Palestinians arrest journalist for telling truth about terror attack

WorldNetDaily, January 7, 2003

A television correspondent who reported that Yasser Arafat's Fatah group claimed responsibility for the double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on Sunday has been arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Al-Jazeera reporter Seif al Din Shahin said his information came from a Fatah activist called Abu Kusai who claimed the group's terrorist wing, Al Aqsa's Martyrs' Brigades, conducted the bombings that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100.

The Brigades published an official claim of responsibility on its website, which included names of the bombers.

While Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, Yasser Arafat's militia took responsibility for the attack, identifying the two bombers as Nablus residents Burak Hilsa and Samar A-Nuri.
"The two martyrs managed to cross all the Zionist army roadblocks and reached the heart of Tel Aviv. One blew his pure body up at the old central bus station, and the other blew himself up in another nearby street," the message said.

The statement said that it was a double martyrdom operation that killed the highest number of "the Zionist occupiers on the land of Palestine." The group vowed to continue suicide bombing attacks, adding that the attacks "would be a revenge for the massacres carried out by Sharon against our innocent people."

Palestinian officials, however, were outraged by Shahin's report Sunday night.

At 2 a.m., about 20 members of the Palestinian Authority's General Intelligence raided the offices of the Qatari television station while Shahin was working. The 34-year-old reporter was taken to a detention center in Gaza City where he is undergoing questioning.

Although the bombings occurred in Tel Aviv, Arabic News described the victims, which included many foreigners, as "Israel settlers."

Palestinian security officials said the correspondent was apprehended on direct instructions from Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, according to a report from Jerusalem by the Calgary Herald.

Arafat funds his Fatah group, the ruling party in the West Bank and Gaza, from foreign aid, including contributions from the European Union.

The officials accused Shahin of "inflicting damage to the interests and reputation of the Palestinian people and their struggle" by reporting a telephone conversation with a member of Al-Aqsa who claimed responsibility for the attack, the Post said.

Shahin said in a hurried telephone interview that he was inside a room where a General Intelligence officer made "a strange request, to provide the source of the phone call to Al-Jazeera," according to the Herald.
"I believe the decision to arrest me is a political one," he said. "I'm being treated well."

However, lawyers representing human-rights organizations were barred from seeing the correspondent.

In a statement, the Foreign Press Association called for the immediate release of Shahin, "who, from all indications, was arrested for doing his job as a journalist."

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights called the arrest "a serious breach of freedom of the press."

Shahin's colleagues said it was his first arrest, but noted that the Palestinian Authority had regularly harassed journalists working for al-Jazeera and other independent media in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Jerusalem newspaper said.

Below is the full text of the announcement by the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade taking responsibility for the attack. The announcement was published on their official website.

"In the name of the merciful and compassionate Allah

The Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade

The Military Wing of the Fatah Movement

Palestine

Allah is Great, Allah is Great, Allah is Great

Military Announcement of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade

The Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade claims full responsibility for the two suicide operations in the heart of Tel Aviv.

In the continuation of the struggle and death in order to follow the path of Allah, with the help of Allah and with the faith in the calling of the holy Jihad one of the suicide units, which included the two suicide attackers - Burak Rifat Abed El-Rahman Halifa and Samer Imad Muhammad Ibrahim El-Nuri - from city of Nablus, succeeded this evening (5 Dec. 2003) to infiltrate the Zionist roadblocks and to enter the heart of the confiscator [of Muslim rights] in Tel Aviv and carried out two consecutive suicide attacks.
The first suicide attacker blew his pure body up in the street was full of people and immediately following the second suicide attacker blew himself up on an adjacent road. These suicide attacks cause a large number of fatalities and casualties in the center of the Zionist occupation of our land.

We swear before our people [the Palestinians] that additional suicide operations will occur [soon]

The Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade - Saying and doing, promising and building

The People's Army

The Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade

Palestine, 5 January 2003."