By Ryan Jones
Mar 22, 2006
Removing any remaining doubt that America's war on terror is one and the same as the battle Israel has been fighting since its rebirth, Israeli security forces have captured local members of the global Al Qaeda terrorist network.
Azzam Abu-Alades and Balal Hafanawi were apprehended in December while returning to their homes near the Samarian town of Shechem following a visit to neighboring Jordan, where they are accused of having received training from an Al Qaeda cell based in the Hashemite Kingdom.
The two Palestinian Arabs were indicted in Salim Military Court Tuesday on charges of membership in an illegal group, illegal possession of weapons, and efforts to recruit additional local Arabs for a fresh terrorist offensive against the Jewish state on behalf of Osama bin Laden's organization.
An IDF spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters that Abu-Alades and Hafanawi were the first "Palestinians" to be charged in Israel with membership in Al Qaeda.
Earlier this month, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas admitted in an interview with the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat that Al Qaeda is active in areas under the control of his regime.
"We have indications about a presence of Al-Qaida in Gaza and the (West) Bank. This is intelligence information. We have not yet reached the point of arrests."
Considering the long failure of both Abbas and his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, to put away members of groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the incarceration of the newly arrived killers was not expected anytime soon, leading Israel to take matters into its own hands.
In related news, Israeli intelligence Wednesday issued 60 terror warnings, including 13 concrete warnings of imminent attacks.
Police remain on high alert throughout Israel, fearing the "Palestinians" will seek to perpetrate large-scale attacks against the nation's Jewish population in the run up to next week's general election.