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Thursday, August 16, 2007

Former PalArab legislator convicted of involvement in 2002 terror attack

From Jerusalem Newswire:
A member of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction of the PLO, and a former legislator in the PA parliament, was found guilty Wednesday of sending a "suicide" bomber to Tel Aviv in 2002.

The attacker blew himself up in a coffee shop in the coastal city, killing Rachel Tcherkhi, an Israeli woman.

Jamal Tirawi was convicted of sending the bomber and thus of deliberately murdering Tcherki.

Remember - this guy is part of the group that the West supports as "moderate."

YNet adds:
According to the indictment, the suicide bomber that blew himself up in a coffee shop in the city in March 2002 made his way to Israel from the Nablus home of PLC member Jamal Tirawi.

The Fatah member is also accused of recruiting potential suicide bombers.
A little factoid about him from before the terror attack:
Like other leading activists, Mr Tirawi is mindful of the long arm of Israeli intelligence. Behind the lace curtains of his living room, he sat surrounded by 16 of his men. All were armed with M-16s or Kalashnikovs, and his six-year-old daughter played with a Belgian-made pistol.

But despite the assortment of weapons, Mr Tirawi said he was against vigilante justice for suspected Israeli agents.
While he might be against extrajudicial killing of "collaborators," it doesn't stop him from using the idea to do that recruiting he wants:
Wanted Tanzim terrorist Rabi'ah Abu Alil originally tried to employ the boy as a suicide bomber after he and his father quarreled over money. The boy refused, and was taken to an apartment by Abu Alil and another wanted Arab terrorist, Jamal Tirawi. Tirawi is also a high ranking Palestinian Authority (PA) intelligence officer, the IDF said.

"Despite the youth's pleas that he be released to his home and left alone, Tirawi and Abu Alil threatened him that if he did not cooperate, they would kill him and distribute a communique claiming he had been collaborating with the Israeli army," the IDF announcement stated. Terrorists photographed the boy wearing a vest and holding a rifle and a copy of the Koran.

Now, try to find a Palestinian Arab "moderate" who is willing to condemn this guy. Good luck with that.