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| Israelis, in Raid on Arab Banks, Seize Reputed Terrorist Funds | |
| 2004-02-25 | |
| EFL Israeli forces raided Arab banks on Wednesday in Ramallah, on the West Bank, seizing millions of dollars representing hundreds of institutional and personal accounts that Israel said were financing Palestinian terrorism. Heh heh - use it to buy cement for the wall It was by far the largest such seizure during more than three years of conflict. Witnesses said soldiers covered the banks’ security cameras with black plastic bags and herded all the employees together before ordering workers with keys to open the vaults. Sure it was the Israelis? sounds like Willie Loman
they were the personal savings of small unarmed children and rescue centers for baby ducks In Washington, the State Department criticized the raid. "Some of these actions that were taken risk destabilizing the Palestinian banking system," said Richard A. Boucher, the department spokesman. "So we’d prefer to see Israeli coordination with the Palestinian financial authorities." A senior Israeli security official said the money, in various currencies, was still being counted. He said that the total was probably between $6.7 million and $9 million, and that the amount taken from the vaults equaled the sums held in what Israeli intelligence had identified as suspect accounts. Palestinian and Israeli security officials said the Israelis entered branches of the Arab Bank and the Cairo Amman Bank, which are both Jordanian. Palestinian officials said the Israeli troops brought bank computer experts who had been arrested overnight Tuesday to help guide them through the systems. The action, which was led by the Shin Bet security service and included Israeli police forces and the army, recalled Israel’s approach to controlling the occupied territories more than a decade ago, before the Oslo peace process began. It demonstrated the extent of the breakdown between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which was formed under the Oslo accords to govern and police Palestinians in areas like Ramallah. Israeli officials said the raid also pointed to the changing nature of Palestinian militant groups, which they said were becoming less ideological and more entrepreneurial, with perpetrators earning specific sums for particular attacks. The senior security official said interrogations of arrested militants showed that an attack might bring its Palestinian planners a minimum of 3,000 to 5,000 shekels, or $673 to $1,122. He also said Israeli intelligence indicated that much of the seized money had come from Iran, funneled through the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. The Israeli defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, released a statement late Wednesday saying the seized money would be spent on "humanitarian goals in Palestinian society," like health services, food and "improving the infrastructure at crossing points and checkpoints." The banks were silent about the incident. In January 2003, Israeli forces took about $7,000 from a branch of the Arab Bank in a Palestinian neighborhood just outside Jerusalem. Officials knowledgeable about the incident said the Bush administration privately rebuked Israel after Jordan complained. Mr. Haddad, the banker, was voluble in his criticism, saying: "This is against all laws and norms. They acted like gangs." Israeli officials said they had alerted Palestinian officials before storming the banks, but Mr. Haddad denied any advance warning. Mr. Boucher said, "According to both Palestinians and Israelis, the operation was not coordinated in any way with the Palestinian financial authorities." The senior Israeli security official, said the Palestinian Authority briefly froze some accounts linked to terrorism last year, but then unfroze them. He said that the Palestinian Authority was not helping Israel at all with counterterrorism and that there was no chance it would have helped in this case. Tightening the financial screws - I love it! | |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #2 Shall I file for tax returns in Israel, pretty please? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-2-25 10:27:09 PM |
| #1 He said that the total was probably between $6.7 million and $9 million... Shit. That wouldn't cover Suha's Paris restaurant tabs for a year... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-2-25 10:13:50 PM |