U.S. coordinated security with 'top Hamas agent'

Bush continues to fund, arm Abbas' militias 'heavily infiltrated' by terror group
Posted: July 30, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56915
By Aaron Klein
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – The director of a major Palestinian security force who coordinated security directly with U.S. officials is suspected of being an agent for the Hamas terror organization, WND has learned.

Yussef Issa, director of the Preventative Security Services, is accused by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization of working on behalf of Hamas, Fatah sources said. The PSS was the largest of the U.S.-backed Fatah security forces in Gaza until Hamas took over the territory last month. The force continues to operate in the West Bank and coordinated security there with the U.S.

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Issa was one of a handful of top Palestinian militia leaders to hold regular security meetings with Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the region, and with Dayton's U.S. team. The meetings were largely aimed at implementing the Dayton Plan, which called for the U.S. to strengthen Abbas' security forces against the rival Hamas group.

Last week, an official Fatah committee presented Abbas with a 200-page investigation into the conduct of Fatah leaders and security officers who lost the Gaza Strip to Hamas. The report found the Fatah security forces in Gaza were infiltrated by "hostile elements," including Hamas.

WND first reported on Hamas' infiltration of Fatah last April, quoting a high-ranking Palestinian intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stating Fatah is extensively infiltrated by Hamas.

A member of the Fatah inquiry committee said last week some 60 Fatah security officers would face courts-martial shortly. But Fatah sources said the actual number of suspected Hamas infiltrators was much larger.

A senior Abbas aide, Nabil Amr, who served on the committee, told reporters Fatah security forces were in a "state of infiltration" by Hamas.

Asked whether Issa was listed as a suspected Hamas agent, a member of Amr's team told WND he could not release any names. But the team member pointed out Issa has been living in Egypt since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last month, refusing to return to the Fatah-controlled West Bank, and that Abbas recently downgraded Issa from colonel to the rank of soldier.

"So there's your answer. You can infer from that what you will," said the Amr team member.

A top Preventative Security Services source in Ramallah said Issa is suspected of being "one of the most important Hamas infiltrators in Fatah."

The source said Issa and Siad Siam, who served as Hamas' Interior Minister and is a founder of Hamas' so-called Special Force militia in Gaza, both married sisters from the same family. The source speculated the family relations may have helped facilitate Issa's working on behalf of Hamas but he said Issa is suspected of accepting significant sums of money from the terror group.

"Hamas has been buying off agents at all levels both in Gaza and in the West Bank," said the Preventative source. "The buying is still going on."

Hamas last month overtook all U.S.-backed Fatah security compounds in the Gaza Strip and reportedly seized large quantities of U.S. weaponry. According to Preventative sources, one hour before Hamas seized the main Preventative Security Service building in Gaza City, Issa was smuggled out of the compound by Hamas' Special Forces.

"The bastard (Issa) was evacuated by Hamas and left his men defending the building. Fifteen Fatah soldiers were killed," said one Preventative source who fought in Gaza.

The information comes as the U.S. in recent days pledged large sums of aid to help bolster Abbas' militias and security forces in the West Bank. U.S. security coordinators continue working to arm and train Fatah militias, including the Preventative Security Services and Abbas' Force 17 Presidential Guard units. Thousands of assault rifles last week reportedly reached Fatah security compounds in the West Bank cities of Jericho and Ramallah.

Abu Abdullah, a senior member of Hamas' "military wing," told WND Fatah in the West Bank is heavily infiltrated by Hamas.

"Fatah hasn't yet touched the extent of our infiltration [of their groups] in the West Bank."

Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesman for the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terror group, told WND his group and Hamas have infiltrated "very deep" in Fatah.

"We already are planning to obtain American weapons and takeover the West Bank like we did in Gaza with help from the Palestinian resistance, including elements in Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Fatah Security Services. The Committees and Hamas has infiltrated very deep in Fatah," Abdel-El said.

Top Hamas leaders vowed to soon stage a coup in the West Bank.

"The moment of our taking control in the West Bank is not far away," said Abu Yousuf, a senior aid to Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Hineyah.

Abu Oubaida Al Jara, chief of Hamas' so-called special forces in Gaza, called on all Fatah members "not to resist because the Islamic project (Hamas) is coming very soon to the West Bank."