Israeli Arab Leaders’ Arrests Spark Tension

The leaders of Israel’s largest and most powerful Arab organization were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of disguising millions of dollars as charitable donations from overseas, then slipping the cash to Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The crackdown on the Islamic Movement further undermined the already shaky relationship between Israel and its 1.2 million Arab citizens, a beleaguered minority that complains of ongoing discrimination and intolerance. The 15 suspects hadn’t even appeared in a packed Tel Aviv courtroom -- where they were ordered to remain in custody while an investigation into their activities continues -- before outraged Arab community leaders were drumming up weekend protests. Israeli authorities worried aloud about riots.

“This is the delegitimization of the Islamic Movement and Arabic people, and it’s something awful,” said Abdel Malik Dahamsha, a lawmaker who represents the Islamic Movement in Israel’s parliament. “The Israeli right is trying willfully to challenge our status inside the state of Israel.”

The arrests came as bloodshed and strife dragged on despite intense attempts to make peace. Three Palestinian security officers were shot dead in a gun battle with Israeli soldiers early today, Palestinian sources said, and about 30 Palestinians were wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into a crowded Gaza refugee camp. On Tuesday, 10 Israeli soldiers were wounded in a nearby mortar attack.

Islamic Movement leaders insisted that they are being persecuted for doling out money to hungry Palestinian orphans. But Israeli authorities said their evidence, gathered during two years of investigation, paints a damning picture of the group’s ties to Hamas. Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi predicted more arrests from a group he said has been “oiling the wheels of murderous terrorism.”

“The leadership of a political movement has become couriers between outside money and inside terror,” Hanegbi said.

Police and intelligence officers swept into the northern city of Umm al Fahm before sunrise, seized documents and equipment, and arrested 13 suspects. Two more men were tracked down later in the day -- a Muslim holiday marking the birthday of the prophet Muhammad.

Charismatic hard-liner Sheik Raed Salah, a longtime irritant to authorities in the Jewish state, was among the jailed leaders.

Salah is something of a maverick. In 1996, the Islamic Movement split in two, and he took charge of the more radical, uncompromising northern faction. He deems Israeli politics a tool of Zionism and has urged his followers to boycott elections. He throws rowdy pro-Palestinian rallies. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, he suggested that President Bush convert to Islam.

The question of Israeli Arabs’ sympathies for their Palestinian brethren has been a painful point of contention since the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted in September 2000. Several Israeli Arabs have helped plot or carry out attacks against Israeli targets, and Israeli society has displayed increasing distrust of its Arab citizens. Those tensions made Tuesday’s arrests particularly controversial.

“The atmosphere is tense, and I’m very much afraid that we will reach another milestone in the relationship between the state and the Arab minority,” said Shuli Dichter, director of the Assn. for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel. “The relationship has been deteriorating constantly in the past few years.”

In another sign of hardening stances, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intimated in an interview published Tuesday that he has every intention of holding on to controversial Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including outposts he had previously said could be dismantled.

Sharon, who is preparing for talks with Bush and new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, has spoken often of the “painful concessions” Israel is prepared to trade for peace. Last month, he said it was ready to tear down some West Bank settlements, including Beit El on the outskirts of the city of Ramallah.

But questioned this week as to whether Jews would abandon Beit El, Sharon told the Jerusalem Post, “Jews will live there.”

Asked whether that meant Beit El would be under Israeli rule, he replied: “Do you see a possibility of Jews living under Arab sovereignty? I’m asking you, do you see that possibility?”