The Palestinian Authority, aided by international donors, will attempt to open official institutions in Jerusalem within weeks, PA officials said. Hatem Abdel Khader, a leader of Palestinian Authority President Mahmad Abbas’s Fatah party and a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, held a meeting Sunday with Fatah activists in Jerusalem in which he declared the PA would start officially acting in Jerusalem. Official PA minutes of the meeting, obtained by WorldNetDaily, announced the launching of “practical PA activities in Jerusalem such as those that took place before the closing of Orient House in Jerusalem by Israeli Occupation Authorities.” In line with previous Israeli-Palestinian accords, the PA has been barred from conducting political activity in Jerusalem, although it maintained an office, called Orient House, in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood that previously functioned as de facto PA headquarters. Orient House was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem and information that Israel said indicated that the House was used to plan and fund terrorism. PA Works to Thwart Jewish Construction The PA has formed an intelligence apparatus to halt Jewish construction and property ownership in eastern sections of Jerusalem, Fatah’s Khader announced this week. The PA intelligence arm consists of activists who work in Jerusalem to identify Israeli Arabs willing to sell land to Jews, the sources said. A potential Arab seller is warned against doing business with Jewish groups. The sources did not specify particular measures the PA might take against any Arabs working to sell property to Jews, but in the past, cases have been made public in which Arabs have been killed or tortured for such activity. Fatah’s Hero The declared military wing of Abbas’s Fatah organization has formed a cell named after assassinated Hizbullah arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh. Fatah’s Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades took responsibility for a shooting attack this week against an Israeli bus in the northern West Bank. No one was injured in the shooting. Brigades leaders told WND the attack was perpetuated by a new cell of their group calling itself the “Cells of the Martyr Mughniyeh.” The new Mughniyeh cell consists entirely of Fatah gunmen from the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, said the Brigades leaders. While the U.S. considers Fatah to be moderate, Mughniyeh was number one on Israel’s most-wanted list of terrorists and topped the FBI’s most wanted list as well. He was killed in a bomb blast in Syria last week. (See story, page 3.) Syria Involved In Mugniyeh Assassination? The Syrian government was involved in the assassination last week of Hizbullah arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt charged in an exclusive interview with this column. “The Syrians were involved of course. Just look at where he was killed, right next to [Syrian government buildings]. He was getting out of a meeting with the Syrians,” said Jumblatt, who is head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party and is largely considered one of the most prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians. “I can’t tell you why they killed him, it could be for many reasons. Mughniyeh was becoming a risk for Syria. They were involved,” Jumblatt said. He did not rule out the possibility Israel also was involved, stating the Jewish state “had many scores to settle” with Mughniyeh.
Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.com. He appears throughout the week on leading U.S. radio programs and is the author of the recently published book “Schmoozing with Terrorists.