JERUSALEM, 17 May 2005 — Nine Jewish extremists were arrested last month on suspicion of preparing a rocket attack against Islam’s third holiest site, Israeli security sources revealed yesterday.
The nine were arrested after an operation led by the Shin Beth internal security agency on suspicion they intended to buy one or more anti-tank missiles for the planned attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, police sources said. They also tried to acquire grenades for the attack, which they intended to launch from the terrace of a religious school close to the compound, the sources said.
Most of the group, including three members of one family from Jerusalem, were held for more than a fortnight but released without charge on April 22, one of the group’s lawyers said. One of the nine was a radical rabbi but he was only briefly detained, the sources said.
One of the nine suspects was arrested on suspicion of planning to buy a miniature remote-controlled plane, stuff it with explosives and bring it down over the compound, said police. Israeli authorities have been increasingly nervous about the risks of an attack by Jewish extremists on the compound, which is sacred to both Jews and Muslims, in the run-up to this summer’s pullout of settlers from the Gaza Strip.
The security services believe that extremists are hoping an attack on such a high-profile target will inevitably spark a Palestinian backlash and derail Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza pullout plan.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei underlined last week the importance he attached to the security of the compound.
“It seems that the attempted aggression against Al-Aqsa is continuing and we warn against the danger of such measures whether they come from Israel or radicals within Israel,” Qorei told reporters.
“This is something we cannot keep silent over and we warn the government of Israel and the whole world to do everything possible to control these radicals and end their threats.”
Meanwhile, at least 15 people were arrested as extremists tried to paralyze Israel’s roads yesterday in a trial run for a wider campaign of civil disobedience against the planned withdrawal from Gaza, police said.
The 15 detainees were arrested across Jerusalem after ultra-nationalists set fire to tires on a main road in the city, said spokesman Avi Zelba.
Burning tires also forced limited traffic jams at the start of the evening rush hour on the main Tel Aviv-Haifa highway, he added.
Police had mobilized members of their riot squad and helicopters to head off the evening-rush protest which has been planned by an umbrella organization calling itself The Forum for the Defense of Israel.
