Police said Eliran Golan, 22, had begun his attacks soon
after the start of the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip (news - web sites), but the only casualty of the 10 homemade bombs
he planted was a woman injured in an explosion at a mosque.
Palestinian suicide bombers from groups bent on destroying
Israel killed hundreds of people in the same period.
Golan was arrested at his family's home in the northern
city of Haifa, where police found an explosives laboratory and
more than 30 bombs ready to use. Police said Golan had
confessed and they now wanted to find out if he had acted
alone.
"He was in the middle of planning an attack," said Northern
District police chief Yaacov Borovsky. "He was planning to
target lawmakers and Arab-Jewish couples and places where Arabs
and Jews met together."
Golan's father had also been detained but had denied any
involvement, police said.
On Golan's hitlist were the most prominent members of
parliament from the Arab 20 percent of Israel's population. He
had already placed a bomb under the car of one Arab deputy in
the Knesset, Issam Makhoul.
"I think they only uncovered the tip of the iceberg," said
Makhoul. "It turns out that the infrastructure of Jewish
terrorism...is still alive and kicking."
Few Israelis have been arrested for attacks on Arabs during
three years of conflict in which more than 2,360 Palestinians
and 880 Israelis have died.
Israel's Arabs have also largely kept out of the violence,
although they tend to sympathize with the Palestinians. Israel
announced on Thursday that two Israeli Arab brothers had been
arrested for helping militants in the West Bank.
On Thursday night Israel sealed off the West Bank and Gaza,
preventing Palestinians from entering Israel during the Jewish
holiday of Purim, which ends at sundown on March 8. The closure
affects thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel.
COURT DELAYS SETTLER REMOVAL
A U.S.-backed "road map" for peace has been hobbled by
violence, but Israel took a step toward meeting one of its
commitments when it told settlers to leave nine illegal West
Bank outposts on Thursday or face eviction by force.
The settlers made a last-minute appeal to Israel's highest
court, which ordered a 10-day delay in the removal of the
settlements.
The settlers said they would not go quietly even if
eviction orders were upheld. "We plan to bring as many people
as possible to resist passively," settler spokeswoman Ruchie
Avital said at Ginot Aryeh, a cluster of caravans listed for
removal.
A senior political source said the government's order to
quit was a gesture ahead of a planned trip to Washington by
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).
U.S. envoys are due in Israel next week to discuss Sharon's
proposal that Israel take unilateral steps to "disengage" from
the Palestinians, by removing most Jewish settlements from the
Gaza Strip, if the "road map" process remains blocked.
Palestinians fear Israel may then take a permanent hold on
large parts of the West Bank, depriving them of land seized by
Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and where they want a state.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces raided the southern
Gaza refugee camp of Rafah and shot dead a 14-year-old
Palestinian boy during heavy exchanges of gunfire, witnesses
and medics said.
