Jerusalem – During April and May, the Israel Security Agency and the Israeli police arrested Amir Nafar, 20; Iman Kadura, 26; and Yassin Hinawi, 19, for conspiring to abduct and murder an IDF soldier in order to bargain for the release of Palestinian security prisoners. They planned to video the abducted soldier, murder him and hide his body. All three are from Lod, Israel.

Their investigation shows that Mr. Nafar, Mr. Kadura and Mr. Hinawi were followers of the Israeli Islamic Movement led by Sheikh Raad Salah. Mr. Nafar went to study Shariah law in Jordan, where he says that he was introduced to radical Islamic ideas and influences that likely spurred him into terrorist activity.

The three were indicted yesterday in the Petah Tikva District Court. Mr. Nafar and Mr. Kadura were charged with aiding the enemy in wartime and criminal conspiracy. Mr. Hinawi was charged with failing to report a crime.

Majority Of Israel Security Cabinet Opposed To Truce

There appears to be a majority in the Israel security cabinet against accepting the truce proposal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

That is the main reason for delaying the discussion scheduled for Sunday at the security cabinet, a delay that was initiated by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who on Sunday was the main person in favor of the truce proposal, as opposed to the opposition of Israeli intelligence, the prime minister, the foreign minister and other top ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon.

High-ranking political and security sources told the Israeli media that delaying the security cabinet discussion was due, among other reasons, so as not to create a situation in which Israel was rejecting a proposal for a truce. Such a situation, said the sources, means an explicit declaration of escalation, a deterioration of the situation and even large-scale military activity.

In the backdrop is a harsh disagreement between the IDF and Israeli intelligence and uneasy personal relations between the political protagonists in the affair: the prime minister, the defense minister and the foreign minister. Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni believe that it would be wrong to accept a partial truce without Hamas handing over the POW in their hands – Gilad Shalit – with the obvious potential of Hamas’ quickly gaining strength.

Israeli intelligence director Yuval Diskin declares, time and again, that a truce agreement that permits Hamas to continue to strengthen would turn Hamas into a true strategic threat on Israel’s southern border.

In the present situation, Mr. Barak finds himself the foremost, and almost single, proponent for the truce agreement that his envoy, Amos Gilad, worked on with Egypt. Mr. Gilad’s trip to Cairo that was scheduled for yesterday has been postponed to next week, after the next security cabinet is scheduled. Mr. Barak tried to persuade Mr. Olmert to make a decision on a truce without the security cabinet, but the prime minister flatly rejected this.

Israeli cabinet ministers Shaul Mofaz and Avi Dichter are considered to be leading the opposition to a cease-fire because of concern that Israel would be depicted as capitulating to Hamas’ dictates and that a lull would be exploited by Hamas to strengthen for the next round of violence.

The Israel defense minister was also attacked by members of the Israeli parliament Knesset in regards to a possible truce in Gaza.

“This would be interpreted as capitulation in the eyes of Hamas, the Arab states, the Israeli public and the entire world,” said a member of Knesset from Mr. Olmert’s Kadima faction, MK Isaac Ben-Israel.

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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