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| Axis of Evil |
| Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority Meet in Iran |
| 2002-06-11 |
| Iran has decided to increase its financial aid to some organizations that oppose peace efforts in the Middle East. Iran has allocated a special budget for the support of some Palestinian groups who lost their sources of funding when the Soviet Union and the communist bloc collapsed, and when Libya stopped providing material support to the Palestinian organizations. A source very close to the Revolutionary Guards said that the leader of the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad movement, Ramadhan Shalah, had visited Iran last week heading a large delegation that included the Islamic Jihad leadership, Hamas representatives, and Ahmad Jibril, leader of the PFLP - General Command, to participate in a symposium held in Tehran in support of the Intifada. The Palestinian Authority was represented by PA Communication Minister Imad Al-Falluji. [The symposium] was overseen by 'Ali Akbar Muhtashemi, former Iranian ambassador to Syria and interior minister, known as 'the midwife of Hizbullah' due to his role in the movement's off shoot from Syrian backed Lebanese movement. [Shalah] met twice with Supreme [Iranian] Leader 'Ali Khamenei who promised him that his movement's budget would be separated from the Hizbullah budget, and would be expanded by 70% to cover the expense of recruiting young Palestinians for suicide operations. Well, that's comforting news. Sure clears up a lot of those troublesome "are they directly involved or aren't they?" arguments... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |