experienced with the Palestinian efforts. We need to see a much more serious, continuing effort to be convinced that something serious is changing," said defense establishment sources.

And the IDF does not expect that to happen. There are many alerts based on intelligence about planned attacks. Yesterday, the Wadi Ara area was on high alert after reports that a terrorist managed to cross into the country. The alert was lifted in the mid-afternoon.

[Sirotnikov]

bump?

[KrazyHorse]

All that middle story does is make me feel that Israel's legal system is more stilted than I previously thought.

Judge Adi Azar's verdict was issued without having received Arafat's written defense statement

[CyberGnu]

Well, Frogger, the Israeli legal system works slightly different from what we are used to in the civilized world. In Israel you are presumed innocent until proven palestinian.

[ravagon]

The Tel Aviv District Court on Monday ruled that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat must pay a sum of NIS 52 million to the Egged bus cooperative,

Can you not read? They egged a bus for heavens sake!
When it comes to buses, egging is a big nono...
I hope they come to realise the error of their ways someday...

[Panag]

Originally posted by CyberGnu
Well, Frogger, the Israeli legal system works slightly different from what we are used to in the civilized world. In Israel you are presumed innocent until proven palestinian.

hi ,

that is a bunch of BS , ....

come and see for yourself , ....

bye

[CyberGnu]

Of course it is. Only True Israelis can see the Truth!

Cause So it has Been Written, and Thus it Shall Always Be!

Oh, panag, I think you are late for your spurious arguing seminar. This weeks lecture is "how to make impossible requests instead of actually answer". Huh. On second though, why don't you sleep in? You already seem to have that part of the class well in hand.

[Wernazuma III]

The ruling about Arafat is just . You simply can't make the person responsible.
Someone compared it to Clinton being personally convicted to pay compensation for the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrad. And that would even make more sense, because it was actually troops under his formal command...

I fear that this is the way Israel handles most of the crises.

[Zevico]

Gnu, Israel has equal rights regardless of race, religion, etc. Read its declaration of independence before you claim otherwise. Ravagnon, "Egged" is a bus company in Israel.
Wernazuma, when Arafat says a "million martyrs to jerusalem" does this mean he is responsible for terrorism? No. But when he says it as the head of the PA, it is. Considering the fact that he funds one of the terrorist groups and tolerates the rest, I would say he is at least partially responsible. That and the fact that he released every single terrorist in his prisons on the first day of the intifada, basically giving a green light and a pat on the back to terrorists do to their stuff. In addition, Israel did not sue Arafat. The "Egged" bus company did, because there was a marked decrease in the amount of people going on their buses since the beginning of the intifada.

[Az]

not constitution: declaration of independence.
We don't have a constitution.

[Zevico]

Oopsie. I knew I had something wrong there Darn.

[CyberGnu]

Zevico, so did communist russia and old east germany. Words on paper doesn't mean anything unless they are upheld.

There is no such thing as fair trials for arabs in Israel. Read the news before you claim otherwise.

[CyberGnu]

BTW, why aren't the egged people suing Sharon? He is the main character in the way of peace...

Of course, that would require Israelis taking an honest look at the conflict... Won't happen during our lifetime, I'm assuming.

[chequita guevara]

You can't hold a country responsible for damages it incurrs against an occupier. The Palestinian people have a legal right to wage war against Israel. Israel has no legal right to occupy the territories. Hence, the judgement against Arafat is not legal.