Here are the police profiles of 13 Palestinian terrorists who were released from the Church of the Nativity in May 2002:

1. Ibrahim Moussa Salem Abayat (alias Abu Jalif)

Abayat was born in 1973, and is a resident of the city of Bethlehem. He is head of the Fatah Tanzim terrorist organization in the city. After the death of Atef Abayat, Ibrahim took over as the Bethlehem commander of the Tanzim. Abayat also orchestrated and participated in the shooting and mortar attacks on the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo and on the Bethlehem bypass roads.

Ibrahim Abayat was also involved in the following murderous terrorist attacks: · 20 September 2001 - A shooting attack on an Israeli vehicle near Tekoa, in which Sarit Amrani was murdered. · 16 July 2001 - The detonation of an explosive charge on the Beit Safafa -Talpiot bridge inside Jerusalem. · 15 January 2002 - The abduction and murder of Avi Boaz, a US citizen residing in Israel. Boaz was stopped at a Palestinian roadblock near Beit Sahour. There he was abducted by Abayat's operatives, who took him to Bethlehem, and upon Abayat's instructions, shot him to death. · 18 February 2002 - The detonation of a car bomb at the Zaim checkpoint, resulting in the death of an Israeli policeman. · 25 February 2002 - A shooting attack at an Israeli vehicle close to the Tekoa junction. Avraham Fisch and Aharon Gorov of Nokdim were killed in the attack, and Tamar Lipschitz, in an advanced stage of pregnancy, was wounded in the attack. · 2 March 2002 - A shooting attack at a vehicle south of Jerusalem, in which dental technician, Devorah Friedman, mother of four, was murdered.. · June 14, 2002 - Involvement in the planning and execution of the terrorist murder of Israeli intelligence officer, Yehuda Edri.

2. Ibrahim Mohammed Salem Abayat

Abayat born in 1961, and a resident of Bethlehem. Abayat is an operative of the Hamas organization, brother of Hussein Abayat - senior Fatah terrorist operative who was killed in action in November 2000.

Abayat provided accommodation to both Salamah and Mouhi Adin Sharif - a senior bomb 'engineer' - in his Bethlehem apartment. Abayat enabled Salamah and Sharif to stay in his Bethlehem apartment for more than a week, and gave them financial assistance. In 2000, during the questioning of Salem Jubran, it emerged that he gave weapons training to Hamas operatives in 1996. Abayat financed terrorist shootings, and planned terrorist attacks against civilians in Jerusalem, providing both economic and ideological support for these attacks. Abayat was also personally involved in the shooting attacks on the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo and the IDF in Bethlehem.

3. Jihad Youssef Khalil Jaara

Jaara, born in Al-Aroub in 1971 and resides in Bethlehem. He is an operative both in the Hamas and Fatah Tanzim. Jaara carried out a number of attacks, and was responsible for a number of terrorist killings. · Jaara was involved in a shooting attacks in the Jericho area during the recent Palestinian campaign of violence. These attacks included the shooting near Nahal Elisha on 1 November 2000, in which IDF officer Amir Zohar was killed. In addition, he carried out a shooting attack on 8 December 2000 against a bus on the Jericho bypass road, resulting in the death of IDF soldier Tal Gordon and the crippling of an Israeli woman. · On 15 January 2002, Jaara was also involved in the terrorist killing of Avi Boaz, in Beit Jalla. · On 26 March 2002, Jaara dispatched a suicide bomber to carry out an attack, but his car exploded, next to the Malha shopping mall. · On 30 March 2002, Jaara was interviewed on the BBC, following the suicide bombing attempt. During the interview, he spoke about his support for suicide bombings, the means with which operatives obtain weapons, and he led the reporter to the bomb-maker behind the production of explosives. During the interview, Jaara was photographed while carrying out shooting attacks on the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.

4. Abdullah Daoud Mohammed Abdullah Khader

Daoud, born in 1962, originally from the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, resides in Bethlehem, and serves as the Head of the Palestinian Authority's General Intelligence apparatus in the city. He had previously served as the Head of the General Intelligence apparatus in Tulkarm and Kalkilya. Daoud provided assistance and instructions to senior Fatah Tanzim operatives, such as Raed Karmi - a senior Tanzim operative responsible for fatal terrorist attacks in the Samaria region, Mohammed Naafa - a Tanzim terrorist operative and Abbas Alsaid - a Hamas terrorist operative.

Daoud provided courses and training to Tanzim operatives, and provided weapons and ammunition to Tanzim operatives. He encouraged them to carry out attacks, and chided them for not doing enough for the Palestinian struggle. He recruited operatives, and encouraged them to carry out attacks.

Daoud was personally responsible for operating a terrorist cell, for the execution of shooting attacks and the murder of PLO dissidents. Daoud was also involved along with others in the production of high explosives, for the use of Tanzim operatives. He also instructed his operatives in the preparation of bombs and high explosives. He coordinated the transfer of weapons from one town to another, for the use of Tanzim operatives. He took part in directing the 25 February 2002 shooting attack at the Tekoa junction. In that attack, two men were murdered, and a pregnant woman was severely wounded.

5. Mohammed Said Atallah Salem

Salem was born in 1979, and a resident of Dehaishe refugee camp Salem is a senior operative in the Fatah Tanzim terrorist infrastructure of Ahmad Magharbi, was directly involved in the following attacks · 22 January 2002 - The dispatch of a suicide bomber to the Talpiot neighborhood in Jerusalem. The terrorist abandoned the explosive charge and fled back to the Dehaishe refugee camp. · 18 February 2002- The detonation of a car bomb by a suicide bomber on the Maale Adumim road, close to the Zaim checkpoint. A policeman was killed in the attack. · 2 March 2002 - The suicide bombing in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem. As a result of the attack, 11 Israelis were killed, among them 4 children, and dozens more were wounded. · 29 March 2002 - The suicide bombing of a supermarket in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel. An Israeli security guard and a teenage Israeli girl were killed in the attack, and many were wounded.

6. Mohammed Fouzi Mohammed Muhaneh

Muhaneh, born in 1980, originally from El Aroub and now lives and operates in Bethlehem. Muhaneh member of the Special Forces of the General Intelligence apparatus, under the command of Tawfik Tirawi. He was trained in security by the US. Muhaneh learned how to prepare explosive charges, and was given instructions in the recruitment of terrorist cells for the execution of attacks. Upon his return to Bethlehem, he recruited a terrorist cell in El Aroub together with Omer Hajara who had also participated with Muhaneh in the course in the US, and was also recruited for terrorist activity in Gaza (an explosives lab was found in Hajara's house, and he is now in Israeli detention). Muhaneh has been involved in numerous attempts to carry out terrorist attacks in the Bethlehem area, which have included shooting and mortar attacks at military and civilian targets alike. Muhaneh was a member of a Tanzim terrorist cell operating under the command of Hussein Abayat. Their operations included shooting and mortar attacks at the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem. Following the death of Hussein Abayat, Muhaneh took over the command of some of the Tanzim operatives. Muhaneh provided members of his terrorist cell with personal training and instruction in the use of firearms, and taught them how to produce and use pipe bomb attacks.

7. Rami Kamel Eid Kamel

Kamel, a resident of Bethlehem, was born in 1980 and is an active armed Tanzim was one of the primary terrorists behind the shooting attacks and mortar fire directed against civilian residents of the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. The following are a few examples: · Kamel was a member of Atef Abayat's terrorist cell which carried out systematic sniper and mortar attacks against Gilo as well as shooting attacks against Israeli civilian and military vehicles on the Bethlehem bypass roads. He added that Kamel took part in the murder of an IDF truck driver. Sgt. Max Hazan, on 2 October 2000, at point blank range. · Kamel was personally involved in the 11 February 2001 shooting attack against an Israeli civilian vehicle south of Gilo in which Rosh Tzurim resident Tzachi Sasson was murdered.

8. Aziz Khalil Mohammed el Abayat

Aziz Abayat, born in 1971, a former pharmacology student in al Najah University in Nablus now working Bethlehem's Hussein Hospital, is a Hamas armed operative. As a pharmacist, he was able to purchase chemical compounds used in the manufacture of high explosives. Aziz took part in the dispatch of the suicide bombers Taleb Hermes and Ahmed Abedah, who detonated themselves against an IDF roadblock which they encountered on their way to carry out a synchronized high explosive suicide attack in Jerusalem. Aziz was responsible for the activities of all Hamas armed operatives in the Bethlehem area.

9. Mamdoukh Akhsan Mohammed Wardiyan

Wardiyan, born in 1979, is an armed operative of the Hamas. He was imprisoned until June 2001, for recruiting on behalf of the Hamas and the Koutleh Islamic Front, being a member of a Hamas terrorist cell, and carrying out street violence. After Arafat released him from prison, he returned to his Hamas terrorist activities, becoming a senior armed member of the Hamas' terrorist apparatus. Wardiyan took part in a number of shooting attacks against Israelis and planted explosive devices in the Bethlehem area.

Wardiyan was the close aide of Aziz Abayat and Bassem Hamoud, an armed operative who was injured during the standoff at the Nativity Church, and subsequently hospitalized.

The fact that Wardiyan returned to terrorist activities upon his release from prison, and his immediate integration into the senior Hamas field leadership, demonstrates that it can be assumed that he will strive to carry out terrorist activities whenever conditions permit. Due to the removal of the senior Hamas leadership as a result of Operation Defensive Shield, and his stature in the organization, Wardiyan, together with Aziz Abayat, are liable to become the next leaders of the Hamas' terrorist apparatus in Bethlehem.

10. Khaled Mohammed Abd el Hamid Abu Najimeh

Abu Najimeh, born in 1968, is a resident of the Dehaisheh refugee camp. He was a member of both a terrorist cell of the General Security Special Forces, and a Tanzim/Fatah cell responsible for a number of fatal terrorist attacks originating in Bethlehem - among them, the attack of a woman suicide bomber against a supermarket in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel, the dispatch of two suicide bombers to attack the Maccabia Games (who detonated before reaching their objective), and other fatal attacks. The cell was led by Yehieh Daghamseh, the master bomb maker of the Bethlehem area. In addition to the aforementioned attacks, Abu Najimeh was also responsible for the planting of explosive charges in the Bethlehem area, intended for use against IDF forces.

11. Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed al Hemamreh

Ahmed Hemamreh, born in 1971, is a Tanzim terrorist operative,. Tried to engineer a suicide bomb in a large Jerusalem shopping center during the course of the Passover holiday. The explosion was planned for the morning hours, when the mall was to have been filled with children on vacation.

12. Khalil Mohammed Abdullah Nawareh

Nawareh, born in 1978, resident of Bethlehem, is a Tanzim terrorist operative. He is an aide to Ibrahim Abayat, the head of the Tanzim in Bethlehem, and has taken part in a number of terrorist attacks, including the murder, on 11 February 2001, of an Israeli civilian, Tzachi Sasson, was murdered.

13. Annan Mohammed Hamis Tanjeh

Tanjeh, born 1978, is a resident of the Inatrah neighborhood in Bethlehem. He is a known Tanzim operative, and member of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades Tanja received terrorist directives from Ibrahim Abayat and Riyadh al Amour, ranking Tanzim commanders in Bethlehem who are responsible for the murder of Israeli citizens. Tanja carried out shooting attacks against the Tunnel Route, the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, and IDF forces around Bethlehem.

Israel Resource News Agency

Profiles of Church of the Nativity Terrorists