TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The Palestinian Authority is said to have acquired aid
from Hizbullah in the design and production of missiles.A Palestinian Authority official from the Gaza Strip has been charged by
Israel with receiving training in a Hizbullah camp in Lebanon in an effort
to develop and produce new missiles against Israeli civilian and military
targets. The suspect was identified as Ahmed Aviti, a member of the ruling
Fatah movement who arrived from Lebanon in 1994. Five years later, he
received permission to bring his wife and children from Lebanon to the Gaza
Strip.Over the last eight years, Aviti was said to have worked as an
aeronautical engineer at the PA airport at Dahaniya. He was said to have
participated in the improvement of the Al Bana anti-tank missile as well as
the construction of tunnels that linked the Gaza Strip with Egypt's Sinai
Peninsula.An Israeli government statement said the Palestinian was contacted by
Hizbullah during his pilgrimage to the Saudi city of Mecca earlier this
year. He was
given instructions to travel to Lebanon in October, where he underwent
training in missile development and expertise.
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