Palestinians Appoint Terrorist as Security Chief
Jim Kouri, CPP
April 23, 2006
Khalid Abu Helal, the Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman, announced Saturday that a recent decision by the ministry to appoint Jamal Abu Samhadana as the head of a new security force was in effect, regardless of opposition. Samhadena is considered a terrorist by the Israeli government and the United States, and a radical by most of the European Union.
The spokesman made his announcement only one day after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah Party vetoed the decision to make someone from Hamas the chief of Palestinians' newest security force, which will be part of police services. Abbas claims the appointment of Samhadana is a violation of the Palestinian constitution.
Abu Helal told a news conference in Gaza that the differences between Abbas and the interior ministry in the Hamas-led government would be settled between Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haneya when they meet within a few days.
Palestinian Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyam announced on Thursday that he was forming an executive security force headed by Abu Samhadana to help end chaos in the Palestinian territories.
"It won't be an alternative for security forces, but a part of the Palestinian police, and will receive orders from the police leadership," Abu Helal added.
Some observers believe the move is meant to create a well-armed security force under the direct control of Hamas, since the Palestinian Authority's police and security owe allegience to Abbas and al-Fatah.
The new security chief, Abu Samhadana, leader of Popular Resistance Committees, has in the past been targeted for assassination by the Israelis for his acts of terrorism. Abu Helal claims that the executive force will not replace the current security and police forces.
Known to followers as “the Chef” because of his enthusiasm for making bombs with a variety of ingredients, Samhadana is hated equally by the Israeli military and Abbas' Palestinian Authority. He has defied repeated instructions from the authority to disband his organization.
Jamal Abu Samhadana founded the Popular Resistance Committees from his hometown of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. A former member of al-Fatah and the Tanzim, he survived multiple attempts on his life by the Israeli military.
The origins of the Tanzim (“Organization” in Arabic) lie in the leadership group of al-Fatah that remained in the so-called occupied territories while the mainstream branch of al-Fatah, led by Yasser Arafat, was based in Jordan, Lebanon and finally Tunisia.
After the 1993 Oslo Accords brought the al-Fatah and PLO leadership back to Gaza, tensions emerged. The Tanzim held political and military sway on the ground but were not included in the Palestinian Authority leadership, which was dominated by the mainstream faction of al-Fatah.
Marwan Barghouti emerged as the leader of this group that soon found itself in opposition to the “Tunisians” who excluded them from positions of leadership. Barghouti originally acted as a reformer, crusading against corruption in the PA and advocating peaceful negotiations with Israel. Samhadana kept loyal to Barghouti while with the Tanzim.
As the founder of the Popular Resistance Committees, Samhadana created a militia made up of disenchanted members of all the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip. He is blamed by Israel for a long series of attacks on settlers and soldiers. These include the destruction of three tanks by landmines in separate incidents in which seven men died.
An Israeli newspaper report once called him one of the most coveted targets of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. In a large scale attack, a lieutenant to Samhadana, Mustafa Sabah, was killed by anti-tank rockets fired from a helicopter, but the Jamal Abu Samhadana survived.
He was the field commander of the Popular Resistance Committees until early 2002, when he blew off part of his right arm while firing a rocket-propelled grenade at a Jewish settlement. A team of French surgeons (yes, Israel's enemies can always count on the French) from Médecins Sans Frontières performed a 10-hour operation, taking a bone from his left leg and inserting it below the elbow to save the injured arm.
The "Chef" has an older brother, Sammy, who was suspected by the Israelis of being the Gaza leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades when carried out some of the bloodiest of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
Jamal Abu Samhadana is one of the best trained terrorists in the world. He received three years’ training in urban warfare and explosives techniques in East Germany in the 1980s, where he studied with communist revolutionaries and terrorists from Cuba and Nicaragua. This is the man who will lead a government-recognized security force.
The spokesman made his announcement only one day after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah Party vetoed the decision to make someone from Hamas the chief of Palestinians' newest security force, which will be part of police services. Abbas claims the appointment of Samhadana is a violation of the Palestinian constitution.
Abu Helal told a news conference in Gaza that the differences between Abbas and the interior ministry in the Hamas-led government would be settled between Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haneya when they meet within a few days.
Palestinian Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyam announced on Thursday that he was forming an executive security force headed by Abu Samhadana to help end chaos in the Palestinian territories.
"It won't be an alternative for security forces, but a part of the Palestinian police, and will receive orders from the police leadership," Abu Helal added.
Some observers believe the move is meant to create a well-armed security force under the direct control of Hamas, since the Palestinian Authority's police and security owe allegience to Abbas and al-Fatah.
The new security chief, Abu Samhadana, leader of Popular Resistance Committees, has in the past been targeted for assassination by the Israelis for his acts of terrorism. Abu Helal claims that the executive force will not replace the current security and police forces.
Known to followers as “the Chef” because of his enthusiasm for making bombs with a variety of ingredients, Samhadana is hated equally by the Israeli military and Abbas' Palestinian Authority. He has defied repeated instructions from the authority to disband his organization.
Jamal Abu Samhadana founded the Popular Resistance Committees from his hometown of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. A former member of al-Fatah and the Tanzim, he survived multiple attempts on his life by the Israeli military.
The origins of the Tanzim (“Organization” in Arabic) lie in the leadership group of al-Fatah that remained in the so-called occupied territories while the mainstream branch of al-Fatah, led by Yasser Arafat, was based in Jordan, Lebanon and finally Tunisia.
After the 1993 Oslo Accords brought the al-Fatah and PLO leadership back to Gaza, tensions emerged. The Tanzim held political and military sway on the ground but were not included in the Palestinian Authority leadership, which was dominated by the mainstream faction of al-Fatah.
Marwan Barghouti emerged as the leader of this group that soon found itself in opposition to the “Tunisians” who excluded them from positions of leadership. Barghouti originally acted as a reformer, crusading against corruption in the PA and advocating peaceful negotiations with Israel. Samhadana kept loyal to Barghouti while with the Tanzim.
As the founder of the Popular Resistance Committees, Samhadana created a militia made up of disenchanted members of all the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip. He is blamed by Israel for a long series of attacks on settlers and soldiers. These include the destruction of three tanks by landmines in separate incidents in which seven men died.
An Israeli newspaper report once called him one of the most coveted targets of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. In a large scale attack, a lieutenant to Samhadana, Mustafa Sabah, was killed by anti-tank rockets fired from a helicopter, but the Jamal Abu Samhadana survived.
He was the field commander of the Popular Resistance Committees until early 2002, when he blew off part of his right arm while firing a rocket-propelled grenade at a Jewish settlement. A team of French surgeons (yes, Israel's enemies can always count on the French) from Médecins Sans Frontières performed a 10-hour operation, taking a bone from his left leg and inserting it below the elbow to save the injured arm.
The "Chef" has an older brother, Sammy, who was suspected by the Israelis of being the Gaza leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades when carried out some of the bloodiest of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
Jamal Abu Samhadana is one of the best trained terrorists in the world. He received three years’ training in urban warfare and explosives techniques in East Germany in the 1980s, where he studied with communist revolutionaries and terrorists from Cuba and Nicaragua. This is the man who will lead a government-recognized security force.
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