Terror’s Aftermath

Perhaps the most notorious figure in the suicide bombings that have plagued Israel in recent years, Hassan Salameh orchestrated the wave of attacks that terrorized Israel during the run-up to Israel’s 1996 elections. It was the bombings he coordinated, many believe, that resulted in Labor Prime Minister Shimon Peres losing the close election to Likud Party candidate Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised “peace with security.” Salameh was ultimately arrested and convicted of being responsible for 46 deaths, for which he is now serving 46 consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison. The following interview was conducted in prison as part of a project supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation in which 35 incarcerated religious extremists and secular terrorists were extensively interviewed to explore their life histories, motivations and how, in the case of the religious extremists, they came to rationalize “killing in the name of God.”

Salameh was born in 1971. He was raised in a relatively well-off family in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. In high school, he took part in the first intifada and joined Hamas. As he succeeded in the organization, he was promoted to organize and coordinate suicide bombings. The passion of his convictions served as a siren song to alienated Palestinian youth in the refugee camps, where he successfully persuaded them to carry out their violent acts. What follows is a transcript of his interview, which has been edited for length:

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We were a normal, well-established and respected refugee camp family. All the children went to school and were considered well-behaved. No one in the family was involved in criminal activities; most used to pray in the mosque. Within the family we never discussed politics, and our social standing was good.

As a boy, I used to listen a lot to the radio and developed a keen political awareness. Like some of my brothers, I used to pray in the mosque and attend religious lessons. My leaning toward Islam was clear and coherent.

At the start of the intifada I joined Hamas. I was recruited by a friend from the camp. My joining-up was the normal thing to do, as all the young people were enlisting. I joined in Hamas activities in the camp, mainly demonstrations, rallies, stone-throwing and other public disturbances.

In 1992, I was recruited to the Hamas shock troops in the camp by a friend in the movement. Our task was to defend the organization against infiltration by undesirable elements and to wage war on corruption, negative social trends like theft, prostitution and drugs and, of course, on traitors.

As members of a cell, we attacked suspected collaborators with Israel, some of whom were put to death. In order to get the truth out of suspected collaborators when we interrogated them, we used to break their legs and arms with iron bars and chains and to stab them with knives. It was not cruelty for its own sake, but the way an underground organization has to operate in occupied territory.

At the start of 1993, after the other members of my cell had been detained and interrogated by the Israeli security forces, I was forced to flee. With the aid of a forged Egyptian passport, I fled to Jordan across the Allenby Bridge. From Jordan I went to Sudan, where I worked in the Hamas offices in Khartoum for eight months.

Toward the end of 1993, we began to put pressure on the Hamas leaders in Sudan to allow us to undergo advanced military training. We wanted to acquire a high level of skill so that when we returned to Palestine we would have enhanced operational capabilities. The organization arranged a training camp for us and flew us to Syria and then to Iran.

[In the camp, Salameh learned to handle various weapons, to prepare and place bombs, to gather intelligence and to lay ambushes. He was helped to obtain another forged passport and given money to get back to the Palestinian territories.]

Soon after we crossed into Gaza, we were captured by people from the Palestinian Authority and jailed for 7 1/2 months. On my release, I met senior activists from [Hamas’] military wing, Izz a-Din al-Qassam, including the commander in Gaza. I became [his] right-hand man and helped him assemble charges and grenades from TNT, based on what I learned in my training in Iran.

[At the beginning of 1996, after the Israelis killed a Hamas leader, Salameh was put in charge of a plan to avenge the death. An East Jerusalem cell was activated.]

Another cell, which specialized in stealing cars, got hold of an Israeli vehicle and brought it to the orange groves near Ashdod. I was [given money], names of accomplices in the Jerusalem area, telephone numbers and code words for communication and photographs of the people involved so that it would be easier for me to recognize them.

Aided by three recruits, carrying three suitcases of TNT, as well as a smaller bag with two pistols and six hand grenades, I infiltrated from Gaza into Israel proper through a hole in the electric fence, prepared in advance by one of our cells. We buried all the equipment in the orange grove area near Ashdod, in a place that had been prepared in advance by the vanguard cell.

In Hebron I made contact with Hamas activists I knew from my time in jail [and also with someone] I had met in Lebanon. [Eventually], the head of the Islamic Faction came to me with the news that he had found two people willing to carry out suicide missions. I met the two young men and took them to my safe house in Abu Dis. I prepared two charges, each with 12 kilos of TNT, half a kilo of nails of different sizes and round metal pellets. I put everything into nylon bags, and attached batteries and detonators. Then I put each explosive charge into a bag.

I explained to the two men how to activate the charges and when to prime them. I then left them with orders to carry out the bombings the next day and made my way to my safe house in Ramallah.

The next day, one of the suicide bombers was taken into Jerusalem by a member of the Jerusalem cell, where he got onto a No. 18 bus with the explosive charge. Within minutes, he detonated the bomb, blowing himself and some of the passengers up. More than 25 people were killed.

The second [bomber] was taken by the other member of the Jerusalem cell to the Ashkelon junction by car. There he was instructed to wait at a soldiers’ pickup point and to blow himself up. In the bombing, a woman soldier was killed and many others wounded.

Three days after the two bombings, I asked [the same man] to recruit another bomber. He told me that there was another young student ready to carry out a suicide mission, and we agreed that he would bring him to me the following day.

After I had met the young man, and he had expressed his willingness to carry out the mission, I put him up in the safe house. There I assembled another explosive bag and taught the young man how to operate it. When the members of the Jerusalem cell arrived, I instructed them to take the young man the next day to a No. 18 bus for the bombing. Everything went according to plan, and about a week after the first two bombings, there was another bus bombing in which about 20 people were killed.

After these operations, the Israeli and Palestinian security services launched a massive manhunt for me. I was randomly stopped at an Israeli Defense Forces roadblock and wounded in the ensuing exchange of fire. I managed to get away, but the security services caught up with me in a Hebron hospital, and here I am.

Of course, my family supports me and the organization. My activities aside, two of my brothers were expelled to Marj Zahour. One remained abroad, and the other is serving a 30-year sentence. Most of the general community supports the recruits, although some, through fear of the consequences, might hesitate to provide aid or to admit their support.

Of course, my standing among the members of the organization rose, and I have no doubt that members of other organizations respect me too. Every young Palestinian knows who Hassan Salameh is. But my standing is not important. What is important is that Hamas, God willing, achieves its goal.

In general, any organization that fights for the liberation of Palestine is a good thing. But we need to distinguish between religious and secular organizations. Religious organizations understand that we also have to fight for Islam and not only for the nation and the land.

Fatah is a good, positive organization, but mistaken in its ideology and deeds. I have brothers who support Fatah, and despite the great arguments between us, I love and respect them. Still you must understand that Fatah, in its concessions to Israel, its recognition of the state of Israel and its joining in the peace process, is totally unacceptable to me. You also realize that it was Fatah as the Palestinian Authority that arrested me for seven months.

I know you try to depict us as immoral and cruel, but that is a distortion in its own right. The rules in the war game are not equal. We don’t have tanks and planes, and only painful attacks can achieve the organization’s goals. If my commanders were to tell me tomorrow to carry out a suicide bombing, I would pick up the explosive suitcase without a moment’s hesitation and do it.

As for the peace process, I personally am against it. It entails recognition of Israel, and that runs counter to Islam and Hamas. Even if [the Israelis] were to withdraw to the 1967 lines, give us Jerusalem and the right of return, we should not recognize Israel. All of Palestine, from the sea to the river, must constitute the Islamic Palestinian State.

I am not a murderer. A murderer is someone with a psychological problem; armed actions have a goal. Even if civilians are killed, it’s not because we like it or are bloodthirsty. It is a fact of life in a people’s struggle against a foreign occupier. A suicide bombing is the highest level of jihad and highlights the depth of our faith. The bombers are holy fighters who carry out one of the more important articles of Islam.

I always saw Israelis as murderers and as an occupying enemy who had inflicted pain on us, and who were still hurting us, and who must be expelled from our land by whatever means.