Foe of Mideast truce bides his time;

War not over, Al Aqsa militant vows
`This is the calm before the storm'

MITCH POTTER
MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank? Today, his name is Abu Walid. Last week it was Abu Hussein. And next week, there's no telling what the militant Palestinian with war in his eyes and a revolving nom de guerre will be calling himself. But make no mistake; the 33-year-old can turn the future black again. Here in the destitute rabbit's warren of back alleys that is Balata refugee camp, Abu Walid speaks for the mother cell of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He rejects outright the hudna, or truce, that has brought two weeks of tenuous quiet to the 33-month-old Palestinian uprising. Abu Walid is promising more war. More "martyrdom operations." Anything less, he says, is an unforgivable capitulation to an Israeli occupation that shows no signs of ending. In an interview this week, the Brigades veteran chain-smoked his way through 40 twitchy minutes, turning regularly to the door and blind-drawn window, a shiny silver 9-millimetre handgun holstered at his side. On the street below, he has eyes everywhere, underground activists equally nameless and faceless, all dedicated to keeping watch against the enemy, to "keeping the resistance alive." Where others see a narrow path for peace, Abu Walid scoffs. "This is the calm before the storm. We know what happened, we know what is going to happen. There is no hudna. Israel is the spoiled child that will give us nothing. And when the war returns, we will do better than ever, despite our very humble abilities." In the delicate détente that has accompanied the launch of the U.S.- backed "road map" peace plan, the rigidly disciplined militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have held firm to a promise of a three-month ceasefire. And, on paper at least, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, to which Abu Walid's band is attached, is also committed to ending attacks against Israel for a full six months to give peace efforts room to breathe. Unlike the Islamists, however, the secular Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are anything but disciplined. Just as the political wing of Fatah is rife with divisions about the wisdom of moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' approach to peacemaking, so too are the militants. Dissention and distrust abound. Complicating the Palestinian Authority's efforts to cajole the rogues and rebels onside is the continuing fragmentation of the militant branches. Two years ago, their leaders strode cockily through the streets of Balata, a square mile of 20,000 refugees on the southeastern reaches of Nablus. Now, with the original founders all either dead or in Israeli prisons, the new generation has buried itself for survival. "We were so obvious. Everyone knew who we were," says Abu Walid. "But we learned from our painful mistakes and today you don't know who is who, or who is a leader. And we also know that today, more than ever, our enemies are baiting us to set us a trap. But we are experienced now. We are hiding. And we are ready." (A condition of this week's interview was that there be no photographs or descriptions of the venue.) Exactly when ? and indeed, whether ? this Nablus cell and other rogue elements elsewhere in the West Bank, including the northernmost city of Jenin, actually act on their rejectionist threats is difficult to gauge. Abu Walid promises attacks will be launched the moment Israel crosses "the red line." But that line, to his way of thinking, means many things ? an assassination attempt on a major militant leader, failure to release a substantial number of jailed Palestinians, or the failure to soon ease the continuing closures and roadblocks that hem in the vast majority of West Bank Palestinians. "We will not be the ones to initiate suffering. But if Israel assassinates any leader, the reaction will be catastrophic," he says. While other rogue cells in the Nablus area lay claim to the Brigades name, Abu Walid is adamant "this is the only address that matters." His cell claims a direct link to Al Aqsa's founders, including jailed Balata militant Nasser Awais, who two months ago was sentenced to 14 terms of life plus 50 years by an Israeli military court for orchestrating shooting and bomb attacks that killed 14 Israelis. Although jailed Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti was intensely involved in drawing up terms of the current truce from his Israeli prison cell, Awais was never once consulted ? a point of contention for the Balata militants who give him their fealty. In the aftermath of the announced truce, Abu Walid says Palestinian Authority security officials began circulating through the West Bank, searching out his cell and others to win their approval. "They offered us large sums of money to annex us into the Palestinian Authority infrastructure. They wanted to buy our obedience. It was an insult. We don't want their money," he says. "We are people who lost all our friends, our leaders, our relatives. Some are dead, others are in jail. "Yet through all of this, we did tremendous harm to Israel. We created the legend of martyrdom, and as a result, the whole world knows we are under occupation. End the occupation, and Israel will have its security. But not until that day." A senior Israeli military official acknowledged yesterday that militant renegades pose a threat, particularly those thus far excluded from the process. But Israel's expectation is that the Palestinian Authority must attend to the reining in of rogue elements before the Israeli military eases its hold on the West Bank. "When we said Gaza and Bethlehem first as the places for turning over control and withdrawing, we also mean Nablus and Jenin last," the official said, on condition of anonymity. "It's no secret that these are the two toughest cities. We know that conditions there are still harsh, but our business is not about pleasing Palestinians, it's about ensuring Israel's security." Israeli commanders have been instructed to "change their mental discs" on maintaining security, in the hopes that combat soldiers can segue to duties more aptly described as policing until such time as Palestinian Authority security forces assume control. But just as U.S. military commanders are finding in Iraq, such a shift places an enormous burden on ground troops. "We are a very small country and a very small army. Everyone we have has been in the trenches," the Israeli military official said. "But already, the rules of engagement have changed. In (the southern Gaza community of) Rafah this week, there were grenade attacks. It was a situation where Israeli soldiers would have opened fire. Now they are not allowed without permission from a battalion commander. So there was no responding fire." Abu Walid and the Brigades of Balata appear as wary of the threat from within as they are of Israeli action against them. Quite simply, he says, "We trust nobody." The forces of moderation within the Palestinian leadership, he says, constitute "an arm of the Israeli security apparatus." Arafat, the militant leader admits, is different. "We are not in a position to embarrass Arafat. If he approached us, we would give him the utmost respect. But even Arafat has no control in the field. We do not work on remote control for anybody."