Hamas lying in wait

Is radical Islamic group planning West Bank takeover? Security officials fear clandestine Hamas preparations for phase two of revolution; new IDF unit aims to uncover terror group’s giant financial apparatus, but is it too late? The new unit established by the IDF’s Central command has neither a name nor a number at this time. What they do have, for now, is a grey stone building packed with piles of crates filled with papers, waiting to be translated, reviewed, and classified. Meanwhile, the cabinets are packed with confiscated computer parts. All the material in this building was gathered at various West Bank offices during the nightly raids undertaken by IDF troops at least three of four times a week at Palestinian mosques, villages, and towns.

For now, there are 20 Arabic-Hebrew translators in this unit. But everyone knows this unit will be growing and hire dozens more. There is no other choice: Gaza was already overtaken by Hamas, and unless something drastic is done, a West Bank takeover is only a matter of time.

The amazing part of this story is that these materials, which are waiting to be translated, have been in the army’s hands for a while now - receipts, bank transfers, instruction manuals, and documents attesting to ties with worldwide organizations that engage in fundraising on behalf of Hamas. However, after they were collected, there was nobody out there to translate them and address the information. Most of this material simply piled up and collected dust.

Only now, IDF officials are starting to realize that we actually have no clue about the extent and depth of Hamas’ hold in the West Bank. Or as a senior military source characterized it this week: “We still don’t know how much we don’t know in all matters pertaining to Hamas’ true power in the West Bank.”

However, the initial examination of the seemingly innocent material, which was mostly confiscated at charity foundations and mosques, produces a scary picture: A giant octopus that controls hundreds of millions of dollars coming in from all over the world – an apparatus that looks exactly like the one that led to Hamas’ Gaza takeover within several days is also up and running in the West Bank.

‘You’re detaining the wrong people’
The new unit set up by the IDF is supposed to somehow map Hamas’ civilian infrastructure, attempt to monitor the flow of funds, and cut it off. Some of the incriminating material is meant to be presented to foreign governments so that they outlaw charity foundations operating in their territory. These things were already done in the past, but not at such intensity.

Hamas’ Gaza takeover was the first time IDF officers grasped the danger. Top security officials realized that if it happened there, it can also happen in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority structure in Gaza collapsed in a matter of days, following a rapid military blow, but the entire structure was unstable for many years before that. Hamas undermined the foundations consistently. Now, officials fear this is exactly what’s happening in the West Bank as well.

Only several weeks ago, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh declared in Gaza that soon he will be praying in the government compound in Ramallah, the Muqat’a. It’s hard to know the basis for such declarations, but Israeli officials who maintain regular ties with Palestinian Authority figures say the statement aroused grave fears among Fatah leaders.

As happened in the Gaza Strip, the lethargic approach to Hamas could exact a heavy price. For example, one of the things Israel may discover is that its “most wanted” lists are no longer relevant.

“The most amazing thing that happened to us on the morning of June 15th, the day Hamas took over Gaza, was that we discovered that the people running the show in Gaza are not people we were familiar with,” says a former senior Fatah official. “They were completely different people.”

“I had a neighbor, a miserable guy that nobody paid attention to. I saw him for years; he lived across from my house. He had nothing to eat. Today, he is one of those in charge of Hamas’ central interrogation facility. He didn’t appear on any list…nobody knew about him,” the former official says. “There are hundreds like this in the West Bank too, and they’re being quiet. You’re simply detaining the wrong people.”

Is Hamas planning attacks ahead of peace conference?
The new, quiet and anonymous activists may be the biggest problem Israel and the Palestinian Authority will have to face. “Who do you think were the Hamas fighters who carried out the Gaza revolution?” asks the former Fatah official. “They were 17, 18 and 19 year old guys. Hamas invested 10 years in these boys, while we were asleep.”

“It wasn’t the Izz al-Din al-Qasasm Brigades who raised the fighters,” he adds. “It was the charity apparatus that did it, using money that arrived from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran, and charity foundations from the US, England, Belgium, and Germany, with money transfers from Switzerland.”

“You examine a seemingly innocent foundation and monitor its moves,” says an Israeli security official, “and you discover money transfers from Switzerland – 20,000 euros here, another 10,000 euros there, and so forth. Such foundation handed out $5 million for various projects in the West Bank in 2005. How much of this money reached the poor people and how much reached terrorists? There’s a question mark there. Today, with field activists yearning for weapons…this money is oxygen. Hamas buys everything.”

“Izz al-Din al-Qassam is not operating in the West Bank…because it decided not to operate there,” says the security official. “They are sitting there quietly, organizing, rearming, and waiting.”

This wait is particularly worrisome, especially because of its similarity to the Hamas waiting period ahead of the huge eruption in Gaza. “We used to see them training at night,” says a former Palestinian security official. “We asked why, and they said they were preparing for the Israelis. As it turned out, they were not preparing for Israel – they were preparing to face Fatah. In the West Bank too, the preparations are first of all against Fatah.”

Publicly, the Fatah leadership shows contempt to Hamas’ power in the West Bank. In Israel too we can find observers who claim that there is a tendency to exaggerate Hamas’ strength within Palestinian society. Yet if tomorrow morning Hamas decides to embark on a military move to topple the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, will it succeed as it did in Gaza? There is not even one Israeli security official willing to take the risk of providing a clear answer. In the West Bank, Hamas has been building its military capabilities clandestinely. It has not disappeared. Rather, it’s waiting for the right time.

At this time, security officials estimate that ahead of the peace conference in Annapolis, Hamas will attempt to carry out painful terror attacks. Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif indeed spoke recently about painful attacks within Israel, but officials estimate that the attacks are actually planned against Israeli targets in the West Bank.

Israeli officials believe that Hamas is not yet ready for an all-out clash against the IDF in the West Bank. The arrests and manhunts are making it difficult for Hamas to operate. It’s not yet ready to come out of the woodwork. Yet it’s only a matter of time before it does.