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KHALED ABU TOAMEH:
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Islamic Jihad unfazed

Leaders of Islamic Jihad were smiling this week upon learning that Israel had attacked one of their "training bases" in Syria.

"We have no bases in Syria,‘ a defiant Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah said in an interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV station. Asked if the air raid had any impact on his organization’s capability to carry out more suicide bombings in Israel, Shalah confidently stated: ’The heroic operations of Islamic Jihad will continue. This [Israeli air] raid was carried out against an empty base used in the past by the Popular Front-General Command (headed by Ahmed Jibril). Islamic Jihad’s policy is not to export the struggle to neighboring countries."

Many Palestinians seemed to agree with Shalah’s assertion that the air raid on the Ein Saheb terrorist base outside Damascus would not affect Islamic Jihad’s terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The recruiting and training [of suicide bombers] is all done here, not abroad,‘ said a Palestinian Authority security official. ’The woman who carried out the Haifa attack was not trained or recruited in Syria. In fact, she had never traveled abroad. The only thing that comes from Syria, Iran and Lebanon is money and instructions. Most of the bomb experts are already here, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

The official, who said he knew the Ein Saheb camp quite well from previous visits to Syria, said the facility had been abandoned about two years ago. "In the past, Ahmed Jibril used this place to train some of his men and members of other organizations on the use of weapons and explosives,‘ he explained. ’The Syrian mukhabarat (intelligence) kept a close eye on the camp and their men were always around."

The Palestinian official said he didn’t know why the camp was closed down.

"Perhaps Jibril was facing financial problems,‘ he said. ’It’s also possible that the Syrians ordered him to move the base to another location for fear that its existence was no longer a big secret, especially after the Israeli security forces arrested some of the men who received training there and returned to the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

ISLAMIC JIHAD is one of 10 different Palestinian organizations that have had bases and offices in Syria for the past two decades. In an attempt to undermine Yasser Arafat, the former Syrian dictator, Hafez al-Assad, decided to play host to the Palestinian leader’s rivals after the 1982 Lebanon war. These groups include, in addition to the PFLP-General Command and Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, and Fatah-Revolution (headed by Abu Khaled al-Amleh and Abu Mussa — two former Fatah lieutenants who revolted against Arafat during the war in Lebanon).

These groups make up what’s known as the Rejectionist Front, an alliance that is strongly opposed to Arafat’s leadership or any compromise with Israel. The most powerful group is the PFLP-General Command, which also operates the Iranian- and Libyan-financed Al-Quds radio from Damascus. In contrast, Islamic Jihad is one of the smallest Palestinian organizations, not only in Syria, but in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well.

"Islamic Jihad is perhaps the only group that does not have a military presence in Syria,‘ said a source close to the organization in the Gaza Strip. ’Abu Mussa and Jibril have military bases for training young men. They even have their own prisons in some of these bases. The Syrians give them a free hand to operate in these bases. The only restriction imposed on them is that they are not allowed to walk the streets dressed in military uniform or carrying rifles."

Islamic Jihad has offices in Beirut, Damascus, Teheran and Khartoum. Nonetheless, most of the group’s members and leaders are based in the Gaza Strip, where they continue to plan and launch terrorist attacks against Israel. The organization’s local leaders, Abdallah Shami and Muhammad al-Hindi, describe themselves as "political figures" with no responsibility for Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, Saraya Al-Quds (Battalions of Jerusalem).

IN THE West Bank, Islamic Jihad has suffered a number of severe blows over the past three years with the killing of many of its top operatives. The group has only a few dozen members there, most of whom are based in the Jenin refugee camp and Hebron, a traditional stronghold of Muslim extremists.

During Operation Defensive Shield, Islamic Jihad lost many of its top leaders in clashes with IDF soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp. The group’s "legendary" leader, Mahmoud Tawalbeh, was killed when he and his men barricaded themselves in the camp and refused to surrender. His deputy, Ali Safouri, emerged from the rubble together with many armed Islamic Jihad activists, hoisting white flags.

Last week, an undercover IDF unit finally managed to capture Bassam Sa’adi, the head of Islamic Jihad in the Jenin district, who has been on the run for nearly 10 years. In late August, the IDF killed Muhammad Sider, the group’s leader in the Hebron district. Like Sa’adi, Sider was responsible for a series of suicide attacks in Israel.

Islamic Jihad was behind several of the deadliest terrorist suicide attacks carried out in 1995-1997. The attacks followed the 1995 assassination of Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shkaki in Malta.

The group has also been active on the political scene in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, especially among university students and academics.

Before the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, Islamic Jihad did not have connections to Hamas. In fact, the two groups were considered rivals. However, since then the two Islamic groups have been cooperating on many levels, especially in carrying out suicide attacks. In February 1995, Islamic Jihad and Hamas carried out their first joint suicide attack at the Beit Lid junction, in which 21 soldiers and civilians were killed.

"Launching an air raid on an empty training base somewhere near Damascus will not stop the suicide bombers of Islamic Jihad,‘ a former Palestinian security official said this week. ’The only way to fight them is by destroying their local infrastructure and going after all their members. It’s not difficult to track them down because we are talking about a few dozen activists."