JERUSALEM/GAZA CITY: Israel’s West Bank wall is fueling attacks by East Jerusalem Arabs who feel isolated from fellow Palestinians and are increasingly likely to lash out independently, Israel’s domestic spy service said yesterday.
The findings by the Shin Bet, which has usually championed tough tactics against a Palestinian revolt that erupted in 2000, appeared to dovetail with Palestinian arguments that a peaceful resolution of Jerusalem’s status is key to addressing the causes of political violence in the city.
Citing a need to keep out suicide bombers, Israel has been erecting a network of fences and barricades in the West Bank which loop around Jerusalem. Palestinians see it as a de facto border designed to cut their political ties to East Jerusalem.
“Awareness of the fence is creating a long-term estrangement between Jerusalem and the West Bank,” the Shin Bet said in a statement, adding that some Palestinian attacks had been motivated by a grass-roots desire “to ensure Jerusalem does not disappear from the political agenda.”
Meanwhile, Hamas deposed prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh has reaffirmed that his movement is committed to the 2007 Makkah agreement. Haniyeh sent in this connection a letter to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, in part to greet him at the commemoration of the National Day of the Kingdom.
Taher Al-Nunu, the spokesman of the Hamas government in Gaza, told reporters yesterday that Haniyeh sent the letter this week, “to King Abdullah expressing his commitment to Makkah agreement as a foundation for solving the ongoing Palestinian crisis.”
In Gaza, Hamas announced late on Tuesday that it has released the leader of Al-Oma Army (the Nation’s Army), a pro-Al-Qaeda militant group in territory. Known as Abu Hafs, he was arrested three weeks ago by Hamas security members after his group carried out a military training in one of the Nation’s Army base in southern the strip, criticizing Hamas movement and accusing it of it not implementing the rules of Islam.
Soon after Hamas security men detained him, a website close to the group threatened to kidnap Hamas leaders and carry out bomb attacks if he was not immediately released. But sources in the group later denied what was reported on the website.
Meanwhile, three Palestinians from East Jerusalem have been charged with orchestrating two recent attacks in the city in which two Israeli border policemen were killed, Israeli security officials announced yesterday.
The lifting of a gag order on the affair yesterday allowed publication of the suspects’ arrest and indictment. Prosecutors filed the indictment ten days ago at Jerusalem District Court.
— With input from Mohammed Mar’i
