During the past year Iran and Hezbollah have increasingly stepped up the activation of Palestinian terrorist operatives in Israel and the PA-administered territories with the intention of sustaining and fomenting the ongoing violent Palestinian-Israeli confrontation . Political and security officials in the PA told reporters from Reuters and the AP that efforts had recently been increased to disrupt the current calm and to sabotage Abu Mazen's attempts to enter into a dialogue with Israel .

In addition, a Palestinian delegation headed by ‘ Abd al-Fattah Hamail , a former PA Minister, was sent to Beirut to meet high-ranking Hezbollah members in an attempt to clamp down on Hezbollah terrorists in the PA-administered territories (so far, Hezbollah sources have denied the meeting took place).

1. “Hezbollah has been trying to recruit suicide bombers” from among Fatah/Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades terrorists “to carry out attacks which would sabotage the truce” (for example, a recent attack in Nablus , which Palestinians said had been perpetrated by Hezbollah).

2.  “Another official said intercepted email communications and bank transactions suggested Hezbollah had raised its cash offers to militants [i.e., Palestinian terrorists]…and are now willing to pay $100,000 for a whole operation (suicide bombing) whereas in the past they paid $20,000 …”

3. “One top Palestinian official said security services were investigating Hezbollah funding for militants [i.e., Palestinian terrorists] in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip .” Another said clear links had been identified through intercepted communications [between Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists].

1. Officials in the Palestinian security apparatus noted that “[Hezbollah, which has] hundreds of West Bank gunmen on their payroll, [has] stepped up pressure on them in recent weeks ,” and “ offering thousands of dollars to step up attacks on Israelis. ”

2. “ One retired militant [i.e., Palestinian terrorist] told the AP that a Hezbollah recruiter called him just a day before the Mideast summit in Egypt, told him the cease-fire wouldn't last and offered him a generous payment if he returns [sic] to violence . A squad of five or six militants typically receives $5,000 to $8,000 a month for expenses, including bullets, weapons, cell phone calling cards and spending money.”

3. “ Majed [‘Ali Muhammad] Faraj , a top official in the Palestinian Interior Ministry, said ‘ There are foreign parties who are trying to create bases in Palestine ,' but did not refer to Hezbollah directly.” He said that “this has a political dimension and the Palestinian Authority will not allow” the activities of those foreign parties .

4. “ A former militant [i.e., Palestinian terrorist] in the West Bank city of Ramallah ” told AP that “a Hezbollah recruiter called him [on February 7] a day before the summit, and urged him to resume attacks . The recruiter said the cease-fire wouldn't last long … and promised to cover all [the terrorist's] expenses, buying bullets and weapons .” He also said that “Hezbollah is trying to recruit members of the Palestinian security forces as allies.”

5. A top Palestinian police official in charge of watching extremists said that Hezbollah regularly uses email to monitor the bank accounts of its members in the West Bank and the names of those who carried out attacks. He said that he monitored some of the email traffic and that the Palestinian Monetary Authority was watching the bank transfers from Hezbollah to Palestinian terrorists. He noted that he briefed Palestinian leaders on Hezbollah's activities but had not received an order to step in or make arrests .

During her visit in France (February 8, 2005) American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that Damascus should stop its support of terrorist groups in Lebanon, by implication Hezbollah, which posed a threat to the peace process . She said that the American government was examining ways to do more when it came to imposing sanction on Damascus in light of the “Syrian responsibility law.” Visiting in Italy, Rice reiterated the American position that Syria had to stop serving as a haven for terrorist operatives harmful to the peace process .

The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in Beirut: “This is a year of devotion to resistance, of maintaining resistance of and insisting on resistance, that is our choice, our faith and our way, and our national, pan-Arab and Islamic activity… (Al-Manar, the Hezbollah satellite TV station in Lebanon, February 9, 2005).