(TPS) A former senior member of the “Al Aqsa Martyrs” brigade who cooperated with Hezbollah, spent many years in an Israeli prison, and who is now very close to the new “Lion’s Den” terror group in Nablus, revealed in an exclusive interview with TPS new details about the group that is troubling both Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The source, who was active in early 2000 and was one of the driving forces behind what’s popularly known as the “Al Aqsa Intifada,” has until now refused to be interviewed by foreign media. He wishes, however, to remain anonymous.

The activist tells TPS that the Lion’s Den group represents the birth of a new national revolutionary phenomenon, which pulled the rug from under the feet of the PA leadership and crushed the dream of US General Keith Dayton, who wanted to build a significant Palestinian military force to fight terrorism.

General Dayton served as the American security coordinator between Israel and the PA from 2005 to 2010. He helped the PA build security mechanisms that were popularly known as the “Dayton Forces” and which form the backbone of security coordination with Israel.

The activist says that the members of Lion’s Den are establishing local headquarters in all the Palestinian cities, and their goal is to establish themselves in every village and camp and become a new revolutionary national organization that operates with great power while opposing the PA.

According to him, the headquarters that are now being established are indeed separate from each other, but they all adopt the name “Lion’s Den.” He added that this is not about dozens of individuals in Nablus alone, as people tend to think in Israel, but rather is a national phenomenon.

“The Lion’s Den managed to escape the watchful eye of the Israeli Shin Bet and proved that the Palestinian Authority, the Americans and the Israelis cannot stand up to the new spirit of resistance,” he said.

The brains of Hamas, the hands of Fatah

The activist testifies that the “lions” get support from Hamas and work under the direction of the Hamas leadership.

Most of the young commanders in the new organization are members of Hamas, and according to him, “The brain belongs to Hamas and the hands belong to Fatah.”

He described Lion’s Den as an “improved model of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ organization – these are Fatah activists who work under Hamas.”

The Nablus source expounded:

“In 2000, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs operated in coordination with Hezbollah and the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards, and also in coordination with Hamas. But today the situation is different and Hamas plays a much more significant role in the establishment of the armed organization. [But] it is not possible to reveal all the things nor the extent of the involvement of Hamas.”

The people who are members of the group are members of the generation that was born and grew up after the armed intifada of 2000. These are young people who have completely despaired of the Palestinian leadership and the Fatah leadership, but this is the only factor capable of uniting all parts of the Palestinian people and motivating them to action, he explained.

A unifying force of violence

The decision to establish Lion’s Den was made after the assassination of Ibrahim Al Nabulsi, one of the leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. With the elimination of Nabulsi, the arbiter in the development of the “battalions” and armed groups in Samaria, came the decision to establish the group in its current composition.

Nabulsi was one of the leaders of the battalions in Nablus, and his assassination, along with the arrest of Bassam Saadi, a senior terrorist from Jenin, resulted in the current wave of violence, including last summer’s Operation Breaking Dawn in the Gaza Strip.

Also at the meeting was Matzaev Shteyeh, the Hamas operative whose arrest by the PA led to violence between the Lion’s Den and Palestinian security forces.

And he adds, “The appearance of the lions reminds me of the appearance of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs a few months before the Second Intifada, in which they were one of the main perpetrators and dragged us into an armed bloody struggle.”

From his talks with TPS, it appears that the Palestinian Authority is trying to break up the group. To that end, it is offering people wages and is also offering to purchase weapons from Lion’s Den members for large sums, but so far this policy has failed.

The activist says that when it comes to the Lion’s Den, the Palestinian Authority has failed. With all its sophisticated means of communication and other various tools, the Lion’s Den has proved that they have the power to overcome the internal divisions between different Palestinian groups, and between Gaza and the West Bank.