Islamic Jihad planning terror campaign for Muslim, Jewish holidays

By Aaron Klein
September 12, 2006

Israeli security officials say there are very serious indications the Islamic Jihad terror group is planning a string of anti-Israeli attacks, including suicide bombings, throughout the Muslim holiday month of Ramadan.

Ramadan this year begins Sept. 23 and coincides with the almost month-long series of Jewish holidays, including Rosh Hashana (Sept. 23); Yom Kippur (Oct. 2) and Sukkot (Oct. 7-14).

Khaled al-Batch, an Islamic Jihad operative in the northern Samaria terror stronghold of Jenin, confirmed to the Galil Report his terror group's intentions.

"We will turn the Israelis lives into a living hell," al-Batch said.

He declined to give any specifics.

Israeli security officials say Islamic Jihad has been directed by Iran to carry out suicide bombings, shootings and other attacks to cause a deterioration in the security situation in Israel and to distract international attention from Tehran's nuclear agenda.

Security analysts say Islamic Jihad is seeking to take advantage of Hamas' current political situation. Hamas is bogged down by the Israeli ground and air siege in Gaza, ongoing since June, and the arrest of many of the group's top leaders. Hamas is in serious negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party regarding the establishment of a national unity government that will in some form need to tacitly recognize Israel or agree to some sort of negotiations. An Islamic Jihad terror campaign now will position the group as the foremost Palestinian Islamist organization.

The Galil Report has learned from terror sources that top leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin and the Balata refugee camp in Nablus are coordinating stages of the Ramadan terror campaign with Islamic Jihad.

Israeli officials are taking the information seriously. The past three weeks Israeli security forces have arrested or killed five Islamic Jihad leaders in Jenin, including three Israel says were senior planners of the terror campaign. Security forces also have been cracking down on the Al Aqsa Brigades, killing four of its members the past 15 days.

Israeli security forces are expected to continue their crackdown of Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa leaders in the coming days.