Shia vs Sunni, 4get it..Young Palestinian trainees see Iran as new power in region - Story Two

TEL AVIV -- Israeli military sources said Iran has been training hundreds of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in courses that range from one month to a year. The sources said the shortest courses are reserved for Fatah or low-level operatives, while the long courses were meant for Hamas military officers.

"Many young Palestinians in the Gaza Strip seek to obtain permission to train in Iran," a military source said. "The money is good and Iran is seen as the new power in the region."

On May 19, the military reported the arrest of a Palestinian insurgent trained in Iran. The insurgent, captured on April 15, was identified as Alaa Jihad Ouad Abu Madif, who lives in Karara in the southern Gaza Strip.

A military statement said Abu Madif was a member of the Abu Rish faction, which left the PLO in the 1990s and became aligned with Iran and Syria. Abu Madif was said to have participated in rocket attacks against Israel and was designated a suicide bomber.

"Abu Madif participated in a month-long military training course in Iran in May 2007, after being recruited to the Abu Rish faction a short time previously," the statement said.

The military said Abu Madif left the Gaza Strip for Egypt in 2007. From there, he and other Palestinian insurgents flew from Cairo to Damascus and then to Iran. In Iran, Abu Madif was trained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"In Iran, they were transferred to isolated military encampments in a mountainous region where they underwent comprehensive military training," the statement said. "The military training included physical training, navigation, weapons training -- including light and heavy weapons operation, anti-tank weapons, hand grenades -- target practice, assembly and operation of explosive devices and indoctrination lessons defining Israel and the United States as the sources of evil. They were also instructed in covert activities, such as discovering and losing reconnaissance."

Abu Madif and other trainees were said to have returned to the Gaza Strip around October 2007, after Hamas captured the Gaza Strip. From then, Abu Madif participated in missile fire against Israel and agreed to participate in a suicide bombing attack against Israeli soldiers along the border with the Gaza Strip. The attack was never carried out.

Why are there so few stories about the significance of the Muslim Brotherhood's most murderous faction allied solidly and without public qualms to the most murderous of Shia? Perhaps because what they have in common is far stronger than what separates them

"Abu Madif's interrogation throws light on the deep Iranian involvement in the encouragement of terror against Israel and in its support, its financing, and its military training for the activists of the various terror organizations operating in Gaza against Israel," the report said. "Syrian aid and assistance in the transfer of activists to Iran is also emphasized."