Overview

• On February 20, 2006, indictments were handed down in the military court in Samaria against two terrorist-operatives from Nablus who had been arrested by the Israeli security forces in December 2005. Global jihad operatives in Jordan contacted and handled a local terrorist cell in Nablus whose members were looking for outside sources of funding. The Nablus cell suggested a double mass-murder attack on the French Hill in Jerusalem and received money to begin preparations.

• During 2005 the global jihad carried out terrorist attacks in countries sharing borders with Israel : Egypt , Jordan and Lebanon . In two instances they also fired rockets at Eilat from Jordan and at population centers in the north from Lebanon (See Appendix). In our assessment, the affair of the cell in Nablus is a sign that the global jihad is trying to get a foothold not only in neighboring countries but in the heart of the Palestinian Authority itself . It is doing so by engaging local terrorist-operatives who have not found a place within the customary Palestinian terrorist organizations, and using them to carry out global jihad commissions.

Main points of the global jihad's recruiting and handling the
Palestinian terrorist cell in Nablus

• The two terrorist-operatives, ‘Azzam Fawzi Hassan Abu al-‘Adas and Bilal Murtada Muhammad Subhi Hafnawi are both 20-year old terrorists from the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. They were arrested by the Israeli security forces at the Allenby Bridge on December 10, 2005. The main points of their recruitment and handling, based on the indictment:

  •  ‘Azzam Fawzi Hassan Abu al-‘Adas , a Palestinian studying in Jordan , was the liaison between operatives of the global jihad and the cell in Nablus . He was recruited by two global jihad activists in May 2005 in Irbid in northern Jordan : they were ‘ Abdallah, called Abu Kawadmeh , and Mua'tazz Omar Silawi .

  •  Early in June 2005 ‘Azzam al-‘Adas met two global jihad operatives in Irbid (‘Abdallah Abu Kawadmeh and one called Abu Talha) . They gave him general instructions for setting up secret cells which would carry out attacks on industrial facilities in Israel to deal a blow to its economy. He was given a security briefing regarding his conduct and that of those he recruited. He was told that if his recruits wanted military training in the future, it could be arranged in one the neighboring Arab states, such as Iraq , Syria or Jordan .

  •  During June, ‘Azzam al-‘Adas contacted a terrorist cell which had organized in the Balata refugee camp and was looking for an outside source to support its activity . One of its members was Bilal Murtada Muhammad Subhi Hafnawi , who had been a Hamas operative from 2002 to 2003 and Fatah/Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades during 2004. ‘Azzam al-‘Adas took Bilal Hafnawi to Jordan to meet ‘Abdallah al-Kawadmeh, who recruited Bilal Hafnawi and his cell and opened an account for them at the Yarmuh University branch of the Cairo-Amman Bank in Irbid. They also set up communications using email and Bilal Hafnawi was given 150 dinars [about $215].

  •  At the end of September 2005 ‘Azzam al-‘Adas met with members of the terrorist cell in Nablus and they suggested a mass-murder on the French Hill in Jerusalem, using a suicide bomber and a car bomb . The suggested attack was to take place in a pizzeria, and once the sound of the first bomb had been heard, the car bomb would be detonated to cause the deaths of the many civilians who would crowd the area. Later three members of the cell reported that they had recruited a potential suicide bombe.

  •  ‘Azzam al-‘Adas went to Jordan , met with two of his handlers and reported the suggestion for the attack. He asked one of them for 5,000 dinars [about $7,110] to finance it. His handlers, who were tight-fisted throughout their dealings with him, gave him 2,000 [about $2, 850] dinars and later on another 1,000 [about $1,425]. Some of the money was transferred to the cell in Nablus to finance preparations for the mass-murder attack, including fitting out the car bomb.

  •  At the end of November 2005 Bilal Hafnawi went to Jordan again to meet ‘Abdallah Abu Kawadmeh. He asked him for money to buy weapons and was turned down. Global jihad operatives asked Bilal Hafnawi to recruit others to their ranks in Nablus . In addition, ‘Abdallah Abu Kawadmeh told him that he intended to send an instructor from the Gaza Strip to Nablus to give his men military training.

Appendix

Global jihad activity in Egypt , Jordan and Lebanon during 2005

• During 2005 global jihad operatives were active in Egypt , Jordan and Lebanon , all of which have borders with Israel . They carried out terrorist attacks which targeted tourist centers in Egypt (in the Sinai) and Jordan . They also fired rockets at Israel . The attacks were the following:

  •  On June 23, 2005 , three coordinated attacks were carried out at tourist sites at Sharm el-Sheikh in the southern Sinai peninsula . They used two car bombs and a suitcase bomb at populated hotels and coffee houses. Approximately 88 people were killed and more than 200 wounded. Among those killed were approximately 10 tourists from Persian Gulf states and European countries. The other dead were Egyptian. An organization calling itself Al-Qaeda in Syria and Egypt , the Martyr ‘Abdallah ‘Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks.

  •  On the morning of August 19 three Katyusha rockets were fired from ‘Aqaba in Jordan at the city of Eilat in Israel and at the Gulf of ‘Aqaba. One of the rocked fell near the Eilat airport. Two others, which were aimed at American naval vessels in the Gulf of ‘Aqaba, missed their targets. One of the rockets hit Jordanian soldiers, killing one and wounding the other. The organization calling itself Al-Qaeda in Syria and Egypt , the Martyr ‘Abdallah ‘Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks.

  •  On November 9 a series of coordinated suicide bombing attacks was carried out in three hotels in Amman , the Jordanian capital. Approximately 67 people were killed and more than 200 wounded. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's organization, a branch of Al-Qaeda in Iraq , claimed responsibility for all three attacks . They were carried out by three suicide bombers who had come from Iraq , and a female suicide bomber who was the wife of one of them. A technical failure prevented her from detonating her explosive device and she was arrested by Jordanian security forces. ¹

  •  On the night of December 27 approximately ten 107 mm rockets were fired at Israeli population centers from two focal points in southern Lebanon: A number of rockets were fired at Kiriat Shemonah from the central sector of the Israeli-Lebanese border, and at the town of Shelomi and along the border from the western sector. The following day Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's organization claimed responsibility for the attacks.