WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - The New York Times revealed earlier this week that the CIA has been actively involved in cooperation activities with Palestinians, an unusual job for the covert-minded intelligence collecting agency.
The paper reported that soon after Hamas bombings in 1996, the CIA became involved in the Palestinian territories in order to eliminate “terrorist” cells.
During the same time United States President Bill Clinton signed a presidential order "creating a covert program to provide tens of millions of dollars to increase the professionalism of the Palestinian security services and help combat terrorism," according to officials the paper cited.
The CIA subsequently sent operatives to train Palestinians in interrogation techniques, file organization, and reportedly gave them a number of advanced radio communications, X-ray equipment, bomb detection scanners, computers, vehicles and other equipment.
The 1998 Wye memorandum also provided for direct CIA involvement to aid Palestinians and Israelis destroy "Palestinian terrorist cells, provide information about suspected terrorists and control the smuggling of weapons and explosives."
The Times stated that, "Senior administration officials insist that the unusual relationship has paid off, pointing out that since the Wye agreement, there was no major act of terrorism on Israeli territory until a car bomb killed two Israelis on November 2nd, in Jerusalem."
According to CIA officials, there is no indication that Palestinians trained by them are directly involved in recent attacks against Israelis, or that Palestinians are using equipment provided by the CIA in the attacks.
