16-Jul-15: Abbas' expensive PA reward-for-terror funding scheme pays dividend yet again

European funding of terror is not a mere slogan or a notion
but a lethal ongoing scandal with a bitter price [Image Source]

A month ago, we wrote here ["19-Jun-15: Reports of sniper attack on Israelis north of Jerusalem"] of a shooting attack on two young Israeli men visiting a popular natural spring near the Israeli community of Dolev, a short drive north-west of Jerusalem.

One of the two, Danny Gonen, died soon afterwards of his injuries.

The Islamist terrorists of Hamas disclaimed any connection but offered evidently-sincere congratulations to the shooter and those who sent him.

We also mentioned that the authorities in the town in which the deceased man lived then embarked on a series of actions ("26-Jun-15: Spring of hope and revenge") that, while understandable from an Israeli standpoint, likely baffled people less familiar with the Israeli ethos.

Yesterday we learned ["Terrorist who killed Israeli arrested in West Bank", Haaretz, July 15, 2015] that the shooter has been arrested. And he was not alone. Mohammad Abu Shahin, 39, from Kalandia will be charged with the murder.

In the past weeks a number of Palestinians from the Ramallah area have been apprehended who admitted they were involved in the shooting attack, as well as several other attacks. Abu Shahin, who was imprisoned in the past for involvement in stabbing and shooting attacks, is a Fatah-Tanzim militant who receives a salary from the Palestinian Authority. Among those arrested was Asama Asad, another Tanzim member who was released in the Gilad Shalit deal.

Everyone released in the Shalit Deal, without exception we are reliably told, gets admitted into the PA's reward-for-terror scheme. They call it something else, but that's what it is.

At Ynet they add that Abu Shahin is

a member of the Palestinian Authority's elite Force 17 unit. He was imprisoned between 2006-2008 after confessing his intention to carry out a terror attack. During questioning, Abu Shaheen confessed to the shooting and said he had collected intelligence before committing the attack. He also admitted to six other shooting attacks in the last year, including one in November 2014 in Al-Ram, in which a soldier was wounded. The five were arrested about a week and a half after the attack, when troops raided the suspects' homes... The attack took place on June 19, when Gonen and a friend were driving away from a spring near the Dolev settlement in the Binyamin area of the West Bank. A Palestinian man signaled for them to stop as if to ask for help before firing at them from point-blank range, critically wounding Gonen... [Israeli security forces arrest terror cell behind murder of Danny Gonen | Ynet, July 15, 2015] 

More on Force 17 here. The others arrested:

• Asraf Amar, 24, a member of the PA's military Intelligence
• Osama (or Asama) Assad, 29, a Fatah member and convicted terrorist who was released by Israel in the 2011 Shalit Deal
• Muhammed Aduan, 37 

Mahmoud Abbas greets - with hugs and kisses - a long line of terrorists
freed that day from their Israeli prison cells. The PA's European-funded
reward-for-terror bonuses were issued to them soon afterwards
[Image Source: CNN Video grab]

(A related matter: prisoners released in the 2011 act of Hamas extortion known as the Shalit Deal who are subsequently arrested on terrorism charges are supposed, under the terms of the commutation, to be sent right back to serve the terms which had been conditionally commuted prior to the deal being done. There have been some seventy such re-arrests. Are they all now back behind bars and serving out the balance of their original un-commuted sentences? It's a very serious question. Write to us [thisongoingwar@gmail.com] if you are interested to know.)

One of the key points to arise from these arrests is the involvement in the killing of people receiving Palestinian Authority reward-for-terror payments. It's a subject that simply incenses us. At the same time, we have noticed that leaves the people - mainly European taxpayers, European government officials, and European politicians - who fund it mostly unmoved, for reasons that are simply beyond us. For background, please re-visit these posts:

• 20-May-11: Rewarding the Palestinian Arab terrorists: is this being done in your name?
• 28-Jul-11: Taxpayer-funded salaries to convicted Palestinian Arab terrorists. What a good idea
• 4-Sep-12: Where's the shame? How much of your tax dollars went to fund the pension of our child's murderer? More than you probably thought
• 08-Feb-15: Foreign money and the Palestinian Arab terror it buys
• 10-Mar-15: The not-so-moderate Palestinian Authority and the terrorism it enables
• 02-Jun-15: The obvious, petty lies that keep European money flowing into the hands of the PA's terrorists

UPDATE: The indefatigable BBCwatch which does an excellent job of noticing such things points out [here] that both the shooting attack and the murder in June went unreported at "The World's Radio Station", and so have the arrests.

6-Sep-06: Reduction in Force 17

Nearly six years ago, on 30th October 2000, a young part-time security guard employed to protect the National Insurance Institute offices in East Jerusalem was gunned down in cold blood at almost point-blank range by Palestinian Arab terrorists. The office he guarded is the conduit for vast sums in monthly pension payments made to East Jerusalem Arabs under Israel's unemployment, single-parent and other social welfare programs.

The young man, Esh-Kodesh Gilmore, was the father of an eighteen-month-old daughter and the son of gentle American-born parents whom we subsequently came to know - when we lost our own daughter to an act of terrorist murder - and whom we are proud to call our friends. Some background about Esh-Kodesh's short life is here.

Three Palestinian Arabs were subsequently caught, charged and convicted of the terrorist murder. They are Talal Ghassan, 37, a senior Force 17 member from Ramallah; Marzouk Abu Naim, 43; and Na'man Nofel. The Jerusalem Post reported that, when arrested, the three were planning to execute additional attacks on the Ramallah bypass road and in and near Jerusalem. Abu Naim was good enough to lead his interrogators to two bombs which the cell had prepared for use.

The three terrorists in turn fingered Mahmoud Damra as the leader of their Ramallah-based terror cell. That cell, according to reports based on Israeli intelligence, was made up of members from all parts of the Palestinian terror constellation including Fatah and Hamas. It murdered seven Israelis in addition to Esh-Kodesh Gilmore, and managed to wound 20 more.

When Yasser Arafat was first holed up in his Ramallah headquarters in 2002 (see this report from The Guardian) during Operation Defensive Shield which was Israel's response to the string of massacres by Palestinians in Israel during Passover 2002, Damra was one of the fifty-plus terrorist fugitives who fled there to hide from the Israelis behind Arafat's skirts. This was an effective strategy, and enabled Damra to remain on the run. He has been on Israel's most-wanted list ever since.

On 31st May 2006, the "moderate" head of Fatah and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, appointed Damra (known also by the nom-de-guerre Abu Awad) to the leadership of Force-17, the so-called presidential guard, a thuggish, well-equipped gang formed to provide the Palestinian Arab despot Arafat with personal protection, and now doing the same for Arafat's successor. Force 17 has also become a key element in the internecine wars between Fatah and Hamas. In the interests of full disclosure, UPI quoted Palestinian sources saying that Damra is no terrorist, that he's committed to "the peace process" and that suggesting he's involved with terror is all just a big misunderstanding.

Denials notwithstanding, it's good to be able to see reports tonight that Mahmoud Damra's life on the run went through a fundamental re-alignment today. He was arrested trying to get through an Israel Defense Forces roadblock outside Nablus. We've mentioned numerous times how media critics of Israeli roadblocks denigrate their importance to the war against terrorists... but time and again, that's where the big and ugly fish get intercepted and taken out of the game. Yediot Aharonot reports tonight that

"...a senior Palestinian official, who is a close associate of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, defined Damra's arrest as a "despicable act." The official said that "while Abu Mazen (Abbas) is exerting supreme efforts to solve the Gilad Shalit affair and advance the process, Olmert and Peretz are attempting to move things backwards."

We admit to being somewhat unsure about the process they refer to.

Our satisfaction with the arrest of this barbarian is tempered only by the knowledge that there appears to be a deal underway today for the release of hundreds of Palestinian terror practitioners. It remains to be seen whether the names of cold-blooded murders like Damra are on the list.

UPDATE: Not a happy ending - see "5-Jan-12: What the blood-soaked career of an "adviser on local government matters" reveals about the 'moderate' PA leader's thinking"