Security sources: Iran has financed most attacks since truce
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Last Update: 05/08/2003 22:25
Most terror attacks carried out since the cease-fire agreement between the Palestinian Authority and militant factions was signed in June were organized by Fatah members, who received orders and financing from Iran, security officials said Tuesday.
According to security sources, the militant organizations are also trying to send representatives abroad through the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip, which borders the Israel-Egypt frontier.
The armed militants who receive orders from Iran are members of local cells belonging to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades, associated with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, but they do not necessarily adhere to orders from the party's political leadership, and are more dependent on
money and orders coming from Iran and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization, which is based in Lebanon.
Since the hudna agreement was signed on June 29, the Israeli security establishment has uncovered several attempts to transfer information on weapons from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are also
expecting large-scale deliveries of weapons smuggled through tunnels across the border with Egypt, the sources said.
Since the truce was declared, there have been 178 terror attacks in the territories, 118 of which were shooting attacks. The IDF and the Shin Bet security service have arrested 75 terrorists, and the Shin Bet says that 36
large-scale terror attacks have been foiled.
Three Israelis and one Bulgarian national have died in terror attacks since the agreement was signed.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/325909.html