TAXI PERMIT DISPUTE PRECIPATES AL-AQSA ATTACK ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001524

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MUSTAFA;
DS/IP/NEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2016
TAGS: KPAL KWBG PREL IS
SUBJECT: TAXI PERMIT DISPUTE PRECIPATES AL-AQSA ATTACK ON
PA OFFICES

REF: A. JERUSALEM 01262

B. JERUSALEM 00974

C. JERUSALEM 01467

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Fatah-affiliated militants attacked the
offices of the PA Prime Minister Isma'il Hanniyah and
Transportation Minister Ziad Thatha on April 13 in response
to the HAMAS-led government,s decision not to disburse taxi
permits that PA officials have used in the past to co-opt
armed Fatah factions. Fatah observers describe the incident
as part of a larger effort by elements within Fatah to
undermine and embarrass the HAMAS-led government, but said
the tactic could backfire because of the perception that
HAMAS is attempting to "clean up" government while Fatah
militants seek ways to maintain their privileges. END
SUMMARY.

--------------
PM and Transportation Minister's
Offices Attacked
--------------


2. (C) Approximately 27 gunmen from the Fatah-affiliated
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (al-Aqsa) invaded the Ramallah
office of PA Prime Minister Isma'il Hanniyah at 1030L on
April 13. After forcing civil service employees to evacuate
the building and firing celebratory shots from the roof, the
gunmen released a statement to the media demanding that the
PA distribute 530 taxi permits approved by the previous
government for Fatah activists in the northern West Bank.
Later on April 13, a separate group of gunmen overran the
office of Transportation Minister Ziad Thatha (ref A).
(Note: Both groups of gunmen were reportedly from al-Aqsa
factions based in the northern West Bank. END NOTE.) By
1900L, Interior Ministry officials had negotiated an end to
the protest. The militants were allowed to maintain a
symbolic, less disruptive protest at the Transportation
Ministry.

--------------
Attempt at Transparency by
HAMAS Minister Precipitates Crisis
--------------


3. (C) The dispute over the taxi permits began during the
March 6 session of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC),
when the newly formed PLC passed a resolution suspending all
promotions, pay raises and other measures taken by the
outgoing PLC (ref B). The measure effectively curtailed the
disbursement of lucrative taxi permits that the outgoing
government had promised to provide to Fatah activists in the
northern West Bank. On March 30, newly appointed
Transportation Minister Ziad Thatha announced that he had
given an order not to disburse the additional permits because
there was already a 25 percent excess supply of taxis in the
West Bank and any further issuance of taxi permits would
reduce driver incomes. In response, al-Aqsa militants
attacked a Transportation Ministry office in Tulkarem on
April 4.

--------------
Background Notes on PA
Taxi Permit Corruption
--------------


4. (C) Taxis are a lucrative business in the West Bank
because many Palestinians cannot transit IDF checkpoints in
their own vehicles. Instead, most Palestinians travel
between municipalities via the "back-to-back" system, i.e. by
switching taxis at each Israeli security barrier. Beginning
in the Arafat era, PA officials began using control of the
transportation trade as a tool of political patronage.
Arafat famously rewarded the needy families of "martyrs" with
taxi permits that they could lease to generate income.
Several PA security chiefs expanded the practice by rewarding
loyal officers and al-Aqsa militants with taxi permits. A
number of PASF officers have commented to Poloff that they
make more money from leasing the taxi permits they own than
from their PA salaries.


5. (C) At some point in 2005, President Abbas' office gave
Tulkarem-based Fatah activist Moin al-Jabri the right to
distribute 530 additional taxi permits to Fatah activists and
al-Aqsa militants who refrained from disrupting the Israeli
disengagement from the northern West Bank or the PLC
elections. HAMAS' subsequent victory in the PLC elections
effectively prevented the PA from fulfilling that promise.

--------------
Fatah Officials Say Attacks are
Part of Effort to Discredit HAMAS
--------------


6. (C) Fatah Youth director Ahmad Ebwaini told ConGen Poloff
that the April 13 attacks are part of a wider effort by Fatah
elements to embarrass the HAMAS-led government (Ref C).
(NOTE: It is highly unlikely that the al-Aqsa militants would
have been able to transit from their homes in the northern
West Bank to Ramallah and overrun the Prime Minister's office
without the assistance or complicity of elements of the PASF.
END NOTE.) Ebwaini criticized Fatah's choice to use the
taxi permit dispute as an opporunity to embarrass HAMAS
saying most Palestinians are aware of PA corruption with taxi
permits and approved of HAMAS' efforts to "clean up" the
transportation industry in the West Bank. Senior Fatah
leader Hussein al-Sheikh expressed similar sentiments saying
efforts by al-Aqsa militants to maintain their privileges
were "bad PR for Fatah." Al-Sheikh speculated that the
attacks on PA offices were a harbinger of further Fatah
efforts to embarrass HAMAS and said greater violence was
likely if the HAMAS-led government chose to confront more
extravagant examples of PA corruption and patronage.

WALLES