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September 24, 1999/14 Tishri 5760, Vol. 52, No.4
Movement's ties to Hamas spur concerns
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM- Sheik Raed Salah Mahajneh is known for his fiery speeches. The mayor of Umm el-Fahm, the second largest Arab town in Israel after Nazareth, Mahajneh is the leader of the radical wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel. For years, he has railed against successive Israeli governments for confiscating the lands of Israeli Arabs and for undermining Muslim rights to holy sites on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
While he has never been suspected of involvement in actions against the Jewish state, he has likewise never called for Jewish-Arab coexistence. Even if his speeches were considered inflammatory, Israeli officials largely ignored them.
But this is changing, now that three Israeli Arabs who carried out car bombings earlier this month in Haifa and Tiberias were linked by police to the Islamic Movement. Moreover, police officials have pointed to a link between the movement and Hamas.
Indeed, the Sept. 5 car bombings - which came hours after Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat signed an agreement in Egypt for advancing the peace process - have prompted some police officials to speculate that Hamas recruited Israeli Arabs who belong to the Islamic Movement because Israeli and Palestinian security officials have hampered Hamas' activities in the territories. In the wake of the bombings, Israeli officials are now paying considerable attention to the speeches of people such as Mahajneh.
Although Israeli leaders, including Barak, have cautioned that the entire Israeli Arab population should not be condemned for the crimes of a few, there have been growing concerns that Israeli Arabs - who make up one-fifth of Israel's population - could create a formidable "fifth column" for anti-Israel attacks. While Israeli Arab leaders have condemned members of their community who are involved in terrorist attacks, Israeli security branches are not satisfied.
On Sunday, Sept. 19, Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami consulted with senior security officials on how to deal with the Islamic Movement. In the wake of that meeting, Ben-Ami was expected to recommend to the Inner Security Cabinet that steps be taken to limit the activities of the Islamic Movement in Israel, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Tuesday, Sept. 21.
While most Israeli officials are stressing the need to curb the influence of the Islamic Movement, they are ruling out proposals to outlaw the group.
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