Terrorist planned attack in order to be imprisoned and receive PA salary
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| Transcript of terrorist's testimony, in Israeli police report |
Interrogator: “How is your health?”
Husseini Najjar: “Good.”
Interrogator: “Do you know how to read and write in Arabic?”
Husseini Najjar: “Yes.”
Interrogator: “When were you arrested and where?”
Husseini Najjar: “On Aug. 15, 2013, from my home in Hebron.”
Interrogator: “ Are you affiliated with, or do you support or identify with any organization?”
Husseini Najjar: “No.”
Interrogator: “Were you a former security prisoner in Israel and on what suspicions?”
Husseini Najjar: “Yes, I was a former security prisoner in Israel in 2008 until February 2013 on a case of membership and activity as part of a military cell affiliated with Hamas and planning to carry out a shooting attack and suicide bombing; there were others with me and they were: 1 - Ali Hassan Al-Joulani, approximately 24 from Hebron, married, Hebron Municipality worker. 2 - Abd Al-Karim Abu Zeineh, approximately 24 from Hebron, single, medicine distribution worker. 3 - Ali Othman Abu Shukheidem, approximately 24 from Hebron, married, worker at a shoe [factory]. For most of that period I was at Ketziot Prison.”
Interrogator: “Did you receive arrest allowances? Explain the details to me.”
Husseini Najjar: “During my time in Ketziot Prison I submitted a request to the social committee inside the prison that is associated with the Hamas organization, and there I asked for monetary aid and arrest payments (mustahaqqaat) because of the period of imprisonment in Israel, and I noted my full name and details for this request, and I also noted the name of a prisoner at the time whose name is Mazen Al-Natsheh from Hebron, approximately 40, known as Abu Hudheifa, and he was a Hamas security prisoner. I made this request according to what Mazen Al-Natsheh told me, and I wrote it as he told me, and I also asked for money for him. The social committee asked for the name of a representative in Jordan so they could transfer the money to him and he would send it to me afterwards, and I gave the name of Muhammad Ali Ghaban known as Abu Ali. This Abu Ali is an uncle from my mother’s father’s side; I don’t personally know him. After my release I called Abu Ali and told him money is supposed to come to you from the Al-Nour Association in Gaza, which is affiliated with Hamas - a sum of approximately $10,000. I called him after two weeks and he told me that the money was with him already, and that was in the month of March 2013. After that I told him I would arrange someone who could transfer it to the West Bank; after that, Abu Ali called me after about a week and told me that he had sent someone from his end to the West Bank with the money, and he indeed sent me a money changer - I don’t know him - and he gave me a sum of $8,000, and this sum was for me and also for Mazen Al-Natsheh. I took this entire sum and gave Mazen the arrest allowance from my private money from the Palestinian [PA] Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs salary after I exchanged it to dollars, and the sum was $2,235, and that was in March or April 2013. Mazen doesn’t know all I did, he only knows that the source of the money is the Al-Nour Association in Gaza; regarding this sum, Mazen would tell me that this sum comes to you as an arrest allowance.”
Interrogator: “Did you turn to others in order to obtain the arrest allowance? Explain to me.”
Husseini Najjar: “Regarding this allowance that I noted, I previously turned to my friend named Ahmed Kamel Thawabteh, approximately 24 from Beit Fajjar/Bethlehem; he was imprisoned together with me at the Ketziot Prison during the same period. I called Ahmed and told him: ‘I want to transfer my allowance from Jordan, how can you help me?’ and then he answered me: ‘I have a paternal aunt who lives in Jordan,’ and he asked me to send the money to her and speak with her. I called Abu Ali and told him there is someone in Jordan, send her the money so she can send it to me, and he refused and told me: ‘I can’t.’ After that, I called Ahmed and told him ‘Forget it, there’s no need for help from your paternal aunt.’ Ahmed Al-Thawabteh doesn’t know that I received money from the Al-Nour Association, he only knows that I asked for money; Ahmed Al-Thuabata told me that he received money from the Al-Nour Association in Gaza before I came to him with a request for help in obtaining the money from Jordan.
I would like to tell you that I had financial difficulties as I am engaged, and I was supposed to get married in September to Yasmin Ata Najjar from Hebron, and after the [my] release I began to work at a shoe factory for the Zghayer family and my salary was 1,500 shekels, and I had a bank account and in it a sum of 45,000 shekels salary from the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs. I also received allowance money from Hamas from the Al-Nour Association - $8,000. I gathered a total of 70,000 shekels and bought an apartment whose value was 140,000 shekels together with my father-in-law, and he paid 70,000 shekels and doesn’t know the source of my money. I took from my maternal uncle a sum of 1,000 Jordan dinars, and I am still short by a sum of 30,000 shekels for the wedding in September.”
Interrogator: “What happened to you afterwards?”
Husseini Najjar: “Because of my difficult financial situation, as I told you, I decided to arrange some kind of imaginary plan that the Israeli Security Agency [would think was real] so that I would be arrested and have more than 5 years in prison, so that I would receive a fixed salary as allowance money from the PA, and this was to cover the debts and complete [my savings] for the wedding. After I have 5 years, I will have a salary of approximately 4,000 shekels, and this sum for 3 years- in other words, it will be a sum of 135,000, and in this way I will cover my debts. In other words, this entire matter is a financial plan, and I made a plan to go into the Israeli prison and turned to a number of people from Hebron, Beit Fajjar, and Bethlehem, and I tricked them that there is a genuine military operation against Israel, and I tricked them that I have an intention to obtain weapons.”
Interrogator: “Explain to me in detail to whom you turned and asked to carry out a military operation against Israel.”
Husseini Najjar: “1: Azzam Muhammad Ismail Najjar, approximately 24, single, from Hebron, works in the library. I turned to him in April 2013 and met him in the street next to Abu Katila and suggested to him that we need to bring weapons from Bethlehem in order to carry out a military operation. At first Azzam refused, and then he agreed to my proposal; I had a number of meetings with Azzam, and the last meeting was at the library last Tuesday [Aug. 13, 2013] and I told him that something was supposed to happen in Bethlehem on Aug. 20, [2013,] and he said to me: ‘Why didn’t you tell me? What do you want, to destroy my life?’ and I didn’t tell him any more details. 2: Ahmed Thawabteh and Yusuf Makhamra- about 23, single, from Yatta, Hebron, works in a supermarket in Yatta, was with me in Ketziot Prison - and I remember that they came to my house to congratulate me upon my release from prison, it was around April 2013, they came to my house and during the visit I suggested to them that we bring weapons from Bethlehem in order to carry out a military operation and the two of them rejected the idea. After that, when Ahmed Thawabteh got engaged to my paternal cousin and I saw him again at the time and again suggested a military operation to him, he told me: ‘What do you want, to destroy my home?’ but I personally understood that he agreed and I met with Ahmed Thawabteh again as he was engaged to my paternal cousin and would usually come to them on Thursdays. I said to him one time that something was supposed to happen on Aug. 20, an attack in Bethlehem, but you have no connection to this attack. I want to tell you that Ahmed Thawabteh knows that I spoke with Azzam Najjar on the topic of weapons and a military operation, and also with Azzam Najjar, he knows about the matter; but the two of them never spoke with each other about the matter. I turned to Azzam Najjar again and asked him to carry out a military operation on the day my paternal aunt named Siham died in the month of Ramadan in 2013, and I told him that I intend to bring weapons in order hide them, and he agreed and said: ‘Give me an answer so I'll be ready.’ We were alone and I told him the type of weapon is Kalashnikov and asked Azzam to find a hiding place for the weapons. The last time I spoke with Azzam on this matter, as I told you before, was the day of the murder of Jawad Al-Qawasmeh. 3: Ammar Amin Ata Najjar, approximately 16, from Hebron, a school student. During the mourning period for my paternal aunt, I turned to Ammar and asked him for assistance in a military attack in Bethlehem against the Israelis, and he agreed to the matter and I mentioned to him the date of Aug. 20 when I would carry out an attack - me personally and someone else with me, and I did not note details to him. I asked him that he be a lookout next to the settlement of Efrat, near Bethlehem. I told him: ‘Afterwards I will give you details about the matter.’ After this, and before Eid Al-Fitr I called him and asked him to wait for me near my house and after the Tarawih prayer at night I met with Ammar at home and I told him that the attack was supposed to be on Aug. 21, and that his role is supposed to change and that he would not be a lookout and not at the attack itself; he would just be a messenger and would remain in Hebron in order to receive messages of what would happen in Bethlehem - in other words the attack - and would let my paternal uncle Yusri Najjar know if I died a Martyrdom-death (Istish’had). Ammar said to me: ‘I will think about it.’ After that I said to Ammar that after the attack someone will take you in a car and you will meet another guy, and he will give you a bag with a weapon inside for you to hide, and they will be in contact with you. I also gave him a piece of paper on which was [written] how he would send messages to the young people, meaning those who would deal with me. An example is the word weapon, each letter is one earlier according to the letters of the alphabet. And Ammar said to me: ‘I will think about it and send you an SMS.’ Afterwards he sent me a text message and said 'I don’t want this at all,' and I understood that he is refusing this matter.”
Interrogator: “Did you ask someone for a weapon? Explain to me.”
Husseini Najjar: “Yes, from a guy whose name is Rashed Ibrahim Dar Rashed Al-Yamani, about 23, single, from Bethlehem. He was together with me in Ashkelon Prison in 2008-2009, and in March 2013 I called him and told him: ‘I want a favor from you; I want a weapon from you.’ He told me to come to Bethlehem, and I told him I want a Kalashnikov or M16, and he told me to come to Bethlehem for this matter. And I spoke openly with Rashed because I know I am under surveillance by the Israeli Security Agency, and that was so I would be arrested. I called Rashed twice and asked him for a weapon, and I turned to Rashed because he called me after my release from prison and I kept his number. I don’t know if Rashed deals with weapons but I asked him personally, and in the end I did not take or receive any weapon from him, or from anyone else, and I did not propose a military operation to him."
Interrogator: “You noted under interrogation with the Israeli Security Agency that you proposed a military operation to those you mentioned as part of a military cell, and in your testimony you did not mention that especially. Why, and which is correct?”
Husseini Najjar: “What is correct is that I proposed a military operation to them as part of a military cell, and only to those whose names I mentioned to you.”
Interrogator: “Where did you get the idea of this plan so that you would be arrested in Israel?”
Husseini Najjar: “Because of my difficult financial state.”
Interrogator: “Do you have e-mail, Facebook?”
Husseini Najjar: “I don’t have e-mail. On Facebook I have a page in my name in English.”
Interrogator: “Why did you especially note the date of Aug. 20 as the day for carrying out the attack in Bethlehem?”
Husseini Najjar: “I lied.”
Interrogator: “What is the end goal you would like to achieve?”
Husseini Najjar: “To solve the financial problem I have.”
Interrogator: “Do you have weapons or explosives?”
Husseini Najjar: “No.”
Interrogator: “Give me your personal details.”
Husseini Najjar: “I was born in 1989, from Hebron, engaged, my fiancee’s name is Yasmin Amin Ata Najjar. I have no other name or nickname. My father is known as Abu Alaa, my mother’s name is Alia. I have five brothers: Alaa, Asem, Hamza, Khalil, Siraj, and I have no sisters. The name of my family and clan is Al-Najjar or Najjar, and we belong to the Jadallah faction.”
Interrogator: “Do you want to add anything to your testimony?”
Husseini Najjar: “No.”
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