GAZA (Talon News) -- Earlier this week, meetings were held between representatives of the World Bank and the Palestinian Ministry of Education regarding significant World Bank investment in PA universities.
But according to Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), "While governmental and international aid agencies have repeatedly imposed regulations and safeguards to try to prevent inadvertent funding or promotion of Palestinian terrorists, many aid organizations do in fact fund terror promotion."
Marcus maintains that the World Bank is ignoring, or is possibly unaware of, the fact that the very PA universities they will be strengthening all have official student branches of Hamas (called Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyah) and Islamic Jihad (called Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah), both terrorist organizations found on the U.S. and E.U. terrorist lists.
"The World Bank will be building the university infrastructures that will be used by student terrorist organizations to form the backbone of suicide terrorism in coming years," said Marcus in a recent report. "The Hamas and Islamic Jihad student branches at the PA universities have historically been a breeding ground for terrorists, as campus structures are used to promote murder and terror, and to recruit and plan terrorist activities."
"For example," points out Marcus. "[It] was Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) at the Al-Najah University that created the horrific celebration of the 2001 Sbarro Pizza bombing by building a mock pizza parlor and decorating the walls and tables with images of pizza and body parts."
The PMW report lists numerous examples of terrorists who are products of Palestinian Authority university organizations:
-- Mahmud Shuraytakh: Chairman of Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) and of the Student Council at Bir Zeit University. Planned a suicide attack on a bus in Tel Aviv Sept. 19, 2002, in which six Israelis were murdered and 71 injured.
-- Ihab Abdul-Qadir Mahmud Abu Salim: Arab Language student and a member of Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) at Bir Zeit University. Carried out a suicide attack at Zerifin Sept. 9, 2003, in which eight Israelis were murdered and about 20 injured.
-- Daya Muhammad Hussein Al-Tawil: Engineering student at Bir Zeit University and a member of Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas). Carried out a suicide attack at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem March 27, 2001, in which 29 Israelis were injured.
-- Ramiz Ubaid: Student and a member of Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyyah (Islamic Jihad) at Bir Zeit University. Carried out a suicide attack at Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv March 3, 1996, in which 13 Israelis were murdered and 118 injured.
-- Hamid Abu Hajlah: Engineering student and a member of Al-Kutlah Al-Islamiyyah (Hamas) at Al-Najah University. Carried out a suicide attack in Netanya on Jan. 1, 2001, in which three Israelis were injured.
-- Ramiz Abu Salim: Hamas activist and a student at Al-Quds Open University branch in Al-Birah. Carried out a suicide attack at Kafe Hillel in Jerusalem Sept. 9, 2003, in which seven Israelis were murdered and about 20 injured.
-- Muhammad Al-Rul: Hamas activist and a student at Al-Najah University. Carried out a suicide attack in Jerusalem June 18, 2002, in which 19 Israelis were murdered and 42 injured.
"The World Bank has not been discerning in the use of its funding in the past," says Marcus in his report. "For example, it funded the 'development of the Dalal Mughrabi Street' in Gaza. This street is named after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who murdered 36 Israelis and the American photographer Gail Rubin in a 1978 bus hijacking."
"They also funded the building of a school in Jenin named after the terrorist head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Abu Ali Mustafa, who was responsible for planning and executing numerous terror bombings in Israel," adds Marcus.
The report also notes that other aid organizations show a similar lax attitude in discerning the use of their funds.
The Haj Amin al-Husseini Street project in Gaza, named after the former Mufti of Jerusalem (infamous for his close ties to Adolf Hitler), was funded by the German Development Agency together with UNDP (United Nations Development Project). [Al Quds, Feb. 17, 2003]. USAID funded school renovations for the Dalal Mughrabi School.
In 2003, USAID funded projects in Palestinian universities, including the Arab American University in Jenin, which sponsored numerous anti-American and terrorist-supporting rallies last year. One event included "blessings" to those fighting American soldiers in Iraq. The rally opened with "a speech given by the Arab-American University lecturer Dr. Hamad Hussein. He blessed the Iraqi resistance for its firm stand against the American- British occupation." [Al-Ayyam, Nov. 4, 2003] This and other anti-American activities continued while USAID was funding programs at this university.
According to PMW, "USAID has a budget allocation of $3 million for the 2004 fiscal year for PA higher education programs. But in a January 2004 letter to PMW, a USAID representative said that USAID has ceased funding PA universities directly, and is now giving scholarships to students."
"If the World Bank funds PA universities without demanding the closure of their terror branches, this may be the most direct financing of terrorism to date by the World Bank," Marcus concludes in the PMW report.
PMW was established in 1996 to gain an understanding of Palestinian society through the monitoring of the Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks. Itamar Marcus is director of PMW.
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