At a time when the major militant Palestinian groups have suspended their attacks on Israel, a strong voice in this overcrowded refugee camp in Lebanon continues to advocate the intifada.

Mounir Moqdah, a veteran Palestinian guerrilla commander, is using the Internet to fund and guide rogue cells of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade from his headquarters here. He works from a cluttered office guarded by grim-faced bodyguards and dominated by a map of Israel and the occupied territories.

From here he leads cells of militants based mainly in the West Bank towns of Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem. His group rejects the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire and has claimed responsibility for several shootings since the truce came into effect, including the killing last week of a Bulgarian construction worker in the West Bank.

The attacks are an embarrassment for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and undermine its pledge to observe the cease-fire and rein in militant groups.

And in a region where peace is fragile and reprisals are common, a single willful group of militants can put the entire road-map peace process in jeopardy.

"No one consulted us about this truce," he says. "We have said very clearly that we will never put down our arms while there is occupation and if one Palestinian prisoner remains in an Israeli jail."

Operating from his headquarters in the cramped and crowded alleyways of Ain al-Hilweh, Moqdah has tapped modern technology to participate directly in the intifada. He uses mobile phones and e-mail to communicate with his cadres, and the Internet to channel funds from Lebanon to the West Bank.

"Moqdah is a significant leader among Palestinians in Lebanon and a pain in the neck for the Palestinian Authority," says Nizar Hamzeh, professor of politics at the American University of Beirut. "He cannot be ignored or marginalized or under-estimated."

Last year, the Israeli security services learned from a captured Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade fighter that Moqdah had sent $40,000 to $50,000 to a bank account in Nablus to purchase arms and bomb-making equipment.

Another arrested militant claimed to have received weekly payments of $5,000 from Moqdah in exchange for information on attacks carried out by the group. Moqdah's cells are accused of carrying out multiple shootings and several suicide bombings. In 2001, the Israelis foiled a plan concocted by Moqdah to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his home in East Jerusalem.

Israel says Moqdah receives his funds from Iran and coordinates with Lebanon's Hizbullah organization. But he says all his funding comes from private donations.

"We receive donations from Palestinians in Lebanon and outside the country, from Arabs, from Islamic associations. We don't need state support," he says. Moqdah likens the group's structure to a "spider's web," saying it consists of semiautonomous cells independent of one another.

They reportedly include Kataeb al-Awda, the Battalions of Return, and Al Nathir, The Harbinger, two small groups that fall under the general banner of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. He refused to say how many fighters are under his command, but Israel and the Palestinian Authority say they number several dozen.

"It's a very well-organized network," Moqdah says. "The leaders of the cells are not known to people. There is a leadership committee which operates here in Lebanon, in Palestine, and even in Israeli jails."

The nebulous nature of his network is closer in structure to Al Qaeda than the hierarchical composition of traditional militant groups, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization and Hamas. It underlines how technology has radically altered the way in which militant underground organizations operate and how much harder it is, therefore, to combat them.

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