Somebody Emailed me this article (no permalink) from today's De Standaard (Dutch-language Belgian daily, my quickie translation).:
PALESTINIAN EXPELLEE STAYED AT BANK ROBBER'S PLACE
From our correspondent
BRUSSELS --- A member of the Fatach-movement of Yasser Arafat who had
been given a residence permit in [Belgium] after he was exiled from
Israel, is now in jail. Khalil Al N., [aged] 25, is suspected of involvement
in an armed robbery. The Interior Ministry is embarrassed by the matter and
admits that [the Department of] Alien Affairs already knew since last June
that Al N. has "the wrong friends".
A seemingly ordinary matter of gangsterism got a particularly embarrassing
twist for Belgian authorities.
Last Tuesday the Brussels police arrested eight men who are suspected of
involvement in a series of armed robberies, by means of explosives, on banks
and post offices. Law enforcement thinks the gang is, among others,
responsible for the assault on the Nederbrakel post office of December 20,
last year. One
of the eight arrested is the Palestinian Khalil Al N. ([see] De Standaard of
December 17). He had meanwhile been arraigned, together with five accomplices,
by Judge of Inquiry [kind-of-like a District Attorney in Belgium] Freddy
De Smet of Oudenaarde.
Khalil Al N., [aged] 25, was exiled from Israel in May 2002, together with 12
other Palestinians, after the siege of the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem.
Al N. was a member of the Tanzim Fatach, the military arm of the
Fatach-movement
of Yasser Arafat. Together with hundreds of other Palestinian fighters [sic]
he had "fortified himself" [verschanste zichzelf/hitbatzer] in de Church of
the Nativity after heavy fighting with the Israeli army.
Israel suspected Al N. and twelve others of terrorist activities and
therefore wanted them out of the country after the siege. According to
the Israelis, Al N. was, among others, involved with the assassination
of an Israeli citizen. The European Union decided to absorb the thirteen
exiles and split them up among the Union countries. Belgium was "given"
[scare quotes in original] Khalil Al N., generally considered the most
well-behaved of the thirteen.
Al N. ended up in the Walloon [town of] Bertrix, with a host family.
The Interior Ministry described the behavior of Al N. in his first few
months in Belgium as "exemplary". At first he was under heavy guard; later
he had to report to the Bertrix police once a month. After a while he reneged
on this "reporting duty". According to a press release by the cabinet of
Interior Minister Patrick Dewael, it turned out that Khalil Al N. since last
June maintained ties with a number of "old customers" of Brussels' law
enforcement. According to [the same release], the Alien Affairs Department
urged him to leave these circles and go live in Bertrix again, with his
host family. Again according to Interior Affairs, Khalil indeed returned
to Bertrix in November, but apparently kept up his ties with the Anderlecht
underworld.
The arrest of Khalil Al N. last Tuesday was a coincidence. Al N. was sleeping
in Anderlecht, in the apartment of one of the prime suspects, when police
raided [the apartment. There] the police found weapons and explosives,
[stored] so openly and in plain sight that Al N. could hardly deny he was
aware of anything. For now, police assumes it is a matter of common banditry.
The Brussels federal police is [however] investigating whether the "proceeds"
of the robberies were to be used for financing the Palestinian cause.
Police sources furthermore confirm that at least one of the robbers was known
in Islamic fundamentalist circles.
[Datelined] 18/12/2003 [by] Mark Eeckhaut
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