Jerusalem, 22 December 2002
ISA arrests Gaza engineer who acted as Hizbullah agent
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
In early November 2002, the Israel Security Agency (ISA) arrested
Ahmed Rageh Ahmed Awiti, about 40 years old, who came to the Gaza
Strip from Lebanon along with other Palestinian Authority personnel
in 1994. In 1999, Awiti received permission to bring his wife and
children from Lebanon. Awiti works as a flight engineer at the
Deihaniye airport in Gaza.
Awiti admitted to his ISA investigators that on February 24, 2001 he
traveled with an official delegation from the Gaza Strip to Mecca for
the Hajj pilgrimage. During his stay in Saudi Arabia, Awiti met with
a Hizbullah operative who recruited him as an agent for the
organization in the Gaza Strip, in order to conduct terrorist actions
against Israel. The operative claimed that Hizbullah was interested
in assisting the Palestinians in their fight against Israel. It
should be noted that terrorist organizations in general, and
Hizbullah in particular, have exploited the departure of Palestinians
- with the approval of the State of Israel - on the Hajj to Mecca in
order to recruit agents for terrorist activity against Israel.
Awiti added that in response to questioning by the Hizbullah agent,
he had provided him with information on IDF actions in the Gaza
Strip. Awiti said that he had been given the code name "Illi" as well
as a telephone number in Lebanon of a Hizbullah operative nicknamed
"Rimon" along with instructions to contact him when he returned to
Israel.
On March 16, 2002, Awiti returned to the Gaza Strip and made
telephone contact with "Rimon," his Hizbullah handler. Awiti was
asked to come to Lebanon, apparently for military training and to
receive orders for missions against Israel. Before arriving in
Lebanon, Awiti was sent by the Palestinian Authority to Jordan to
take part in a pilot's course. Awiti noted that some of his
communications with Hizbullah were carried out from his office at the
Palestinian airport at Deihaniye.
Awiti claims that his connections with Hizbullah ceased in May 2002.
However, on October 9, 2002, he again traveled to Lebanon and was
arrested by ISA officials on his return in November.
Awiti added that prior to his arrival in the Gaza Strip in 1994, he
underwent military training in the framework of the Fatah
organization. Awiti later used the skills he had acquired to train
Hamas terrorists and to help improve the capabilities of the Al-Bana
missile. In addition, Awiti aided the Palestinian Authority in its
preparations for combat against with Israeli forces in the Gaza
Strip, including supervising the digging of tunnels in built-up
areas, attacks on armored vehicles, and the use of smart bombs.
Ahmed Awiti has been indicted.
Awiti is one of a long list of people Hizbullah has used to try to
infiltrate the territories in order to increase terrorist activity
against Israel.