Israel caught off guard by Israeli Arab bombings

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Security officials said on Wednesday they were taken by surprise by the attempt of Israeli Arabs to plant bombs in two cities earlier this week.

Senior officials said their efforts had been focused on Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and did not sufficiently consider that these groups would use Israeli Arabs to launch terrorist attacks.

General Security Services chief Ami Ayalon told a group of retired officers on Tuesday that Israel's domestic intelligence agency required "soul-searching" in wake of Sunday's car bombings in Haifa and Tiberias. Three Israeli Arabs in the two cars were killed when the bombs exploded prematurely.

"Where was the GSS and why didn't it have the information necessary?" Ayalon was quoted as asking.

Ayalon was quoted as telling the retired officers that the GSS was alert to Hamas plans to plant bombs in Israeli cities. But he said the agency might have underestimated role of the Islamic movement in Israel and its effect on young Arabs.

Several of the suspects as well as those killed are members of the Islamic movement.

Senior police officials confirmed that Israeli authorities were surprised by the Israeli Arab terrorist network. "We didn't know about this and the General Security Services didn't know about it," Police commander Inspector General Yehuda Wilk said. "These bodies will have to draw conclusions."

Officials said the biggest mistake was the release of a suspect in the 1994 suicide bus bombing in Afula. One of the drivers killed in this week's bombing was arrested in 1994 after a Hamas suicide bomber was found with the driver's identity card. The suspect in the 1994 bombing, who later became a mosque preacher, convinced authorities that he had lost his identity card.

On Wednesday, authorities said two more Israeli Arabs were arrested in connection with Sunday's bombings. In, all seven Israeli Arabs from two villages are in custody.

Israeli Arab sources said at least one of those killed in the car-bombings went to Jordan to receive instructions of terrorist attacks. They quoted one of those killed in the bombings, a preacher in Daburiya, as saying he wanted to establish an Islamic state throughout the world.

Israeli police officials on Wednesday that the bombs exploded on Sunday as they were being assembled in the cars. The officials said the bombers were apparently inexperienced.

Israeli officials on Wednesday ruled out the outlawing of the Islamic movement. "No one can outlaw the Islamic movement," Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said. "It's the same way that you can't outlaw Israeli Arabs."

Israeli Arab leaders have condemned the bombings but some of them have accused Israel of being partly responsible for the attacks. On Tuesday, Abdul-Malik Dahamshe, a member of the Islamic movement, attended the funeral of those driving the car bombs.