Congresswoman: Safeguard US aid to Abbas

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East, says America must make sure weapons, financial aid reportedly being given to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Force 17 personal security detail do not wind up in possession of Palestinian terror groups

The United States must provide safeguards to ensure American weapons and financial aid reportedly being given to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Force 17 personal security detail do not wind up in the possession of Palestinian terror groups, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East, told WND.

Ros-Lehtinen was responding to a WND exclusive interview last week in which Abu Yousuf, a Force 17 officer, said weapons and aid the US may provide to his group could be shared with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization, the declared "military wing" of Fatah.

Abu Yousuf, who also serves in the Al Aqsa Brigades, hinted previous American assault rifles sent by the US to Force 17 in May were used in a spate of shooting attacks against Israeli civilians.

"We cannot be blinded to the fact that in this case, there is a propensity that US assistance could, whether deliberately or inadvertently, find its way to extremist groups," said Ros-Lehtinen.

"With the representation within the ranks of Abbas' Fatah party of militants with ties to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, there is a potential that our own weapons could later be used against our ally, Israel and potentially against US priorities in the region.

"As such, I am committed to working with my colleagues to ensure that, if such assistance is provided, proper safeguards and monitoring are in place to avoid diversion of weapons and resources into the hands of Islamist jihadists operating in the Palestinian territories or working with Hamas and other entities classified by the US as foreign terrorist organizations," Ros-Lehtinen said

While I would like to thank the Congresswoman for a job well done I can’t, she is just not informed enough to understand who and what Force 17 is. The information I will post below was information I obtained by doing a Google search on Force 17 and not from any Israeli sources that may or may not be classified.

In other words the information below is all open source information that is available for every one to see if they will to learn who and what Force 17 is.

Force 17 Terrorist Mohand Said Muniyer Diriya
(Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)
March 5, 2002

On Tuesday evening (March 5) in Ramallah, the IDF targeted Force 17
terrorist Mohand Said Muniyer Diriya. Diriyah, 22, was from Akraba
(Bekaot), and was a member of Force 17 in Ramallah and Tanzim leader
Marwan Barghouti's operations officer. Another cell member, Fawzi
Hamdi Mustafa Maher, 27, from Ramallah, was killed along with
Diriyah, as was Oman Kaidan, another Force 17 member.

Diriya became involved in terrorist activity at the end of October
2000. He was a member of a Ramallah-based terrorist cell along with
other Force 17 members. The cell was active since September 2000 and
perpetrated a number of murderous terrorist attacks against Israeli
citizens in Jerusalem, the Ramallah area and the northern West Bank.
Diriya personally took part in the following terror attacks, many
along with Fawzi Maher:

1. 30.10.2000 - A shooting attack in the branch of the National
Insurance building in eastern Jerusalem. A security guard,
Eish-Kodesh Gilmore, 25, from Mevoh Modi'in was killed, and another
guard was wounded.

2. 13.11.2000 - A shooting attack from a passing car on a bus of
soldiers near the community of Ofra. In the attack, Elad Wallenstein,
18 from Ashkelon and Amit Zaneh, 19 from Netanya were killed and
other soldiers were wounded. Immediately afterwards, there was a
shooting attack from a passing car near the community of Ofra in
which Sarah Leisha from Neve Tzuf was killed.

3. 24.11.2000 - A shooting attack in an ambush on Tapuah Junction. In
the attack, Ariel Jeraffi, 42 from Petah Tikva was killed.

4. 1.12.2000 - A shooting attack on a bus on its way to Shilo at the
French Hill junction.

5. 12.12.2000 - A shooting attack on an Israeli vehicle at Bekaot
junction; one person was wounded lightly in the head.

6. 17.12.2000 - A shooting attack on an Israeli vehicle at Yabed
junction, one person was wounded lightly in the head and hand.

7. 21.12.2000 - A shooting attack on route 433 Modi'in-Jerusalem
road, in which Eliahu Cohen, 30 from Modi'in, was killed.

8. 24.12.2000 - A shooting attack on an Israeli vehicle traveling on
the Atarot bypass road from the direction of Givat Ze'ev.

9. 31.12.2000 - A shooting attack on the Ramallah bypass road south
of Ofra. In the attack, Talia and Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane were killed.

10. 27.2.2001 - A shooting attack on the Givat Ze'ev-Atarot route. In
the attack, an Israeli girl was seriously wounded and two others were
wounded lightly.

11. March 2001 - Diriya placed a roadside bomb adjacent to the Surda
junction. The bomb was activated at an IDF patrol.

12. 12.6.2001 - Diriya dispatched the cell that carried out the
attack on the Ma'aleh Adumim road in which a Greek-Orthodox monk was
killed.

Following these incidents, Diriya continued in his terrorist
activities, and was promoted to become Marwan Barghouti's operations
officer. In this capacity, he directed and initiated the following
terrorist operations, in which Fawzi Maher also participated:

1. The murder of an Israeli citizen on the Atarot-Givat Ze'ev road in
January 2002.

2. The dispatching of a female suicide bomber near the Maccabim
checkpoint on February 27, 2002.

The following information is from Wikipedia:

Force 17 is an elite VIP protection unit of the Palestinian Fatah movement and later of the Office of the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. It is also known to be a terrorist organization.

Force 17 was formed in the early 1970s by senior Fatah militant Ali Hassan Salameh (Abu Hassan)

Unlike various units formed within Fatah previously the premise of Force 17 was assasinating Israeli political figures. The importance of such a unit was made clear by the humiliating losses suffered by the PLO leadership in Operation Spring of Youth (1973). Force 17 was used by Fatah to protect PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, his top lieutenants, as well as diplomats of the organization. They accompanied Arafat during his 1974 address to the United Nations in New York City.

As we can now see Force 17 was started with the idea of assassinating Israeli political leaders and that as noted above are still in the business of terrorism. So why is America giving these people weapons when we know the last time America gave Force 17 weapons within weeks these weapons were used to murder innocent Israeli civilians.

Lastly the man behind the bombing of the Marines in Beirut and the hijacking of a TWA aircraft that resulted in the death of an U.S. Navy sailor who is on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorist, one Immad Mugniyeh. Started out with Force 17 before he switched over to Hizbullah to continue his reign of terror.