Seven residents of this Arab town just east of Petach Tikva have been arrested for alleged terrorist acts. The authorities believe they are part of a wider network of terrorist gangs affiliated with El Fatah.
They were taken into custody recently in a mass crackdown on terrorists mainly in East Jerusalem and the administered territories. The sweep was one of the most successful by Israeli security forces in recent years. The gangs are held responsible for a long series of bombings and other acts of violence over a 20 month period.
The Kfar Kassem suspects are Israeli Arabs. They are charged, among other things, with planting a bomb in the Tel Aviv central bus station — it failed to explode — and bombs in Bnei Brak and Petach Tikva. The latter, concealed among cooking gas containers, exploded causing damage but no casualties. The gang also tried to ambush a bus in the Samaria district of the West Bank.
RECRUITED IN EUROPE, TRAINED IN LEBANON
Israel Television reported Tuesday night that several of the suspects were recruited in Europe and trained in Lebanon. Security officers reportedly found arms and explosives in their homes. They are charged, among other things, with membership in an illegal organization, military training without permission, and intent to sabotage and to kill.
Kfar Kassem is a town of about 9,500, just across the “green line” from the West Bank. The arrests were greeted with shock and astonishment among the residents. Many Arabs from Kfar Kassem work for Jewish employers in nearby Petach Tikva and they fear their jobs may be jeopardized by the discovery of terrorists in their midst.
Abdual Rahim Issa, Mayor of Kfar Kassem, warned Wednesday against casting blame on the entire population, which has always had good relations with Jews. But there are bitter memories in the town.
It was the scene of a bloody massacre in 1956 when Israeli border policemen shot to death 49 civilians who unknowingly violated a curfew imposed on the first day of the Sinai Campaign — the Israeli invasion of Sinai in concert with an attack on Egypt by Anglo-French forces after President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.
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