GOC Southern Command Major General Yoav Galant has confirmed that Iranian terror and guerrilla experts are in the Gaza Strip training Palestinian terror organizations. Galant says the Iranians are the source of most of the know-how coming to the West Bank, Lebanon and Iraq on the use of land mines, explosives and anti-tank missiles.

The crux of Maj.-Gen. Galant's remarks, delivered at a lecture at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a Middle East policy think-tank headed by Dore Gold, were published by the center last week.

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Galant said terrorists move freely between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and from there to Syria, Lebanon and Iran for training. "Iranians also come to Gaza to inspect the situation and hold training exercises." he said.

Galant contends that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, has already become an Iranian organization, and that Iran has had a similar influence on the Islamic Jihad.

Galant said he believes a large number of Iranian terror experts are operating in the Gaza Strip, receiving know-how, money and equipment from abroad, mainly from Iran, to carry out attacks on Israel.

Galant said Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees are investing major efforts in sending suicide bombers into Israel. Hamas is not active right now, "but is ready to attack at a moment's notice."

He said Hamas smuggled 30 tons of explosives from Sinai to the Gaza Strip last year for use against Israel.

Galant added that Israel believed the Gaza Strip "would remain unstable because of certain basic factors having to do with population, territory, and resources." Unlike these basics, however, "the ideology is the Palestinians' choice. They choose to follow Hamas and this is part of the problem.

After Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Galant said, "the Palestinians were left with natural gas, greenhouses, and fields. In other words, they had the option to take another route. However, they chose terror and elected Hamas."