Emblem of the Popular Resistance Committees

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) are various Palestinian militant organizations which operate in the Gaza Strip and are regarded as terrorist organizations by Israel and the United States. Set up late 2000 by former Fatah and Tanzim member Jamal Abu Samhadana, the PRC are composed of ex-Fatah militants combined with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades members. Allegedly, the PRC are inspired and financed by Hezbollah. The PRC specializes in planting roadside bombs and vehicle explosive charges - directed against military and civilian convoys in the Gaza Strip. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOVD Articles that have been linked to this page are the subject of an NPOV dispute (NPOV stands for Neutral Point Of View; see below). ... Image File history File links Logoprc. ... Image File history File links Logoprc. ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... Fatah (Arabic: ); a reverse acronym from the Arabic name Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini (literally: Palestinian National Liberation Movement) is a major secular Palestinian political party and the largest organization in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a generally secular multi-party confederation. ... Tanzim (Organization in Arabic) is a faction of the Palestinian al-Fatah movement. ... Jamal Abu Samhadana, from Rafah in the Gaza Strip, is founder of the Popular Resistance Committees (which have been held resposnsible for firing missiles into Israel),[1] a former Fatah and Tanzim member, and number two on Israels list of wanted terrorists. ... Fatah (Arabic: ); a reverse acronym from the Arabic name Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini (literally: Palestinian National Liberation Movement) is a major secular Palestinian political party and the largest organization in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a generally secular multi-party confederation. ... Hamas (Arabic: ; acronym: Arabic: , or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement,[1]) is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization. ... The emblem of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad shows a map of the land they claim as Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) superimposed on the images of the Dome of the Rock, two fists and two rifles. ... The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (كتائب شهداء الأقصى) are a Palestinian armed terrorist group closely linked to the Fatah party. ... For other uses, see Hezbollah (disambiguation). ...

Activities

The PRC have been involved in a number of bombing attacks on military and civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, including the following: This article is about explosive devices. ...

• The November 20, 2000 bombing of a bus full of children as it passed near Kfar Darom killing two.
• The October 8 shooting attack on a bus carrying airport workers near the Rafah terminal on October 8, 2000, wounding 8 civilians, and a similar attack on a car on the road from Kerem Shalom to the Rafah terminal, killing the woman driver
• Mortar attacks on April 28, 2001 on the Netzer Hazani agricultural Israeli settlement the Gaza Strip (wounding five, one seriously), and similar attacks on Kfar Darom on April 29 and on Atzmona on May 7 of the same year.
• The February 14, 2002 killing of three Israeli soldiers using large explosive charges meant for tanks, and similar killings of three more soldiers on March 14 and one more on September 5 of that same year.
• The May 2, 2004 killing of the unarmed and pregnant Tali Hatuel, and her four daughters aged 2 to 11, on Kissufim road. The PRC and Islamic Jihad jointly claimed responsibility, also claiming that the attack was in retaliation for earlier Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killings of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.[1]
• The January 13, 2005 killing of six Israeli settlers at the Karni Passage near Gaza, carried out together with Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. [2]

In addition, the Palestinian National Authority arrested several PRC members, accusing them of being responsible for planting the explosives which, on October 15, 2003, destroyed a US diplomatic convoy at Beit Hanoun, killing three security guards and severely wounding a diplomat.[3] The PRC confirmed the men were PRC members, and initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but later denied carrying out the attack, saying it was against Palestinian interests. Following the attack, the US demanded that the Palestinian Authority find those responsible and bring them to justice. Palestinian officials said that because of lack of progress in the attack investigation, the US halted financial support for the PA and placed unofficial sanctions on its accounts. After heavy US pressure, the PA tried four suspects in a Palestinian military court, but intelligence agencies dismissed the tribunal as a "mock trial" and said the suspects indeed were PRC activists, but not those responsible for the attack. The suspects were released in March 2004, less than one year after the attack. November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Kerem Shalom is a kibbutz and border crossing near the Gaza-Israel-Egyptian border. ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Map of Israeli settlements (magenta) in the West Bank. ... is the 119th day of the year (120th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Insert non-formatted text here{| style=float:right; |- | paul is so hot sophie loves him |- | |} is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... is the 73rd day of the year (74th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A pregnant woman Pregnancy is the process by which a mammalian female carries a live offspring from conception until it develops to the point where the offspring is capable of living outside the womb. ... Tali Hatuel Tali Hatuel was an Israeli social worker who, along with her four daughters aged 2 to 11, was shot at close range and killed on May 2, 2004 by armed Palestinian terrorists. ... The emblem of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad shows a map of the land they claim as Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) superimposed on the images of the Dome of the Rock, two fists and two rifles. ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces... Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin (~1937 — March 22, 2004) was the leader of Hamas until he was killed by an Israeli helicopter gunship. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Anthem: Biladi Capital Ramallah and Gaza de facto, as the current location of government institutions. ... is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ...

The PRC are also involved in Rafah's smuggling tunnels [4] which have been used to smuggle weapons, explosives, drugs, fugitives, cigarettes etc. [5] [6] [7] [8] Rafah (Arabic: رفح Hebrew: רפיח) is a town in the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian border, and a nearby town on the Egyptian side of the border, on the Sinai Peninsula. ... Smuggling tunnels are secret tunnels, usually hidden underground, used for smuggling of goods, illegal weapons and people. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Look up fugitive in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Two unlit filtered cigarettes. ...

The PRC claimed responsibility for the assassination of Moussa Arafat on September 7, 2005. It has been suggested that Selective assassination be merged into this article or section. ... Moussa Arafat Major General Moussa Arafat al-Qidwi (born Jaffa 1941 -- died Gaza City September 7, 2005) was a cousin of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In early June 2006, PRC leader Jamal Abu-Samhadana was killed by IDF forces. As the man responsible for a number of attacks, including the bombing of a children's school bus near Kfar Darom in November 2000 and for the 2003 infiltration into an IDF outpost in Rafah that left several soldiers dead, he was considered one of the most wanted Palestinians on the IDF's list. [9]

On Sunday, June 25, 2006, PRC, together with Hamas and Jish al-Islam ("the Army of Islam") launched a major attack via tunnel near the Kerem Shalom outpost. Eight Palestinian militants used a nearly one km tunnel that they had dug over the past several months to cross the border between Gaza and Israel. The unexpected attack ended with one soldier- Corporal Gilad Shalit- captured, two dead and four wounded. Two of the Palestinian attackers were killed while the other six made it back to the Gaza Strip with Shalit. [10] is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cpl. ...

The same day of the tunnel attack, Eliyahu Asheri, an 18 year old Israeli student, went missing near the West Bank. The PRC shortly claimed responsibility for kidnapping and murdering him. Spokesman for the group, Abu Abir, also announced that the PRC had formed special units in the West Bank whose sole purpose is to kidnap soldiers and settlers, in accordance with the continued Operation "Cavaliers' Wrath." [11] [12] [13] Eliyahu Asheri (apprx. ...

On August 8, 2007, the PRC announced that it would form a political party to run in future Palestinian elections. It vowed, however, to keep its armed wing intact.^[1]

Alleged Hezbollah Connection

According to Israel, the relation between the PRC and Hezbollah is more than coincidental. Israel alleges the organization enjoys financing and technical support from Hezbollah since its founding, and is a sort of proxy of Hezbollah's influence in the Gaza Strip. [14] [15] For other uses, see Hezbollah (disambiguation). ...

Notes

1. ^ "Big Gun Politics: Can Armed Political Parties Fairly Participate in Political Processes?" Cafe Cordover by Adam B. Cordover

External links

• The Leading Palestinian Terrorist Organizations (August 2004) from the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)
• The Resistance Committees: Between a Movement and a Party