: burned them, jabbed them with nee - What were yaur gaals when yau agreed 1986 the
reed 1986 the son relates in his book, Sheikh
dles, put out cigarettes on them ."
After his release from prison in 1997,
Yousef started to meet with Captain Loai ,
and says, "1 had no plans to kill anyone or
to be a spy, 1 was just curious." Already
in their second meeting, he relates, the
Shin Bet man managed to surprise him .
Yousef: "He explained to me that if 1
wanted to work for the Shin Bet, 1 had
to respect a few rules. 'You must not be -
friend loose women or behave immoral -
ly,' he told me. 'Do not sleep with women
or behave like a wise guy - especially
you, the son of a sheikh. You have to find
work and get along.' One time, Captain
Loai stopped the meeting and asked me if
1had already recited the midday prayers .
Surprised, 1 said 1 hadn't. He then asked
me to purify myself [by washing hands ,
face and feet ‫ נ‬and pray, and then said we
would continue .
"lt was important for them that 1
would continue to be the person 1 was ,
for me not to change, to be serious. They
wanted respectable people, who were
respected in their society, not those with
a poor reputation. 1 became even more
' curious and wanted to learn more about
them. My handlers told me time and
again, 'You must respect your father and
your mother and not do anything bad to
anyone.' They did not yet ask for infor -
mation about anything or anyone, and 1
became more and more serious in regard
to them. My handlers, for their part, re -
spected me and treated me very wel1
and even helped me with my studies .·
1 was stunned by their behavior. They
did not want to take action against the
Palestinians as such, only against the ex -
tremists. 1 looked at these people, whom
in the past 1 had so much wanted to kill ,
and discovered that everything 1 knew
about them was incorrect .
lt was also in this period that Yousef
began to be drawn to Christianity and
read the New Testament. "1 remember
encountering the sentence, 'Love your
enemies.' That made me think: These en -
emies of yours, the Shin Bet, the soldiers ,
are only trying to do their job. 1 thought
to myself how Hamas would behave in a
reverse situation: Would they show mer -
cy to J ews? And 1 thought: 'Who are you
trying to kid? Hamas and Fatah would
behave more humanely?' 1 couldn't de -
fine who my enemy was anymore .
"True, the Shin Bet made horrible mis -
takes and killed innocent people, but its
main goal, like Israel's, was to preserve
the principles of a democratic country .
There are 1.2 million Palestinians liv -
ing inside Israel, within the Green Line ,
who enjoy rights and benefit more from
Israel's prosperity and welfare than in
any Arab state. Still, those soldiers took
my father away before my eyes and shot
people before my eyes, and believe me ,
it was no smal1 thing for me to work for
those people. lt was a real turnaround ."
ta warkjar them?
Yousef: "1 saw torture, killing, a war
over land. For me, human life and saving
human lives is the most important thing,
more important than any piece of land or
real estate. 1wanted to save - and did save
- human lives, Israeli and Palestinian. 1
did not do it because the Shin Bet pres-
sured me, or for money. 1 did it because
1 understood what Hamas really is and 1
had to make a change. For my sake and
for the sake of others. 1thought tQ myself
that even if people claim 1 am a-traitor,
let them say it. People will not believe it,
- ~
they will think 1 did it for money, but they
have no idea. 1was happy, delighted when
1stopped a suicide bomber."
Hamas is born
lt's striking, throughout the interview,
that Yousef uses the first person plural
in talking about Shin Bet activity. ln
California, he says, he has a T-shirt say-
ing, "1 do secret work but 1 don't know
what it is - the Shin Bet." "1 also have
an Israel Defense Forces T-shirt - olive
colored, with the symbol- which 1 really
love," he adds, laughing.
By 1999 he had penetrated the heart of
Hamas in the West Bank and was accom-
panying his father everywhere. As the
book reveals for the first time, Sheikh
Yousef conceived the idea of establishing
Hamas in the West Bank a year before
the organization's formal creation. ln
~ all those who organized the demonstra -
i';
~ So what did they talk about? But that is
~ not the worst thing 1 discovered at the
~ time about Arafat. 1 was the one who re -
e.
Marwan Barghouti: "Even though the Shin
Bet hated him, they did not want to turn
him into a martyr:'
----~~------~~
You;ef met in Hebron with Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin, Mohammed Jamal al -
Natshe Mohammed Musleh and others ,
and together planned the creation of the
new organization. Hamas officially an -
nounced its existence in December 1987 .
ln September 2000, when Ariel Sharon
visited the Temple Mount, Mosab Yousef
was naturally accompanying his father
to meetings. On September 27, the night
before Sharon's visit, Sheikh Hassan met
with Marwan Barghouti, commander of
the Tanzim militia in the West Bank, and
leaders of other groups .
Yousef recalls: "1 drove them to the
meeting, and when we returned he told
me that they had agreed that the next
day after Sharon's visit to the mount ,
they would foment demonstrations and
in the end an intifada. Their plan was to
stir up riots that would continue for two -
three weeks .
"They planned the intifada, and don't
~~~
let anyone tel1 you anything different ,"
he continues. "[However,] the Hamas
leadership in Hebron and Gaza did not
want to take part in the riots, because
they said [palestinian leader Yasser ]
Arafat did not deserve to be helped after
he persecuted the organization so harsh -
ly. And the truth is that Hamas in Gaza
did not take part in the demonstrations
at the start of the intifada. But my father
was in favor [of participating ]."
What d yau mean by "planned"? Did
Arajat ask them ta da it ?
"1 can't tel1 you for certain that he
gave an order. But he did give them
his blessing. Listen, man, what do you
think? Barghouti, Hussein al-Sheikh ,
tions - they met with Arafat every day .
vealed that the first squad of the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigade was actually a group
from Arafat's Presidential Guard, Force
17, which got money from Barghouti,
who got it from Arafat."
According to Yousef, it was he who led
the Shin Bet to Force 17 man Muhanad
Abu Halaweh. "Abu Halaweh sent more
and more people to perpetrate terror-
ist attacks," he says. "He was a dubious
type who walked around with a heavy
machine gun and opened fire at every
opportunity. The Shin Bet wanted to liq-
uidate him and 1told Loai that 1 agreed to
the mission, even if it meant he would be
killed. 1 felt there was no choice, because
otherwise Muhanad would go on killing
innocent people.
"On August 4"2001; 1waited outside the
office of Marwan Barghouti until 1 saw
Abu Halaweh go inside. A few hours later
he came out and got into his gold VW Golf.
1informed the Shin Bet that he was in the
car, alone; it was important for them not
to hurt Barghouti. The Israelis waited a