Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., September 12, 2008 Elul 12, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:16 (EST+7)
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'Al-Qaida intifada could make Hamas look like child's play'
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, Fatah, Al-Qaida 

Fatah leader Hussam Khader was among the prisoners Israel released last week as part of a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian Authority. He makes no secret of his loathing for the Israeli occupation, and it didn't help that Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service personnel had shown up the night before we spoke to photograph his home.

Khader, 47, is widely considered to be "the Marwan Barghouti [the jailed Fatah activist and leader] of the northern West Bank." A former member of the Palestinian parliament, Khader became a prominent political leader in the eyes of many members of Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. A poster of some of the leading figures of the intifada adorns the wall of his house: On the left is Barghouti, on the right is Khader, and in between are three leading Brigades activists. One of them, Nasser Awis, a relative of Khader's, is considered the organization's founder.

After six years in prison, Khader has kept trim. "I did a little exercise almost every day," he says. "Not like Marwan [Barghouti], who ran a lot and became thin. But I did do plenty of push-ups."
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Last week he attended a reception in his honor in Nablus. "Thousands of people came, and I shook so many hands that my hand really hurt in the end. After the rally I said I wanted to eat knafeh [a traditional dessert]. There was knafeh in jail, but it was made only of leftover bread and cheese. Just as we were going to the store, army jeeps showed up and spoiled the celebration. You have to understand that the occupation will blow up and the PA is in danger because of it."

According to Khader, "the situation is worse than ever. It is true that Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] has the security situation in Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin under control, but within minutes a new revolution could erupt here against the PA. Abu Mazen has been conducting talks for two years now, without gaining anything. The security apparatuses are working full-steam ahead to restore order in the Palestinian street, but also to preserve the security of Israeli citizens - yet Israel is giving nothing in return.

"After Abu Mazen leaves the scene, there will not be another politician like him. He believes in the peace process and in negotiations more than anyone else in the PA. Every president following him will have only two options: to resign or to embark on a military intifada. But the next intifada will not be one of stones, or even suicide bombers; it will be one of missiles and possibly even chemical weapons."

Iran connection?

Haaretz reported in December 2002 about the increasingly close relations between Iran and the Fatah military wing in the West Bank, and Khader's name was mentioned by security sources as apparently being involved. He has not forgotten this, and says that even the Shin Bet man, code-named "Abu Sharif," who interviewed him told him there was no evidence against him in that connection. Nevertheless, Khader was accused of maintaining contacts with members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and of transferring money to Amir Sawalamah, a member of the organization, to buy weapons and ammunition.

That was his 24th arrest. He was first incarcerated in 1975, when he was 14, for throwing stones at Israelis. "In prison I learned about Fatah and the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] for the first time. Small pieces of paper with a lot of ideology written on them were sewn into our shirt sleeves, and we smuggled them out of jail when we were released."

More than 10 years later, Khader became one of the leading figures in the first intifada. "Yuval Diskin, the head of the Shin Bet, was here in my house as a young Shin Bet man. I remember him telling me then that wherever I managed to recruit a new combatant, he would plant another spy. But in the end I won. To this day there are young people in every home who are ready to take up arms."

Khader was expelled from the territories in 1988, and upon on his return, in 1994 - after the signing of the Oslo Accords - he became a senior leader in the refugee camps in the northern West Bank. In 1995 he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament). Over the years he adopted an aggressively critical approach toward senior PA figures, including Yasser Arafat, something no one else in Fatah dared to do. The grass-roots situation has only worsened since his arrest, he says.

"The checkpoints are turning Nablus into hell," Khader says. "I was released from Hadarim prison, and I tell you that there is no difference today between the prison and Nablus, which is encircled by checkpoints. The expropriation of land is continuing, and so is construction in the settlements. The economic situation is bad - the poverty, the unemployment, the fear that strikes in the hearts of the people. Last week you released two veteran prisoners, and all of Palestine went wild. Imagine what will happen if you dismantle the settlements - how that will help the status of Abu Mazen. And, on the other hand, imagine what people will think if you build 1,000 more homes in the settlements."

Khader headed the PLO committee that is charged with protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees, but now says he no longer wants Jaffa as part of a future country. "I tell the Israelis: I seek only security and stability. But they must understand that the Palestinian 'revolutionaries' who relinquished the path of war against Israel are liable to return as terrorists of the Al-Qaida type. Because, you know, we will never give up our rights."

Khader's three children - Amana, 17, Amira, 14, and Ahmed, 11 - cling to him. "I promised them I would compensate them for every minute I was apart from them," he says.

In prison, he followed the Israeli media closely and documented almost every day he spent incarcerated in 125 handwritten notebooks. Despite his bitter feelings about Israel, he does not hesitate to speak up against the second intifada, of which he was a leader: "The intifada was a popular expression of the will to eradicate the occupation. It was an expression of not compromising on our demands. We thought it would lead to democracy in Palestine and end the occupation and the corruption. In actuality, it became the graveyard of the Palestinian national dream. The intifada did expel the occupation from Gaza, but it also caused a split in the Palestinian camp.

"The split and the mutual killing led to a rift in the Palestinian family. Even the smallest unit of our culture - the family - is in danger of collapse. Brother comes out against brother. The social situation is terrible. Robberies are increasing, children are smoking and drinking. But neither Hamas nor Fatah is the problem. Only the occupation. How so? Because it creates psychological, economic and security pressure."

Did Khader's lengthy term in prison, in the same wing as many senior Hamas figures, shape his views on that organization's activities against Fatah since the overturn in Gaza? "For 10 years Hamas was under direct attack by the PA and Fatah. Their newspapers were shut down, their people were assaulted physically. I know there is a radical stream in Hamas, but there is also an entire Fatah stream that cares only about its own economic interests. Many people are located in the middle. When Hamas entered parliament, people considered it a threat to their income and therefore placed obstacles in Hamas' way. Their problem was that they reacted the way they did, and in effect created a fear of the organization.

"Hamas did the same things the PA did to it, but in a far more extreme and cruel way. Its legitimization suffered, and all its attempts at explanations failed to convince even one Palestinian child. I, personally, as someone who supported Hamas' participation in politics, became fearful. I developed a phobia against political Islam."

Under the present circumstances, Khader says, "the Palestinian people cannot choose between Fatah and Hamas. But one day a Palestinian Al-Qaida is liable to arise here. That is why the Israelis need to press their government to act for peace. I tell them that if Israel embarks on the road to peace, we will go along. But if it closes that road to us, we will take bypass roads, and there we can expect many surprises."



Related articles:
  • Israeli Arab charged over Al-Qaida terror plot
  • Shin Bet chief: Palestinians too 'exhausted' for new intifada
  • Hamas: New Intifada could erupt if West fails to lift embargo
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