According to Israeli police, nine Bedouin Arabs from the town of Shfaram in Israel have been arrested as a 'terrorist cell' for throwing stones at Israeli cars while Israel was invading Gaza in January.
Youth throwing stones (file photo)
The nine men also allegedly toppled two electric poles into an Israeli highway – one woman was lightly injured when she swerved off the road to avoid the obstruction. No injuries were reported from the stone-throwing.
The Israeli police reported that the nine men, all of whom are in their 20s, were detained by police over the last few days in an anti-terrorist STING-style operation. A gag order placed on the arrests was lifted on Sunday, when Israeli police announced that they had the entire 'terrorist cell' in custody.
According to the police, then men decided to carry out their actions in response to the Israeli assault on Gaza, in which over 1400 people were killed in just three weeks time, 80% of whom were civilians. Nine Israelis were also killed by Palestinian resistance factions fighting back against the invading military forces.
The Bedouin people, who live in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and Egypt, are traditionally nomadic people, and have forcibly remained so under the Israeli regime. Since 1948, when Israel was created, the Bedouins have been forbidden from constructing permanent dwellings, and the Israeli government continues to refuse to recognize Bedouin villages. Some Bedouin have been afforded special privileges by the Israeli state, however, and have joined the Israeli military, leading to division between the traditionally peacefully co-existing Bedouin and Palestinian populations.
The men who were arrested for throwing stones and toppling poles in January said that they took these actions in solidarity with the Palestinian population of Gaza, who were under aerial, naval and ground assault by the Israeli military at the time.
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| [Ma'anImages] |
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Police in Israel, in coordination with the country's Shin Bet intelligence agency, arrested nine Bedouin Palestinian men suspected of planning attacks on Israel, according to a gag order lifted Sunday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the men are residents of Shraram, all in their 20s, and were detained within the last few days. They are accused of plotting attacks on Israeli civilians on national highways, the newspaper reported.
They allegedly planned to topple electrical poles, block traffic and throw stones and tires on central Israeli highways, police said. The group was reportedly formed in late December 2008, in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The suspects have admitted to their involvement in the cell, police said, and were responsible for toppling two poles along a highway, lightly injuring an Israeli woman.
Israeli army arrest 9 Bedouins suspected to attack Israelis
West Bank, May 3, 2009 (RAMATTAN) – Nine Bedouin men from northern
According to the army charges, the nine residents of Shfaram, most of them in their early twenties, knocked down a lamp post on nearby Route 79 in an attempt to cause a traffic accident.
"The group hid by the road, and when a truck collided with the lamp post and stopped, they emerged from their places of hiding and began pelting it with rocks." The source said, "A woman was lightly wounded in the incident, but the assailants quickly fled when police arrived at the scene."
