Palestinians face al Qaida charges

Tel Aviv, 22 March (AKI) - Israeli prosecutors have charged two Palestinian men from the West Bank with membership of al-Qaeda. The two, identified by the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz as Azzam Abu Al-Ades and Bilal Hafanawi, both 20, are the first West Bank residents facing al-Qaeda related charges. Prosecutors allege that the pair met with al-Qaeda operatives in Jordan, arranged for secret e-mail communication, opened a bank account and received 3,000 Jordanian dinars (4,240 dollars) from al-Qaeda to carry out an attack in Jerusalem. They were arrested at the Allenby Bridge border crossing in December 2005 as they were returning from Jordan.

Israel has repeatedly allleged that al-Qaeda has established a following among some Palestinian militants and in recent months ago, Israeli intelligence officials said evidence indicated Palestinians from Nablus and Jenin had received financial support from al-Qaeda.

Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas also recently said evidence was found indicating al-Qaeda infiltrations in the Gaza Strip.

In 2003, a Hamas fighter, Nabil Okal, a resident of the Gaza Strip who had trained in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for conspiring to attack Israeli targets, apparently acting on the orders of the terror network.