Israel nabs top Hamas fundraiser
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yaakov katz and rebecca stoil, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 27, 2005--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Shin Bet and the Israel Police's International Serious Crimes Unit have arrested a Hamas activist from Jenin suspected of distributing millions of dollars in donations from abroad to support terror activity against Israel, police released for publication Sunday.
Ahmad Saltana, also known as Abu Asama, was arrested on September 25 during an IDF operation in Jenin. Saltana, 43, ran an organization that claimed to distribute funds channeled through Moslem charity groups worldwide for "sick and poor families" and humanitarian causes.
The fund that Saltana headed had an annual budget of $1 million dollars that was earmarked for families of "shahids" (Moslem terrorists and suicide bombers who died as a result of their terror activity), Palestinian prisoners, and Hamas activists.
Saltana, who was indicted Sunday morning in the IDF military court in Salem, served a three-year prison term from 1993 to 1996 for his involvement in Hamas terror activity. He has worked for the past 16 years at the Charity Committee in Jenin, and served as its head for the past 9.
Police said that Saltana's arrest would serve as a severe blow to terror funding in the West Bank.
"The suspect's arrest deals a severe blow to the Hamas infrastructure in Jenin, which is an inseparable part of the organization, which attempts to disguise itself as working to improve the economic and civil status of the Palestinian people while really encouraging terror."Police said that they hoped that Saltana's arrest and the cessation of funding to families of "shahids" would decrease the motivation of youth in Jenin - which police dubbed "the capital of suicide bombers" - to perpetrate terror attacks.
Among the families that received assistance from Saltana was that of the mastermind behind the 2001Sbarro pizza restaurant bombing in Jerusalem, in which 15 people were murdered and 107 were wounded. The organization also provided money to families of heads of the Hamas military section who were killed in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
The Charity Committee in Jenin was outlawed in 2002 by the IDF commander of Judea and Samaria as part of the IDF crackdown on terror funding. Despite the order, the charity never closed its doors and continued to serve as a conduit for the transfer of money from abroad to Hamas.
The funds were collected through various non-profit charity funds in Europe, Arab countries and the United States.
Police noted that the US foundations that transferred money to the Jenin organization continued to operate without disruption, despite a presidential order that they cease funding terror-related activity.
Among the European funds named by police as transferring millions of Euros to Saltana's organization were Human Appeal International and Interpal in the United Kingdom; Charitable Committee for Supporting Palestine (CBSP) in France; the Charitable Association for Supporting Palestinian People (ABSPP) in Italy; and the al-Aksa Establishment in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and other countries.
Lt.-Cmdr. Amichai Shai, head of the police's International Serious Crimes unit, said that while the individual donors may have been ignorant as to the true use of the funds, "those who started the charities knew exactly where the money was going."
All the funds, police said, operate under an umbrella organization called the Charity Coalition, which is responsible for financing Hamas terror activity. The heads of the organization are Khaled Muhammad Ahmad al-Shouli, who runs the French fund CBSP and Assam Yusuf Haber ben-Amni, head of Interpal. The founder of he charity is the Qatari radical Muslim preacher Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qarzawi.
Many of the same organizations - including the al-Aksa Institutions, Interpal and the Charity Coalition - were also found to be primary funders of the Charitable Association in Ramallah - another "charity" organization with direct ties to Hamas, whose assets were seized in February 2004 raids after the organization was outlawed in 2002.
The Interpal website describes the organization as "a non-political, non-profit making British charity that focuses solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy of Palestine the world over, primarily in Palestine and the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon."
Israeli officials have been pressing Britain for over a year to close the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund (Interpal), an organization the US has labeled a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist' entity and which raises millions of dollars each year, money Shalom said goes directly to support terror.
Similarly, the UK-based HAI discusses in its website the "Families Sponsorship Programme" which supports families whose "breadwinner…loses his/her regular source of income either due to unforeseen circumstances such as redundancy or disability."
It calls on British donors to sponsor a family for 50 pounds per month.
Of the fourteen countries listed as currently hosting family sponsorships from HAI, all are states in which there are active jihadist and terror organizations