Documents discovered by Israel during Operation Defensive Shield revealed the extent of financial support Saudi Arabia has provided to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. According to the documents, the Saudis paid about $5,000 to each of 102 Palestinian families of suicide bombers and others killed in the terror campaign against Israel. In addition, the Saudis provided extensive financial support to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations.

One of the documents seized in Tulkarm included a table detailing the names of eight suicide bombers and their commanders, including "most-wanted" Hamas terrorist Mahmoud Abu Hanoud and Bethlehem's Tanzim leader Atef Abayat, both killed by Israeli military strikes.

According to the table, the Saudi Committee for Support of the Al-Aqsa Intifada transferred the money to the families through the Saudi-run Arab Bank. The committee is managed by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz.

The Saudi government has consistently denied reports that it has paid the families of suicide bombers. A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy told Fox News that the Saudis "don't pay suicide bombers."

The spokesman charged that Israel was attempting to discredit the Saudi Arabian government at a time when Crown Prince Abdullah was meeting with President George W. Bush in Texas.

Israel's interest in revealing the Saudi payments to families of suicide bombers is twofold, wrote Itamar Eichner in Yediot Aharonot. Israel wants the United States to be aware of the true face of Saudi Arabia and its support of terror, at a time when the Saudis are pushing for increased American pressure on Israel. In addition, Israel is hoping that the exposure of the documents will force the Saudis to stop, or at least make it more difficult for them to continue their funding practices. This would dry up part of the financial support for suicide bombing, Eichner wrote.

Americans not aware that Saudis fund bombers' families
"The Saudis have assured us that they don't want the money going to support violence," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Friday. He said the Saudis had promised that the funds they raised were only going to "legitimate charities" in the Palestinian terrorists.

"I have no information whatsoever that suggests that the government of Saudi Arabia is doing what Iraq is," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a news briefing last month.

President Bush has tied Iraq to events in the Middle East, charging that Saddam Hussein encouraged suicide bombings in Israel by making payments to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. In March, Hussein increased the level of Iraqi support for the families to $25,000.

"They're not martyrs," President Bush said of Palestinian suicide bombers on April 4. "They're murderers and they undermine the cause of the Palestinian people. Those governments like Iraq that reward parents for the sacrifice of their children are guilty of soliciting murder of the worst kind."

The Saudi Committee for Support of the Al-Aqsa Intifada recently raised nearly $110 million in a charity telethon, and some of this may have been transferred to the Hamas, Fox News reported. "There are troubling aspects as to how that telethon money would be distributed," admitted U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said he would raise the telethon issue with Saudi officials.

The Washington Times reported on April 9 that the Saudi Arabian government has already paid out $33 million to families of Palestinians killed or injured during the Intifada, and in December earmarked another $50 million for payments. The Saudi Committee for Support of the Al-Aqsa Intifada distributes payments of $5,333 to the families of the dead, with no distinction in compensation to families of suicide bombers and those killed by Israeli military action, the paper said.

"They want to make it sound like (all the money is for) the families of suicide bombers," charged Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations.

© 2001-2002 Koret Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.