Posted on 29-8-2003
Terror
Has Two Faces - Israeli Settlers Run Terrorist Organizations
The Palestine Monitor, 26 August, 2003
Recent discoveries have revealed a shocking new dimension to
the
Palestinian Israeli conflict. Not only do Palestinian civilians
experience
attacks by the Israeli armed forces, but Jewish illegal settlers
are also
contributing to their inhumane oppression through terrorist
attacks. Whilst
the Israeli armed forces continue to impose "security" measures
upon the
Palestinians, underground Jewish terrorist cells seem to be
flourishing.
Shahar Dvir-Zeliger, from the West Bank settlement of Edi Eid
is one of
nine settlers recently arrested for plotting, and carrying out,
terror
attacks against Palestinian civilians. Dvir-Zeliger is suspected
of
planning terror attacks against Palestinians, preparing dangerous
materials
and attempted murder. On Friday the 8th of August two Jewish
settlers were
also charged with possessing army explosives and preparing for
a terrorist
attack on Palestinian civilians. At least fifteen terrorist
attacks have
been carried out in Palestinian territories since April 2001,
killing nine
people.
These recent arrests have helped to expose the very real existence
of a
terror network within the settlements; however, Jewish terror
attacks
against Palestinians are certainly not a marginal phenomenon.
One of the
most horrific attacks was carried out by Baruch Goldstein, a
Jewish settler
who shot and killed 29 Palestinians, while they were praying
in Hebron's
Ibrahimi Mosque in February, 1994. In the past two years, five
bombs have
also been planted in Palestinian cities and schools. Last May
a Jewish
terrorist cell was uncovered as it planed to bomb an Arab Hospital
and a
school. Shlomo Dvir, 26 and Yarden Morag, 25, both from the
illegal Israeli
settlement of Bat Ayin were apprehended whilst planting a powerful
bomb
near a Palestinian Girls school in occupied East Jerusalem,
just weeks
later another bomb exploded in the courtyard of an Arab boy's
school in Sur
Bahir. In July 2001 a group calling itself "the committee for
security on
the roads" claimed responsibility for the killing of a Palestinian
family
in a drive-by shooting near the village of Idna. Similar groups
were
uncovered during the 1980s, and members were charged with plotting
to blow
up Arab buses and the Dome of the Rock. Only last month Israel
publicly
admitted that there were Jewish Terror cells operating within
the West Bank
who they knew were responsible for a series of attacks on Palestinian
civilians over the past years.
It is difficult to establish the extent of these Jewish terrorist
organizations. Israeli authorities have forbidden the publishing
of any
real details and the security service, Shin Bet, claim their
investigations
are impeded due to the difficulty of penetrating the hard core
of
extremists living in the settlements. In truth, the resources
and legal
measures the Shin Bet and the police use against Israeli citizens
living in
the Palestinian territories are significantly weaker than any
used against
the Palestinians. And, with the existence of such organizations
as Kah's
illegal summer camps, where Jewish youth are taught how to bluff
interrogation, it seems likely that last weeks
exposures are just the tip of the iceberg.
For more information contact: The Palestine Monitor, +972 (0)2
298 5372 or
+972 (0)59 387 087 www.palestinemonitor.org
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