BICOM

An indictment was filed at the Beersheva District Court yesterday against Dirar Abu Sisi, a Gazan engineer and director of the Strip’s electricity power station. According to media reports, Abu Sisi was apprehended by the Israeli security services while traveling on a train between the cities of Kharkov and Kiev in Ukraine. According to the indictment, Abu Sisi obtained extensive knowledge of missile development and rocket propulsion while studying in Ukraine. The Palestinian engineer then returned to Gaza, where he was employed by the Gaza electric company. In 2002, the indictment states, he was recruited by Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigade, and then went on to become one of the leading figures in the movement’s development of short and medium range rockets. In 2005, Abu Sisi began to work on increasing the range of Hamas’s domestically produced rockets. The indictment states that as a result of his work, the range of the rockets increased from 6 to 22 km. The charges filed against Abu Sisi include membership in a terrorist organisation, conspiracy to commit a crime, the production of illegal weaponry, and assistance to an illegal organisation. Abu Sisi denies all the charges.

The charges filed against Abu Sisi appear to offer an insight into the sophistication of the domestic weapons capability developed by Hamas since its seizure of power in Gaza. They include details of the military academy set up by the movement following Operation Cast Lead, in light of serious Hamas military failures during the operation. The academy, according to sources, is situated in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza. Following Cast Lead, Hamas set about overhauling its military structures and tactical doctrine. It adopted an intensified externally supported training programmes for Qassam Brigade fighters, increased smuggling, upgraded its arsenal, built new underground tunnel structures and made attempts to tighten internal security. According to the indictment filed against Abu Sisi, he played a key role in these effort, and was responsible, in addition to his direct work in weapons development, for formulating courses of study at the military academy.