American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us (23 page)
Read American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us Online
Authors: Steven Emerson
Tags: #Politics, #Non-Fiction
42. Steve McGonigle, “Terrorism task force detains Richardson man; 41-year-old with ties to bin Laden secretary considered a danger to U.S., official says,”
Dallas Morning News,
September 23, 2001.
43.
The New York Times,
September 7, 2001.
44. Statements by Muhammad al-Asi, “Jihad in America or Crusade Against Islam,” videotape distributed by
Crescent International,
1995.
45. Statements by Muhammad al-Asi, 23rd annual convention of the Muslim Students Association—Persian Studies Group, Irvine, California, December 25, 1993.
46.
Washington Post,
March 21, 1994.
47.
Washington Post,
August 14, 1994.
48.
The American Spectator,
December 1995.
49. Ahmed Yousef,
The Islamic Movement in the Shadow of International Change and Crisis in the Gulf: The Second Seminar on the Future of Islamic Work,
UASR, 1991, p. 117.
50.
Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
January 31, 1990.
2. Ziad abu-Amr,
Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza,
Indiana University Press, 1994, p. 98.
3. Abu-Amr, p. 99.
4. Articles of Incorporation, Islamic Concern Project Inc., October 20, 1988, Article III.
5. Articles of Incorporation, World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), Inc., February 21, 1991, Article III.
6. Author’s interview with Sami al-Arian, August 4, 1994.
7. Proof of the shared addresses and office spaces is evidenced by public record documents issued pursuant to the FBI investigation of ICP and WISE.
8. “A not-so-WISE report at USF,”
Tampa Tribune,
May 31, 1996.
9. Interview with Fathi Shikaki,
Inquiry,
January 1993.
11. Michael Fechter, “Tampa link to Islamic Jihad uncovered during interview,”
Tampa Tribune,
July 28, 1998.
12. Islamic Committee for Palestine Informational Guide.
13.
Al-Liwa,
October 3, 1990, as translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) on October 10, 1990. Also see Beverly Milton-Edwards,
Islamic Politics in Palestine,
Tauris Academic Studies, London, 1996, p. 199.
14. Islamic Committee for Palestine Informational Guide.
15. Author’s interview with Sami al-Arian, August 4, 1994.
16. ICP rally, Curie High School, Chicago, IL, September 29, 1991.
17. ICP Third Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, December 28–31, 1990.
18. Abu-Amr, p. 90. Ziad abu-Amr is a non-Israeli, non-Western source. He is a respected author and was a professor at Bir Zeit University on the West Bank. His book on Hamas and the Islamic Jihad was originally published in Arabic in 1989 under the title
Al-Harakah Al-Islamiah fi Al-Diffah Al-Gharbiyeh wa Kittah Ghaza (The Islamic Movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip).
This book was translated into English and republished in 1994 under the title
Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza.
Abu-Amr is currently a member of the Palestinian National Council. Abu-Amr had first-hand knowledge of the WISE–PIJ combination because he attended a joint conference of WISE and USF on December 5, 1991. See William Reece Smith, Jr., Report of his findings to the University of South Florida, p.72, and Shallah’s resume.
19. Abu-Amr, p. 117–118.
20. Meir Hatina,
Islam and Salvation in Palestine
(Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, 2001), pp. 24–7, 29, 31, 40, 42, 98, 104.
21. Abu-Amr, pp. 94–95.
22. Resume of Ramadan Abdullah Shallah.
23. In a book published in 1990, Thomas Mayer wrote that Fathi Shikaki had met Bashir Nafi in Egypt and developed a relationship with him in Gaza. According to Mayer, Shikaki found Nafi to be an “ideological friend.” Mayer also pointed out that Nafi, while in Egypt, had “given refuge to a suspect in Sadat’s assassination.” See Thomas Mayer, “Pro-Iranian Fundamentalism in Gaza,” in Emmanuel Sivan and Menachem Friedman, eds.,
Religious Radicalism and Politics in the Middle East,
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1990, p. 148; see also Aviva Shabi and Ronni Shaked,
Hamas: M’Emunah B’Allah L’Derech Ha-Terror (Hamas: From Belief in Allah to Terror),
Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 207, 210–211.
24. Ramadan Shallah lists on his resume that he was on the editorial board of the publication
Al Alam
out of London from 1987 to 1989, and Bashir Nafi’s resume shows that he was on the same board from 1985 to 1987.
25. In Shabi Aviva’s book
Hamas,
co-authored with Ronni Shaked, a former officer in the Israeli General Security Services (the Israeli equivalent of the FBI), the PIJ London activities involving Shallah and Nafiare described:
Moreover, he [Shikaki] had founded a front based in London to ensure easier communication with the Occupied Territories…. The main channel of communication between the headquarters in Damascus to the activists in the territories was through the London base of the movement. All activities in London were directed by Dr. Ramadan Shallah, who was born in Gaza. Shallah was one of the first Islamic Jihad members in the territories and was among the people who were most close to Dr. Shikaki.
He went to England to continue his studies and was appointed as the head of the London branch. At the end of 1988, he arrived to London, as well as Bashir Nafi from the Kalandia Refugee Camp. After his deportation from the territories, Nafi was sent to assist Dr. Shallah.
From their base in London, they both ran the activities of Islamic Jihad in the territories—the military activity, the information, the advertising, and the distribution of the communiques. The base in London was responsible for delivering the money to finance the activity and for sending the Islamic Jihad communiques which were distributed throughout the Occupied Territories. The contact man in Gaza was Omar Shallah, who was Dr. Ramadan Shallah’s younger brother, and was a member in one of the PIJ units.
Since they were afraid of someone listening, the Islamic Jihad people used a very sophisticated method of communication: Dr. Ramadan would call his brother from London using codewords which by then Omar meant would have to wait until night for the next operational orders. The base for communication was an industrial business in the center of Israel from which Omar’s friend used to work, where he could call London and talk for hours with no disturbances. During these conversations, Nafi used to dictate to Omar the context of the next fliers and to tell him about the next military instructions or to guide him in other issues concerning the movement. The text of the fliers and the instructions were sent by Ramadan Shallah to Dr. Jamil Alyan who was responsible for the distribution of the fliers in the territories. (pp. 207, 210–211)
26. According to an article in the
Jerusalem Post,
from 1986 until 1991 Shallah lived in England where he was “the contact man between Jihad operatives in Europe and the territories. Together with Bashir Nafa [
sic
], Shalah [
sic
] headed the organization’s British office, which funneled money to the territories. He also drafted most of the leaflets the group distributed in the territories.” “New Jihad Head was Active in Britain, US,”
Jerusalem Post,
October 31, 1995.
27. Ramadan Shallah lists on his resume “A Founding Member of…the World & Islam Studies Enterprise WISE (1990) (London U.K. & Tampa)” and “Member of the Editorial Board of
Qira ‘at Siyasiyyah (Arabic Quarterly),
Managing Editor, Tampa, 1991–Present.” Bashir Nafi also notes on his resume that he was on the editorial board of WISE’s journal
Qira ‘at Siyasiyyah
in 1990 and attended Islamic Committee for Palestine conferences in 1988 and 1989.
28. See, for example, Mayer, “Pro-Iranian Fundamentalism.”
29. “Islamic terrorism: Tehran to Tampa,”
New York Post,
November 14, 1995.
30. “A not-so WISE report at USF,”
Tampa Tribune,
May 31, 1996.
31. Affidavit of William West, INS Supervisory Special Agent, November 17, 1995.
32. Affidavit of Barry Carmody, FBI Special Agent, December 19, 1995.
33. This letter was released in August 2000 as an exhibit in the immigration bond hearings of Dr. Mazen al-Najjar.
34. This translation was provided by the INS as a supplement to the letter, originally written in Arabic.
35.
In the Matter of Mazen al-Najjar,
Case No. A26-599-077, Custody Redetermination Proceedings, Testimony of William West, INS Supervisory Special Agent, July 18, 1996.
36. “Behind al-Arian’s façade,”
St. Petersburg Times,
November 1, 2001.
1. Arabic videotape of the First Conference of Jihad, Al-Farook Mosque, Brooklyn, New York, 1988.
2. Arabic videotape of the annual conference of the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, December 1988.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Atlantic Monthly,
November 1994.
5. Reuters Financial Service, September 13, 1993.
6.
Al-Quds al-Arabi,
Feb. 7, 1997.
7.
United States v. Siddig Ali et al.,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. S(3) 93 Cr. 181, Government Exhibit 307-T, May 16, 1993, received into evidence May 25, 1995.
8. Translation posted onto the MSANews Web site by the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR), October 12, 1996 (
http://msanews.mynet.net//MSANEWS/199610/19961012.3.html
).
9. “Get Ready for Twenty World Trade Center Bombings,”
The Middle East Quarterly,
June, 1997.
10.
United States v. Usama Bin Ladin et al.,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. S(5) 98 Cr. 1023, Indictment, May 19, 1999, para. 10(b).
11.
United States v. Abu Doha,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No.01 Mag.1242, Complaint, para.1.
12.
Ibid.
13.
Ibid.
14.
Ibid.
15.
Ibid.
16. James Gordon Meek, “American Terror Suspect Charged in Jordan: New Revelations About Activities in the U.S.,”
APBNews.com
, January 19, 2000.
17.
United States v. Ali Mohamed,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023, Plea of Ali Mohamed, October 20, 2000.
18.
Jane’s Intelligence Review,
December 1, 1998.
19.
International Herald Tribune,
January 21, 1999.
20.
U.S. News & World Report,
May 15, 1995.
1. Teresa Watanabe, “A Holy War of Words in Islamic U.S.,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 15, 1999.
2. Sheik Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, “Islamic Extremism: A Viable Threat to U.S. National Security,” An open forum at the U.S. State Department, January 7, 1999.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Ibid.
5.
Ibid.
6.
Ibid.