Israel Matzav

Your tax dollars at work: Jamas Tarawi

Yesterday, a member of 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen's 'moderate' Fatah movement - the same one with whom Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert wants to reach a 'final status' agreement by November - was convicted of dispatching a suicide terrorist from his home in Shchem (Nablus) to Tel Aviv in 2002. Rachel Tcherkhi (also spelled Charhi) HY"D (may God avenge her blood) of Bat Yam (pictured at top left) was murdered in the attack.

Apr 4, 2002 - Rachel Charhi, 36, of Bat-Yam, died five days after being critically injured in a suicide bombing in a cafe on the corner of Allenby and Bialik streets in Tel-Aviv on March 30. Some 30 others were injured in the attack. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility.

Rachel and her husband Ben-Zion, who was among the injured, saw the terrorist and tried to escape but did not succeed, reported Rachel's siblings.

Rachel was a secretary at an accounting firm. Her daughter had often suggested she quit her job so as not to have to ride the busses, but Rachel told her not to worry. On the day of the attack, Rachel and Ben-Zion thought to dine in a different cafe but chose My Coffee Shop instead, since it was less crowded.

Rachel was buried in the Yarkon cemetery in Tel-Aviv. She is survived by her husband Benzion, daughter Kinneret 14 and sons Ariel 13 and Barak 7.

Abu Mazen's friend who was convicted yesterday of dispatching Charhi's murderer from his living room is one Jamas (or Jamil - I've seen it both ways) Tarawi, who was not only a member in good standing of Fatah, but was one of its representatives in the 'Palestinian Parliament.' President Bush and Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert's insistence that Abu Mazen is a 'man of peace' and that Fatah is 'moderate' and deserving of a 'peace agreement,' would make Tarawi's conviction worth noting by themselves. But there's something even more sinister that needs to be fleshed out here.

WorldNetDaily is reporting that Tarawi wasn't just a back bench legislator for Fatah. Tarawi was also a Fatah 'intelligence' officer and the head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade (which some people refer to as Fatah's 'militant wing' as if there is a wing that is not militant) in the Shchem Nablus area. And this wasn't his only terror attack.

You agree that's interesting, but you wondered why I mention tax dollars in the title of this post. You feel cheated because you thought this was going to be about your tax dollars. Well, don't feel cheated. You see, Mr Tarawi has another friend with a much more American-sounding name than Abu Mazen's. Mr. Tarawi's other friend is named General Keith Dayton.

Tarawi was convicted in an Israeli military court of having been an accomplice in a suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv cafe in March 2002 in which an Israeli woman was killed. The indictment stated the suicide bomber was sent directly from Tarawi's home in Nablus to Tel Aviv.

Tarawi also was accused of recruiting several successful suicide bombers who carried out attacks between 2000 and 2002 and of carrying out multiple shootings against Israeli civilians and soldiers in the West Bank, including against Jewish worshippers at Joseph's Tomb, Judaism's third holiest site, which is located next to Nablus. Israel retreated from the Tomb in 2000 following a series of shootings perpetuated by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

In his role as a Fatah intelligence official, Tarawi's unit coordinated security with American agencies, including the offices of Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the region. Tarawi's uncle, Tifiq [or Tafiq. CiJ], is chief of Fatah's intelligence agencies; Jamal was seen as Tifiq's potential successor and served as one of his main deputies.

Jamal Tarawi's intelligence unit in Ramallah reportedly received shipments of U.S. military aid, including thousands of high-powered assault rifles. Tarawi, who has granted in-person interviews with WND, himself carried a U.S. assault rifle.

But President Bush and Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice (and their friends in Europe) will go on deluding themselves that Abu Mazen's Fatah is anything but a terrorist organization. And Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert couldn't give a damn what Fatah is as long as it keeps him in office.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:50 AM