Sun., July 25, 2004 Av 7, 5764
Israeli security officials have recently become increasingly concerned that right-wing extremists might be plotting an attack on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to derail Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The Shin Bet security service and the police are preparing for a number of possible terror attack scenarios at the sacred Old City site, Israeli security sources said on Saturday night.
Speaking
on the Channel Two "Meet the Press" program yesterday, Public Security
Minister Tzachi Hanegbi confirmed that the security establishment had identified
rising intent among right-wing extremists to carry out a Temple Mount attack.
"There is no information about specific individuals, because the Shin Bet
and police would not let them continue [with their plot]," said Hanegbi.
"But there are troubling indications of purposeful thinking, and not
detached philosophy... There is a danger that [extremists] would make use of the
most explosive site, in the hope that a chain reaction would bring about the
destruction of the peace process."
Security sources on Saturday night said possible actions included an attempt to
crash a drone packed with explosives on the Temple Mount, or a manned suicide
attack with a light aircraft during mass Muslim worship on the Mount. Other
possibilities include an attempt by right-wing extremists to assassinate a
prominent Temple Mount Muslim leader, perhaps from the Waqf Islamic trust.
Yehuda Etzion, one of the leaders of a plot in the early 1980s to blow up the
mosques on the Temple Mount, said Sunday that blowing up the Dome of the Rock,
the gilded mosque at the center of the compound, was a "worthy" goal,
but that it was not the proper way to fight the disengagement initiative.
"Losing one's patience after so many years of distortion is something
understandable," Etzion told Army Radio. "Is this a worthy act? First
of all, it is worthy. On the other hand, it is unworthy as an act to thwart the
disengagement."
Israeli security sources speculate that the assassination scenario might be
chosen, even though it would not cause mass injury or damage to the Al-Aqsa
mosque or the Golden Dome shrine. The aim of the Temple Mount attack conspiracy,
they said, would be to carry out a visible provocation that sparked violent
confrontation in the territories.
Due to stringent security routines at the Temple Mount, Israeli security
officials said Saturday, right-wing extremists would find it virtually
impossible to use conventional routes to penetrate the site with explosives.
Hence, the possibility of a large bomb being planted at one of the Muslim holy
sites is "a lower-level possibility."
Saturday's disclosures about possible Temple Mount terror plans were preceded in
recent months by a number of troubling indications. Nine months ago a suspect in
a Jewish underground terror group affair, Shahar Dvir-Zeliger, told authorities
a prominent West Bank settler activist had planned a Temple Mount attack.
Zeliger cited two other names of West Bank settlers, suggesting the two were
involved in the Temple Mount attack conspiracy.
Last Thursday, the Temple Mount Faithful group petitioned the High Court, asking
to be given clearance to go up to the Holy Site for prayers later this week for
Tisha B'Av.
SOURCE: Haaretz Daily