NEW YORK- The so-called “Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade,” which has been carrying out much of the terrorism against Israel, is directly controlled and financed by Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, according to new evidence.

An investigative report by the BBC (Nov. 8,2003) found: “The Palestinian Authority, headed by Yasser Arafat, is paying members of a Palestinian militant organisation which has been responsible for carrying out suicide attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. A total of up to $50,000 a month is being sent to members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, an armed group that emerged shortly after the outbreak of the current Palestinian intifada.”

The BBC report quoted a leader of Arafat’s Fatah terror group in Jenin as saying: “Fatah has two sections: a military wing, led by the military and a political wing, led by politicians. But there is no difference between Fatah and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.”

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3243071.stm

Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian publication Arab News distributed an article on December 3, 2003 that stated: “Zekariya Zubeidi, chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank and a fugitive from Israeli special forces…says that several Jenin police officers double as gunmen in his group. The Brigades are backed by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah and the faction stipend is a welcome supplement to police wages … [Bassem] Eid [director of Palestinian Human Rights Watch] said moonlighting by Palestinian security services was common wherever the Brigades hold sway in the occupied territories.”

Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), said: “The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade is on the official U.S. list of terrorist groups, and the Palestinian Authority controls and finances it. The evidence is overwhelming that the PA is a terrorist regime, and the U.S. should treat it exactly as it treats other terrorist regimes: no financial aid, no diplomatic relations, no support for its political demands, and it should be placed on the U.S. list of terrorist groups.”