The Iranian Connection

In an interview in the Sunday Times, a Palestinian fighter in the Al-Aqsa brigades explains how Hezbollah has financed terrorist attacks against Israel throughout the intifada, and how they are continuing to do so in order to disrupt the current calm:

"They would send Islamic Jihad money in amounts of something like $4,000," said Ala'a Sanakreh, the 27-year-old leader of [Al-Aqsa in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus]. "It's easy - they just use Western Union."

According to Sanakreh, Hezbollah is still contacting militants in the West Bank about sponsoring attacks, though Al Aqsa and Hezbollah have had a falling out because of Hezbollah's willingness to undermine Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to restore calm and its insistence on funding attacks without proper financial concern for the "martyrs'" families.

Since Iran is the primary backer of Hezbollah, the hand of Tehran is likely behind Hezbollah's attempts to sabotage any sort of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. There are a few reasons why Iran and Hezbollah would want the intifada to continue, even though it's obvious the Palestinians are exhausted and have nothing to gain from continuing the policy of random terrorist attacks:

• Continued fighting in Israel takes world attention away from Iran's nuclear program.


• If Syrian troops withdraw from Lebanon later this year, Iran will be especially keen on maintaining Hezbollah as an armed force, so it can maintain its influence in Lebanon and its ability to mount proxy attacks against Israel when desired.


• Decreased violence in Israel will add to the pressure on Hezbollah to shed its weapons and become a Lebanese political party. This pressure is only likely to grow as time passes. President Bush has been pushing for Hezbollah to disarm, and--especially if Syrian troops leave Lebanon--the other, unarmed Lebanese factions will feel rather uncomfortable about Hezbollah's militia.