Six Israeli Arabs planned al-Qaida cell

Yaakov Katz/Jpost Staff/AP

Four Israeli Arabs from east Jerusalem and two from Nazareth have been indicted for allegedly setting up an Al-Qaida cell in the capital and offering their services to global Jihad elements, security officials announced Friday.
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The group, arrested in a joint operation by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police, includes two students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one of whom lived in the university dormitories at Givat Ram with a view of a helicopter landing pad in the campus stadium.

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Marine One takes off from the stadium at Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus.
Photo: Channel 2

Using a camera, the student filmed helicopters taking off and landing and made contact via the Internet with Al-Qaida elements to discuss bombing one of Bush's helicopters on his Independence Day visit.

The six were identified as Ibrahim Na'ashaf, 22, from Taiba - a physics and computer science student at Hebrew University; Muhammad Najam, 24, from Nazareth - a chemistry student at the university; Yousef Sumarin, 21, from Beit Hanina; Anas Shwayke, 21, from Jebl Mukaber; Kamal Abu Kweidar, 22, from Jerusalem's Old City; and Ahmad Shwayke, 21, from Shuafat.

According to security officials, the six created a closed religious terror cell and were also active in the Temple Mount's Al-Aksa Mosque as well as throughout east Jerusalem.

Investigators found bomb-making instructions on the personal computers of several of the suspects.

In a related development, two Beduin from the Negev town of Rahat were charged on June 9 with plotting terrorist attacks via the Internet with al-Qaida members overseas and marking out civilian and military sites as targets.

Officials said Friday that the latest indictments were further indication of an Al-Qaida presence in Israel.

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why did they wait until AFTER dubya's visit to make these arrests?

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“Mayor Palin fails to have a firm grasp of something very simple: the truth.”

[Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97]