Security forces are winding up their investigation of a Jewish terrorist underground believed responsible for the attempted sabotage of Arab-owned buses last month and other acts of violence against Arab civilians over the last four years.
Cabinet secretary Dan Meridor confirmed yesterday that 25 suspects are now in custody. According to unconfirmed reports today, one key suspect is still at large and being sought by police. It was also reported today that the police believe seven of the suspects arrested for the bus sabotage attempt were directly involved in the car bombings in June 1980 that crippled two Arab mayors on the West Bank.
The police were said to believe that the attempted assassination of the mayors was carried out by three teams of two men each, under the command of a seventh man. Several of the suspects now in custody reportedly confessed to this crime. But there has been no official confirmation of this.
CABINET MINISTER CREATES A FUROR
Science Minister Yuval Neeman, leader of the ultra-nationalist Tehiya Party, created a furor when he appeared to justify and condone the attack on the mayors although he decried the bus sabotage attempt.
Interviewed on Voice of Israel Radio today, Neeman said that while he did not justify taking the law into one’s hands, “one should distinguish between attacking innocent people and the attack on the Arab mayors” whom he accused of inciting violence on the West Bank. According to Neeman, the attacks on the mayors had “a positive impact” in the long run.
The mayors, Bassam Shaka of Nablus and Karin Khallaf of Ramallah, were subsequently deposed by the Israeli authorities for pro-PLO sympathies. Shaka lost both legs and Khallaf lost his left foot.
Neeman’s remarks triggered a demand by MK Mordechai Virshubsky of the opposition Shinui faction for his immediate dismissal from the Cabinet Virshubsky declared that if Premier Yitzhak Shamir wants to root out Jewish terrorism he cannot keep in his government a minister who sees “positive results” from terrorist acts.
CONTROVERSY OVER POLICE LEAKS
Further controversy has developed over alleged police leaks to the media about the ongoing investigation. The chief of the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret service, who briefed the Cabinet yesterday, charged that media reports of the investigation have caused grave damage.
On Monday, the Supreme Court accused the police of leaking information to the media. As a consequence, Interior Minister Yosef Burg ordered Police Commissioner Arye Ivtzan yesterday to investigate the charges.
Meanwhile, the West Bank settlers and the Gush Emunim in particular seem to be agonizing over what position to adopt toward the investigation.
Most of the men in custody are said to be residents of the West Bank and some allegedly are closely linked to the Gush Emunim.
Gush leaders and spokesmen for the settlers, while condemning the bus sabotage attempt, have complained bitterly that media reports of the investigation smear the entire settlement movement. Their argument is that the men in custody are being judged even before formal charges are brought against them. Some Gush Emunim leaders claimed last night that the suspects were drugged to extract confessions from them.
The Gush leaders met for nine hours in Jerusalem yesterday but reached no consensus. Some called for an immediate condemnation of all acts of which the suspects are accused. Others insisted that no judgement should be passed until the suspects have consulted with legal counsel. They have been held incommunicado until now but will be allowed to see their lawyers, beginning tomorrow.
A committee was formed by the Gush Emunim to decide how to respond to the arrests. The West Bank settlers hesitate to brand the suspects as would be murderers, claiming that at least some of them had planned to alert the police that time bombs had been placed in Arab-owned buses in East Jerusalem before they exploded. The police who discovered and dismantled the bombs reportedly acted on inside information.
The Gush Emunim and the settlers generally are in a dilemma over the impact the investigation will have on their image and on the settlement movement. They are stressing that if the suspects are found guilty they are only a small group of zealots outside the mainstream of the movement.
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