by Ross Dunn
Scotland on Sunday
ISRAELI security officials are stepping up operations against Jewish terrorist cells thought to be planning a major campaign of attacks on Palestinians.
Security sources have become increasingly concerned and are now warning that the country could see the worst outbreak of Jewish terrorism since the 1980s.
The Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, has arrested nine Jewish settlers in the past few weeks and more arrests are expected.
Those held in a series of raids, the biggest of their kind in two decades, included at least one Israeli soldier.
Israel fears terrorist attacks against Palestinians will damage its image abroad at a time when the government is putting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to clamp down on Islamic militant groups.
A senior Israeli security source said: "If the suspicions against these guys are true, it would be the worst case of Jewish terrorism since the 1980s."
The Shin Bet is understood to have given the investigation high priority. An official from the agency said that although the numbers of vigilante suspects were "very few", they were "very dangerous".
Nadiv Shragai, a columnist on the Hebrew daily newspaper, Ha’aretz, said there were three different types of motivation for Jewish extremists to kill Palestinians.
"The first is the targeting of those with direct or indirect responsibility for the murder of Jews," he said. "The second is the carrying out of attacks against Arabs because of a belief that such attacks will advance and accelerate the coming of the Messiah and the redemption process. The third model is carried out by terrorists convinced that revenge is a [religious] obligation, or that such attacks will deter Arab terrorists."
Among those arrested recently is Yitzhak Pass, whose 10-month-old baby girl was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper as he was walking through a Jewish neighbourhood in the West Bank town of Hebron.
He was arrested along with his brother-in-law, Mattatyahu Shvu, and both have already been indicted for possessing explosives stolen from the army to carry out attacks.
Shin Bet officials say that the members of the cell are "skilled snipers who acquired their skills in firearms and explosives during their military service".
A Shin Bet official confirmed that much of the investigation centred on Hebron, where some 400 Jews live in the town centre, surrounded by more than 100,000 Palestinians.
The arrests are being linked to those last year of members of an alleged Jewish terror cell which was said to have been planning to blow up a Palestinian girls’ school in Jerusalem.
A search of their vehicle found military explosives and a clock attached to the detonator was set for 7.35am, when Palestinian students would be arriving at the school.
The two men were brought before the Jerusalem magistrate’s court where the presiding Judge Reuven Shmiya declared: "It was a miracle a terror attack was prevented next to the school."
The Institute for Counter-Terrorism, quoting Israeli authorities, said that "had the planned attack succeeded, the damage to Israel’s security would have been incalculable".
In the 1980s, 28 Israelis were arrested for their part in a "Jewish underground" that carried out a series of attacks on Palestinians, including a shooting spree that resulted in the deaths of three students at the Islamic University in Hebron.
There have been other isolated incidents, such as the killing of 29 Muslim worshipers at a shrine in Hebron in 1994 by Brooklyn-born doctor Baruch Goldstein, from the nearby Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba
Scotland on Sunday
ISRAELI security officials are stepping up operations against Jewish terrorist cells thought to be planning a major campaign of attacks on Palestinians.
Security sources have become increasingly concerned and are now warning that the country could see the worst outbreak of Jewish terrorism since the 1980s.
The Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, has arrested nine Jewish settlers in the past few weeks and more arrests are expected.
Those held in a series of raids, the biggest of their kind in two decades, included at least one Israeli soldier.
Israel fears terrorist attacks against Palestinians will damage its image abroad at a time when the government is putting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to clamp down on Islamic militant groups.
A senior Israeli security source said: "If the suspicions against these guys are true, it would be the worst case of Jewish terrorism since the 1980s."
The Shin Bet is understood to have given the investigation high priority. An official from the agency said that although the numbers of vigilante suspects were "very few", they were "very dangerous".
Nadiv Shragai, a columnist on the Hebrew daily newspaper, Ha’aretz, said there were three different types of motivation for Jewish extremists to kill Palestinians.
"The first is the targeting of those with direct or indirect responsibility for the murder of Jews," he said. "The second is the carrying out of attacks against Arabs because of a belief that such attacks will advance and accelerate the coming of the Messiah and the redemption process. The third model is carried out by terrorists convinced that revenge is a [religious] obligation, or that such attacks will deter Arab terrorists."
Among those arrested recently is Yitzhak Pass, whose 10-month-old baby girl was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper as he was walking through a Jewish neighbourhood in the West Bank town of Hebron.
He was arrested along with his brother-in-law, Mattatyahu Shvu, and both have already been indicted for possessing explosives stolen from the army to carry out attacks.
Shin Bet officials say that the members of the cell are "skilled snipers who acquired their skills in firearms and explosives during their military service".
A Shin Bet official confirmed that much of the investigation centred on Hebron, where some 400 Jews live in the town centre, surrounded by more than 100,000 Palestinians.
The arrests are being linked to those last year of members of an alleged Jewish terror cell which was said to have been planning to blow up a Palestinian girls’ school in Jerusalem.
A search of their vehicle found military explosives and a clock attached to the detonator was set for 7.35am, when Palestinian students would be arriving at the school.
The two men were brought before the Jerusalem magistrate’s court where the presiding Judge Reuven Shmiya declared: "It was a miracle a terror attack was prevented next to the school."
The Institute for Counter-Terrorism, quoting Israeli authorities, said that "had the planned attack succeeded, the damage to Israel’s security would have been incalculable".
In the 1980s, 28 Israelis were arrested for their part in a "Jewish underground" that carried out a series of attacks on Palestinians, including a shooting spree that resulted in the deaths of three students at the Islamic University in Hebron.
There have been other isolated incidents, such as the killing of 29 Muslim worshipers at a shrine in Hebron in 1994 by Brooklyn-born doctor Baruch Goldstein, from the nearby Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba
