http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1078208271288Tens of millions of shekels intended to fund Palestinian terror that the IDF confiscated from banks in Ramallah and al-Birah last week were taken from accounts recently unfrozen by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, a senior IDF officer told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.
Shlomo Mofaz, the deputy head of the IDF's Intelligence Corps research and assessment branch and the Defense Minister's brother, told the committee that former Palestinian Authority chairman Mohammed Abbas froze the accounts but Arafat unfroze them in November.
Mofaz said the IDF decided to confiscate the funds after Arafat's move.
Officials examined hundreds of bank accounts and seized money from Europe, the US, Iran, Syria, and Jordan intended to fund Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas.
In meetings in Washington with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, American officials reportedly criticized the raids, warning they could destabilize the Palestinian banking system and undermine Palestinian Finance Minister Salaam Fayed.
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon justified the raids, telling the committee that the IDF learned from interrogating terrorists that for each attack terrorists are paid as much as NIS 40,000.
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Did i mention how much i hate that little weasel??