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Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigade (al-Aqsa |
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Abu Sayyaf, are al
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Ground Information
The al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigade consists of an unknown number of small
cells of terrorists associated with
former Palestinian
leader Yasir Arafat’s al-Fatah faction and have been one
of the driving forces behind the latest Palestinian
intifada
(uprising). While the group initially vowed to target only
Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, in early 2002 it began a spree of terrorist attacks
against civilians in Israeli cities. In March 2002, after
a deadly al-Aqsa Brigades suicide bombing in Jerusalem
the United states added them to their list of terrorist
entities.
Al-Aqsa
emerged at the outset of the 2000 Palestinian intifadah to
attack Israeli targets with the aim of driving the Israeli
military and settlers from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and
Jerusalem, and to establish a Palestinian state. Al-Aqsa
operates in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, and has
only claimed attacks inside these three areas. It may have
followers in Palestinian refugee camps in southern
Lebanon. In the last year, numerous public accusations
suggest Iran and Hizballah are providing support to al-Aqsa
elements, but the extent of external influence on al-Aqsa
as a whole is not clear. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade is not a
Muslim extremist group.
The al-Aqsa Brigades commit the same suicide bombings
widely associated with Muslim fundamentalist groups such
as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but the group’s
ideology is rooted in Palestinian nationalism, not
political Islam. In early 2002, the al-Aqsa Brigades’
attacks killed more Israelis than those of Hamas.
The al-Aqsa are paired by Fatah organization with a
larger propaganda group connected to it consisting of
young, radical Fatah-Tanzim activists. The Tanzims
have gained much support from the Palestinian public. |
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Yasir Arafat
Arafat is
given credit for creating the Al-Aqsa to provide a
show of force to Israel's attacks on Palestinians. |
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Palestinians see it as a grass-root, popular movement,
unlike the Palestinian Authority, which is constructed of
officials that were in exile until the signing of the Oslo
accords in 1993.
The true relationship this group shared with Yasir
Arafat today remains ambiguous, largely due to
conflicting statements from various leaders from
within Al-Aqsa |
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| Allowing the al-Aqsa
brigade to operate, in an attempt to make life
difficult for the Israeli army, Mr Arafat may have
made both a crucial military and political
miscalculation. Israeli responses to attacks by the
al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and other Palestinian
militant groups were the heavy attacks against the
Palestinian Authority during 2002, which saw much of
the authority's infrastructure fall into shambles and
chaos. |
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Leadership and Organization |
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Broken up into local divisions spread throughout
Palestinian cities. Each cell has it's own leadership
with various degrees of connection to Fatah Organization.
In remarks in the past various leaders in the cells have
contradicted the degree of control over them by Fatah.
Many leaders have been killed since 2002 through clashes
and attacks by Israeli defense forces |
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Major Acts of Terrorism |
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The al-Aqsa Martyrs'
Brigade has organized some of the most gruesome terrorist
attacks in Israel, most notably during the escalation of
violence in 2001 and 2002. During that period, the al-Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigade increased the level of its cooperation
with other terrorist organizations like Hamas and Islamic
Jihad.
Al-Aqsa has carried out shootings and suicide operations
against Israeli civilians and military personnel in Israel
and the Palestinian territories, rocket and mortar attacks
against Israel and Israeli settlements from the Gaza
Strip, and the killing of Palestinians suspected of
collaborating with Israel. Al-Aqsa has killed a number of
US citizens, the majority of them dual US-Israeli
citizens, in its attacks. In January 2002, al-Aqsa was the
first Palestinian terrorist group to use a female suicide
bomber. |
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| Al-Aqsa Terrorist sprayed fire from an
M-16 at a bat mitzvah celebration in Hadera, killing six
people and wounding dozens more (Jan. 17, 2002) |
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| An al-Aqsa sniper killed 10 soldiers and
civilians at a checkpoint in a two-day string of
Palestinian attacks that killed 21 Israelis (Mar. 3-4,
2002 |
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| Al-Aqsa gunfire and grenade attack on cars
and pedestrians that killed an infant girl and a
27-year-old man, and injured about 50 people, several
seriously, in the coastal city of Netanya (Mar.9, 2002) |
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| Al-Aqsa killing of nine people, at least
three of them children, in a bomb blast in Jerusalem,
timed to catch people after Sabbath services (Mar. 2,
2002). |
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On April 2, 2002 Israel made public an
invoice that was found among documents taken by Israeli
troops in Arafat's Ramallah compound. The invoice, titled
"Financial Report" and dated September 16, 2001, appears
to be a bill to the Palestinian Authority from the al-Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigade. It requests from Arafat's government
payment for electrical and chemical components for 30
bombs: "We need about 5-9 bombs a week for our cells in
various areas." The payment was approved.
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al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigade Links on the Web: |
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Israel
The State of Israel was established 60 years ago on
May 15, 1948. For 60 Years the World has lived with the
Arab - Israeli Conflict. A look into the history of the
conflict |
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Hamas
HAMAS
was formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian
branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Various HAMAS elements
have used both violent and political means, including
terrorism, to pursue the goal of establishing an Islamic
Palestinian state in Israel. |
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Letter dated 16 January 2002 from the Permanent
Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed
to the Secretary-General |
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Recommended Reading |
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The chairman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization has long puzzled observers
Arafat's
success derives from his being able to create a myth in
which his own personality fuses with the Palestinian cause.. |
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