Israel’s internal the security agency, the Shin Bet, announced the arrests of seven men in a Hamas terror cell for planning attacks within Israel. The arrests, which were made in recent months, were announced this week. The cell was based in the Palestinian city of Qalqilya, which borders the Israeli city of Kfar Saba.
The seven men, including Khaled Daoud, a 21-year-old Israeli citizen, were arrested over the course of the past several months – a period during which the fate of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations often revolved around the release of convicted Arab citizens of Israel from Israeli jails.
“This investigation reveals, yet again, the motivation that exists in the field to carry out terror attacks against Israelis, alongside the danger inherent in the recruitment of Israeli citizens to terror organizations in order to carry out terror attacks,” the Shin Bet said.
One of the suspects is an Israeli Arab, whose citizenship gave him a greater freedom of movement “for carrying out either a shooting or bombing attack.” Notably, the Palestinian Authority police had a arrested a number of the suspects previously but released them despite their possession of “a remote control switch designed to activate an explosive device.”
For some time now, Hamas has been attempting to increase its presence and activity in the West Bank. This activity is reportedly being directed through Turkey.
These arrests and the recent Hamas gathering in Ramallah are manifestations of these efforts. Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh warns that Hamas’s presence in the West Bank now bolstered by the Fatah-Hamas unity agreement “has legitimized Hamas, paving the way for the movement’s return to center stage.”
[Photo: proisraeli / Flickr ]