The Almagor Terror Victims Association has asked Defense Minister Ehud Barak for the names of the Palestinian Authority residents allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt or for Judea/Samaria. Sources in the organization say that among the fleeing Arabs are those responsible for attacks on Jewish families in what was the Gush Katif bloc of communities in Gaza.

Almagor has expressed its official opposition to allowing PA Arabs to leave Gaza for other destinations near Israeli population centers.

“We stand in amazement at the capitulation of the State of Israel before non-governmental pressures from organizations aiding the Palestinians, including from foreign states, to assist members of Fatah,” said the Almagor letter to Defense Minister Barak. “It seems as though it has been forgotten in the public debate that those Fatah members are the very same who sought our demise, and a large portion of them took part in terrorist activities against the State of Israel and its citizens.”

On Wednesday night, the IDF provided buses to transport dozens of PA Arabs from the Erez Crossing on the northern tip of Gaza to the Kerem Shalom Crossing on the southern tip of Gaza, and then across the Egyptian border. The buses, traveling on Israeli roads, were surrounded by heavy security to prevent the Fatah-affiliated Arabs from escaping while in pre-1967 Israel. The transfer was negotiated with the Egyptian regime.

According to the terror victims group, 30 out of the 60 PA Arabs who were transferred by Israel from Gaza to the Sinai peninsula were prohibited from entering Israel due to their involvement in terrorism.

Almagor demanded that Defense Minister Barak supply the organization with the names of the Fatah members Israel transported to Egypt, as well as the names of those currently slated to pass by way of Jordan to Judea and Samaria. Meir Indor, the chairman of Almagor, said that the list of names will assist his organization to “publicly and legally to oppose your actions.”

Noting the “unbelievable ease with which the Egypt-Israel border can be crossed,” the Almagor letter said, “In order to know the extent of the danger, and if there was an extreme level of unreasonableness in transferring [the Fatah terrorists] to northern Sinai – in light of the terrorist attack in Eilat in which three Israelis were killed several months ago – we request to know what steps were taken to prevent their infiltration to Israel.” Almagor is also seeking the identity of the decision-maker who authorized the transfer and what was the mechanism for deciding on the action.

According to the Almagor activists, they have a right to all the information requested under the spirit and provisions of the Freedom of Information Law, which encapsulates the right of the citizenry to information held by public authorities. In addition, Almagor referred to the Crime Victims Law, under which “we have a right to know where those who harmed us are located.” They likened the current wholesale transfer of terrorists out of Gaza to the release of criminals from prison.