Activists from Fatah's armed wing have found a novel way of earning an easy living - they make false claims to Hezbollah paymasters in Lebanon about attempted terror attacks in Israel and the territories, and collect bonuses for such reports.
Military sources say senior Fatah officials, especially in the Qalqiliyah area, have invented what the sources call a "Palestinian sting."
The activists send mendacious reports to Hezbollah about sending terrorists into action, and claim the attack went wrong or missed the target. In reality there was no attack nor even an attempted attack for which the Palestinians file a false report. Hezbollah has apparently fallen for the trick several times and paid for attacks that never happened.
Since Operation Defensive Shield in the spring of 2002, Hezbollah has raised its profile in the territories, following the arrest or killing of most of the leading officers in the military wing of Fatah, which smashed the hierarchy in the West Bank.
Instead, local groups have formed that don't accept the authority of people from outside their community. The Shi'ite Hezbollah exploited that situation to broaden its control over the smaller groups, and send money and instructions for attacks to the local networks of Fatah gunmen in the West Bank.
Kais Obeid, the Israeli Arab from Taibe who made his way to Lebanon in 2000 and was behind the kidnapping of Elhanan Tennenbaum, is the leading Hezbollah officer in this enterprise. The main incentive for the West Bank gangs is financial, as the local groups, often just criminals with no ideological basis, collect tens of thousands of shekels from overseas. The money is meant to pay for vehicles, guns, and ammunition, but there is also a compensation mechanism with "bonuses" for killing or wounding Israelis. The money is moved through bank accounts or via couriers.
Hezbollah has recently started sending money also to Hamas in the territories after the organization finally agreed to accept it, following the weakening of its leadership by Israeli attacks and a consequent decline in revenues.
Last year there were several cases of Fatah cells untruthfully claiming responsibility for terror attacks and then claiming money from Hezbollah - for example, after a series of lethal shootings by Hamas in the Ramallah area, Fatah cells in the area claimed credit.
