Project Ulysses
 Screenshot of Ronen Bergman’s Yedioth Ahronoth news story, “The Plants.” | |
| Date | 1950 - 1968 |
|---|---|
| Perpetrators | Mossad |
| Description | Mossad covert operation to infiltrate and subvert the Palestinian political leadership |
Project Ulysses was a Shin Bet/Mossad project to plant Israeli agents under deep cover in the Palestinian population. The story was released by Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman after being approved by the Israeli security censorship, which might imply it is not the full story, and maybe is the revelation of an ineffectual program given as a reward to a journalist for flexibility in other stories.
The program
In the 1950s and 60's, the Israeli Mossad planted loyal Zionist Jews as Arabs in Palestinian neighborhoods who then married Palestinians, had children and were incorporated into the Palestinian community as businessmen. They were the first to provide intelligence regarding the establishment of Fatah, and took part in the first plans to kill Yasser Arafat and Abu Jihad [1][2].
The recruits were Jewish Zionists, recent immigrants from Arab countries. They joined the secret unit after Shin Bet (military intelligence) chief, Iser Harel and his men convinced them it was a "top priority national mission."
Once recruited, some of them before the age of 20, they were completely cut off from their families and sent to live in hidden apartments in Jaffa for a training period of a year and a half. During this time, they practiced their cover stories and studied Islam, espionage and sabotage. Only nine completed the training course and were planted within the Arab-Israeli community.
Most of the Ulysses men were returned in 1959, but two of them were transferred to the Mossad and continued living as Arabs.
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