http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498852647&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Mashaal meets with al-Qaida leader
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 14, 2006
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In an another sign of the Palestinian leadership growing alliance with al-Qaida, Damascus-based Hamas head Khaled Mashaal recently met in Yemen with a representative of Osama bin Laden's organization who is wanted by the US for his involvement in supporting and funding global terror, The Jerusalem Post has learned. . .
"The US has credible evidence that Zindani, a Yemeni national, supports designated terrorists and terrorist organizations," a statement released by the US Treasury Department said. "Zindani has a long history of working with bin Laden, notably serving as one of his spiritual leaders. In this leadership capacity, he has been able to influence and support many terrorist causes, including actively recruiting for al-Qaida training camps."
Senior IDF officers have confirmed that al-Qaida has already established terror cells in the Gaza Strip and has begun working on creating a similar infrastructure in the West Bank. Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Harel, head of the IDF's Planning Directorate, told the Post recently that al-Qaida was operating within the PA territories.
"Al-Qaida is about money," he said. "There is always a flow of funds to terrorism in the territories and it is difficult to get our hands on the money."
Last week, the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported that 10 al-Qaida activists who had recently entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt had been captured by PA security forces. Citing Jordanian security sources, the paper said that the cells were in the midst of planning "large-scale" terror attacks on sensitive and strategic targets - possible the crossings from Gaza into Israel.