Word: asifa
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Young Hejazi was the first member of a little-known organization called Asifa (Storm Troopers) to be captured by the Israeli authorities. He was recently tried by a court-martial, found guilty of sabotage and sentenced to death...
...Asifa is the military arm of a group called El Fatah, which is a reverse acronym standing for the Arabic words Harakat Tahrir Falastin (Movement for the Liberation of Palestine). By itself, El Fatah means "Conquest." One of El Fatah's top leaders is Haj Amin Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Since the first of the year, Asifa claims to have made 13 raids into Israel to commit acts of "strategic sabotage," that is, the dynamiting of reservoirs and kibbutz buildings...
Disregard for Nasser. Asifa's membership is under 200 and limited to Palestinian Arabs between 20 and 30 years of age. Each volunteer takes an oath, on the Bible if a Christian, on the Koran if a Moslem, that he will 1) be on an alert status 24 hours a day, 2) tell no one of his activities and 3) never discuss a mission he has been on. Asifa is typical of other terrorist groups in that its members are organized into small cells, and only the cell leader has contact with one man in the echelon above...
...Asifa's irregulars operate mainly out of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. They have close links with the year-old Palestine Liberation Organization, which, with the endorsement of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, has raised and trained a 7,000-man army, helped by millions of dollars in cash contributions extracted from the 1,750,000 Palestinian Arabs scattered throughout the Arab world. But unlike P.L.O., Asifa takes orders from no Arab government. Asifa leaders are contemptuous of Nasser's recent warning to the Arab world against involvement in a premature war with Israel. A man close...
While the Arabs bickered, Israel struck. Angered at the increasing incursions of a newly organized secret Arab commando outfit known as "Asifa" (storm troopers), the Israeli army last week sent 50 of its own commandos across the border. The Israeli raiders entered three Jordanian towns, hastily evacuated civilians, then blew up gas stations, farmhouses and an abandoned mill. More raids lay ahead, hinted the Israeli radio, unless Asifa incursions were brought...