Israel’s internal security service, known as Shin Bet, has exposed 93 Palestinian terrorist cells responsible for killing and maiming civilians in Israel and the administered territories, as well as attacks on military targets.
The top secret agency accomplished this in just two months — from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30 this year — according to a letter of congratulations from Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin to the head of Shin Bet, whose identity is classified.
The roundup resulted in the arrests of 610 suspects, 17 of them in Israel proper.
“I thank you and express my heartfelt esteem for your efforts, and wish you success in your future activities for the sake of the security of the people of Israel,” Rabin said in his letter, made public Tuesday.
Two of the worst outrages attributed to the gangs were the firebombing of an Egged bus near Jericho on Oct. 28, in which an Israeli woman and her three small children were burned to death, and a grenade attack on the Nordau Street pedestrian mall in Haifa last July.
The 13 suspects in that attack, ranging in age from 18 to 27, were arrested only recently.
Ten lived in Ibtin village east of Haifa, two in the neighboring village of Kabiya and one in Umm el-Fahm.
A breakdown of the arrests showed that 62 cells were in the West Bank, 27 in the Gaza Strip and four in Israel.
Twenty-nine of them were associated with Al Fatah, five with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and three with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Eight cells were run by Moslem fundamentalist groups. Five of them belonged to Hamas, the Islamic resistance organization, and three belonged to Islamic Jihad. One was affiliated with Abu Nidal’s terrorist organization.
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