Note that this cell was recruited in Saudi Arabia:
Galilee Hamas cell broken
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Hamas supporters
Four Galilee Arabs, who studied in Jordan and were recruited by Hamas there and in Saudi Arabia, were indicted in August by Haifa Magistrate's Court on charges of assisting the enemy during wartime and supporting a terrorist organization.
Details released on Thursday reveal attempts by Hamas to recruit Israeli Arabs studying at universities in Jordan and train them in weapons, explosives, and tactics.
The suspects were recruited while on pilgrimage to Mecca and asked to compile intelligence on bus routes, locations of bus stations, malls, and security at the sites.
Security officials said they were planning attacks and recruiting others when they were arrested.
The cell began to unravel on July 9, when security officials arrested history student Khadir Shalatah, 25, of Sakhnin, who admitted to joining Hamas in 2001 while studying in Jordan.
He said that he traveled to Mecca last year and met with a Hamas operative, who informed him he would undergo military training on his return to Jordan.
In January, he was instructed in the use of weapons and explosives, how to fabricate cover stories, how to behave if captured and interrogated, and how to transfer coded messages on behalf of Hamas in Jordan to operatives in the territories.
He was instructed to compile intelligence information on bus routes and bus stops, and details regarding entrances to malls and security guards. Shalatah also attempted to recruit other Israeli Arabs to Hamas.
Then on July 16, security officials arrested Amin Hassan, 24, of Masad, who studied social work in Jordan between 1998 and 2001. Hassan also met with the same Hamas officials in Mecca in 2001 and was instructed on security issues and operational behavior. He was due to leave Jordan for Turkey to undergo military training and admitted to compiling intelligence information on public places in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Three days later, security officials arrested Rami Hiadrah, 21, of Sakhnin, who studied pharmacology in Jordan and admitted to having been recruited by Shalatah and to traveling to Saudi Arabia and meeting with Hamas operatives there.
On July 22, security officials arrested Malek Zuabi, 22, of Upper Nazareth, a staunch supporter of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement. He admitted to being acquainted with members of the Moslem Brotherhood in Jordan, among them university lecturers who advised him to join Hamas, while majoring in Islamic studies there.
Zuabi also confessed to having met Mahmoud al-Aisi, a senior al-Qaida official, whom he was to have met again in Saudi Arabia. Zuabi smuggled discs inciting support for al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden into Israel. Zuabi was in the North under the leadership of Sheikh Ra'ad Salah.
Officials noted that it is not the first time that terrorist organizations have recruited Israeli Arabs visiting Mecca. In March, three residents of Kafr Manda, all in their 20s, were arrested for planning attacks in the North on behalf of Islamic Jihad. One had met with its operatives in Mecca.
jpost.com |
