TEL AVIV Ñ The Lebanese Hizbullah movement has launched a campaign to recruit Israeli Arabs to attack targets in the Jewish state.

Israeli officials said Hizbullah has been recruiting dozens of Arabs from the northern Galilee region since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000. They said Hizbullah agents contact Arabs and order them to report to the border gate with Lebanon to obtain directives.

Typically, the Israeli Arabs are ordered to gather intelligence on military installations in the north or to transport weapons or explosives, they said. So far, the officials said, dozens of Arabs have been arrested.

On Monday, Brig. Gen. Amos Gilead, the head of the military intelligence's research division, told Herzliya's Interdisciplinary Center that Israeli Arabs were also ordered to kidnap Israeli soldiers and bring them to Lebanon. The attempt, he said, was foiled and so far most of the suspected Hizbullah agents in Israel are believed to have been arrested.

"They tried to kidnap soldiers and smuggle them to Lebanon on the other side," Gilead said.

Officials said Syrian intelligence has also been recruiting Israeli Arabs for espionage and sabotage. They said some of the Israelis were recruited when they traveled to Syria over the last year. About 500 Israeli Arabs have visited Syria despite a ban on such travel.

Hizbullah is said to have provided the Palestinian Authority the equipment and expertise required for bombing attacks, the officials said. On Monday, Palestinian gunners launched mortars and directed machine-gun fire toward Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, seven Israelis were injured in Palestinian shooting attacks. Gilead said military intelligence had mistakenly assessed that the PA would limit attacks to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Instead, the PA has launched attacks in Israel and planned to blow up an office tower in Tel Aviv. He attributed the bombing attempt to PA military intelligence chief Mussa Arafat, a nephew of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Officials said Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden has also sent agents to Israel. The agents are said to be cooperating with Hamas rather than Hizbullah.

"A coalition of Palestinian, Shiite and Bin Laden-affiliated terrorist organisations has been created recently to act against Israeli, American and European targets," Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said. "Osama Bin Laden is trying to infiltrate Israel and, to this end, is using local residents and emissaries."

On Tuesday, the London-based Al Hayat reported that Bin Laden has formed a new organization together with the Egyptian-based Jihad. The newspaper said the organization plans to launch attacks against Israeli interests within the next few weeks.

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