NY Sun: CIA-Fatah link exposed
[who knows if this is true? it’s from a hyperzionist source]
New York Sun - June 15, 2007 http://www.nysun.com/article/56622
Hamas Takes Over Gaza Security Services
BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun June 15, 2007
WASHINGTON =97 An Iranian-financed group considered terrorists by =
America and Israel now control the preventive security services the =
CIA helped erect 14 years ago in Gaza.
That is one implication of the Hamas victory this week over what =
remained of Fatah forces loyal to President Abbas in the territory =
the Jewish state won from Egypt in 1967 then vacated in 2005.
Mr. Abbas, absent from Gaza yesterday, announced that he was =
dissolving the government, an end to the power-sharing negotiations =
that have been on and off since the Islamist party Hamas won a =
majority of seats in the Palestinian Arab legislature in January =
- Secretary of State Rice spoke with Mr. Abbas on the phone =
yesterday. At a reception with foreign ministers from the Baltic =
states, she said, “We fully support him and his decision to try and =
end this crisis of the Palestinian people and to give them an =
opportunity … to return to peace and a better future.”
But those words are likely cold comfort for Mr. Abbas, whose forces =
were not only routed in Gaza, but lost a key propaganda war when =
Hamas gunmen displayed what they said were CIA documents and Israeli =
license plates recovered from the Palestinian Authority security =
buildings. They said the items linked the president’s party, Fatah, =
to the CIA.
World Net Daily’s Aaron Klein first broke the story of the document =
stash yesterday, publishing an interview with a spokesman for the =
Hamas allied Popular Resistance Committee, Muhammed Abdel-El. He told =
Mr. Klein, “The CIA files we seized, which include documents, CDs, =
taped conversations, and videos, are more important than all the =
American weapons we obtained the last two days as we took over the =
traitor Fatah’s positions.”
A CIA spokesman yesterday declined to comment. But a former CIA =
operations officer who worked in the Middle East, Robert Baer, said =
it was a major blow to Fatah, the party founded in 1966 by Yasser =
Arafat that America sought to prop up during the Oslo process as the =
CIA and Egyptian security services trained its members in the hopes =
that they would take action against jihadists such as Hamas.
“They are going to identify Fatah with the CIA. Fatah equals CIA is =
not a good selling point. They are going to show a record of =
training, spying on Hamas, that’s about it. It’s what we all knew. =
But the point is they have undermined the secular Palestinians for a =
long time. No one wants to be publicly associated with the CIA in the =
Middle East, except for maybe the Albanians,” Mr. Baer said.
Mr. Baer said that most of the training the CIA provided in the Oslo =
years, aid codified in the Wye River Accords in 1998 between America, =
Israel and the Palestinian Authority, was fairly low level. “What we =
did was throw money at them. We give them dumb training, soft =
interrogation techniques, reports writing. All this stuff is a total =
waste of time. They will never get to the point where they do =
anything more than transmit a report verbally to someone they trust. =
That is just the culture.”
The CIA began meeting with members of Fatah after the 1972 Munich =
attacks by Black September against the Israeli Olympic wrestling team.
In this period, former CIA officers have described the relationship =
as more diplomatic than the support and training mission in the Oslo =
years. Four years ago, one CIA officer with intimate knowledge of =
this effort said the spy novel “Agents of Innocence,” by Washington =
Post columnist, David Ignatius, while fictionalized, provides a rough =
outline of the CIA’s relationship in the 1970s and early 1980s with =
envoys of Arafat in Lebanon. Mr. Ignatius in the preface to the book =
says his account is fiction, and describes only the “Lebanon of the =
mind.”
The former chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, Richard =
Perle, yesterday said he never understood the CIA’s policy towards =
the Palestinian Arab security services during the Oslo years. “The =
decision of the CIA to assist Fatah was a mistake from the beginning =
and this is the most recent consequence,” he said. “Why we thought it =
was in our interest to work with a police force that routinely =
murdered its opponents and existed largely to keep a corrupt Arafat =
organization in place is beyond me.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, the defeat for Fatah was a blow for a White =
House that has encouraged in recent months renewed final status =
negotiations between Israel and the Mr. Abbas.
According to one administration official, the president has not yet =
decided whether he will use the occasion of the fifth anniversary of =
his June 24, 2002, speech demanding that Palestinian Arab leaders be =
free of terror to call for enhanced final status talks leading to a =
Palestinian Arab state.
This source also said the White House is concerned that violence in =
Gaza might spill over to the West Bank. “If you were Hamas right now =
would you just consolidate your gains and lay off Ramallah?” this =
source asked.
Mr. Bush will meet on June 19 with Prime Minister Olmert of Israel in =
talks that will almost certainly weigh heavily on whether any kind of =
peace process is salvageable in light of the Hamas victories in Gaza.
Mr. Bush also met yesterday with American Jewish leaders who =
discussed the developments in Gaza.
The executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major =
American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, said he found the =
president was still committed to many of the policies he originally =
laid out in 2002. “It was very productive meeting,” Mr. Hoenlein =
said. “We covered a wide range of issues and the president was very =
responsive. For over an hour, he addressed vital foreign policy =
issues. He stressed his commitment to democratization, the war on =
terror and stability in the Middle East.”