Author: Reuters
Publication: www.reuters.co.uk
Date: May 13, 2003
URL: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=289500
Israeli police have arrested 14
Israeli Arab Islamic activists accused of running a money laundering operation
to support the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, officials say.
Among those detained was the leader
of the northern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah,
who has often accused Israel of trying to undermine Islamic rights in Jerusalem,
Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said.
The arrests come after U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell, on a visit to the region earlier this week, urged
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to dismantle militant groups behind
attacks on Israelis during an uprising for independence.
The police raids, which followed
a two-year investigation, focused on the northern Arab Israeli town of
Umm al-Fahm.
Kleiman said the suspects, members
of the Islamic Movement, were accused of funnelling money from organisations
abroad to Islamic groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip "to provide support
for families of terrorists, including suicide bombers".
Israeli media identified the groups
to which funds were directed as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. A Hamas official
in Gaza denied receiving money from the Islamic activists in Israel.
Israel's Arab minority has been
mostly quiet during the revolt in Palestinian areas, but there have been
isolated cases of people charged with aiding militants. Arabs became citizens
of Israel when the Jewish state was created in 1948 and now make up 20
percent of the population.
They have complained of institutionalised
discrimination and 31 months of fighting between Palestinians and Israelis
has driven a wedge of suspicion between Israel's Arabs and Jews.
