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Hamas Aims to Capitalize on Intelligence Gains from Gaza Takeover

[Wall Street Journal] Cam Simpson and Neil King Jr. - When Hamas conquered Gaza in June, it seized an intelligence-and-military infrastructure created with U.S. help. According to Israeli and U.S. intelligence personnel and Palestinian officials, Hamas has increased its inventory of arms since the takeover of Gaza and picked up technical expertise - such as espionage techniques - that could assist the group in its fight against Israel or Fatah. Hamas leaders say they acquired thousands of paper files, computer records, videos, photographs and audio recordings containing intelligence information gathered by Fatah. For more than a decade, Fatah operated a vast intelligence network in Gaza established under the tutelage of the CIA. Former U.S. intelligence officials, including some who have worked closely with the Palestinians, said there was ample reason to worry that Hamas has acquired access to important spying technology as well as intelligence information that could be helpful to Hamas in countering Israeli and U.S. efforts against the group. Close ties between Hamas and Iran and Syria also mean that intelligence-and-spying techniques could be shared with those countries as well. As the White House prepares to lead an international effort to bolster Fatah's security apparatus in the West Bank, the losses in Gaza stand as an example of how efforts to help Fatah can backfire. Former intelligence officials confirmed that the U.S. gave Fatah-controlled services sophisticated intelligence-gathering equipment, including eavesdropping technology. This kind of technology can include devices used for intercepting radio, microwave and telephone communications and telemetry technology that allows the user to pinpoint the location of someone holding a cellphone. "The United States invested a lot of effort in setting up this system in Gaza - construction, equipment, training...the logistics, the transportation. It was a big operation, and it's now in the hands of the other side," said Efraim Halevy, who formerly headed the Mossad, Israel's foreign-intelligence agency. Avi Dichter, Israel's public-security minister and the former head of Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence-and-counterterrorism agency, said Hamas gained roughly the same number of weapons during a few days that it would have taken the group nearly a year to amass from smuggling operations.
2007-07-30 01:00:00
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