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Israeli intel terms Israeli Arabs a greater strategic threat than Iran

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

TEL AVIV — A new report by the Israeli intelligence community has described the nation's large Arab minority a long-term strategic danger to the Jewish state.

The Israel Security Agency termed the more than 1 million Arabs in Israel the greatest threat to Israel. The ISA report said the threat of Arab irredentism exceeded that of any external danger, including Iran.

The report was discussed with senior Israeli ministers, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. At the meeting in mid-March, ISA director Yuval Diskin outlined the increasing role of Israeli Arabs — usually in cooperation with Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad — in insurgency strikes in the Jewish state.

The report said young Israeli Arabs have become increasingly involved in the Palestinian insurgency war against the Jewish state. ISA said many of the Arab citizens were hired to transport Palestinian suicide bombers and explosives from the West Bank into Israel.

In November 2006, ISA captured a 10-member cell of Israeli Arabs who smuggled weapons from Israel to the West Bank. The report said Arabs in southern Israel were smuggling weapons to the Gaza Strip and six cells were dismantled in 2006.

The Israeli Arab insurgency has been rising. In 2006, the report said, Israeli authorities captured 21 Israeli Arab insurgency cells. The cells contained 24 Israeli citizens.

In 2005, ISA dismantled 17 Israeli Arab insurgency cells and arrested 22 Arabs.

"This is a genuine long-range danger to the Jewish character and the very existence of the state of Israel," the report said.

The report said Israeli Arabs have also been moving closer to the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah. ISA determined that Hizbullah has recruited scores of Israeli Arabs to provide information on military deployment.

Most of the Israeli Arabs involved in the Palestinian insurgency were said to have strong family ties to the West Bank. The report said about 40 percent of the Israeli Arab detainees were born and raised in the West Bank, but acquired Israeli citizenship when they married Israelis.

A survey by Haifa University asserted that 49.7 percent of Israeli Arabs justify the abduction of Israeli soldiers and a similar percentage supported the Hizbullah war in 2006. The survey said 60 percent fear mass expulsion and 28 percent deny the Holocaust.

The study, conducted by Professor Sami Smoocha, said 18.7 percent of Israeli Arabs justified the Jewish state. The survey said 52 percent of those who dismiss Israel's right to exist also deny the Holocaust.

"One would have expected more pro-Israeli results among Israeli Arabs due to the uniqueness of the most recent war: a war with no involvement of the Palestinians, a war in which the lives and belongings of Israelis were endangered," Smoocha said.


Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.

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