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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on Sunday. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff August 7, 2005 |
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PM Ariel Sharon condemned Eden Natan-Zada's shooting attack on Israeli Arabs, and warned that such an act of "terrible incitement" could happen again. Earlier, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced that he would consider holding Jewish extremists bent on sabotaging the disengagement, without trial or charge, but under 'military detention'. Justice Minister Tzipi Livini said the decision was long overdue.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday denounced Eden Natan-Zada's shooting attack that killed four Israeli Arabs as an act of terrorism, and warned that Jewish militants could strike again.
Addressing the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, Sharon complained of "terrible incitement" by Jewish extremists. "There is a danger that such an incident can occur again," he said of last week's attack.
Sharon called for a swift investigation by Israel's security forces to find out how the attack happened and how to prevent future attacks against Israel's Arab citizens.
"I turn to everyone who has the authority, the police, the Shin Bet (security service) the security establishment to take every step so that such incidents don't occur," he said. "We have to live with the Arab population here forever."
On Saturday, in the wake of Natan-Zada's attack, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said he would consider holding Jewish extremists bent on derailing Israel's upcoming Gaza Strip withdrawal, without charge or trial, a prodecure dubbed 'administrative detention'.
"We will also consider something that I oppose but the Shin Bet (security service) recommends: We will consider administrative detentions... of all those the Shin Bet recommends," he said.
He wouldn't estimate how many people might be detained under such circumstances, but said the detentions would be "pinpointed."
Asked about the possibility of other attacks against Arabs, Mofaz replied: "I can't say we will succeed 100 percent, but we will do all we can to prevent such acts."
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Israel Radio that warrants for the administrative detentions of right-wing extremists should have been issued a long time ago, based on intelligence information, not only after an attack such as the Shfaram shooting.
According to the Justice Minister, "the Shin Bet security service should use administrative arrests when intelligence information [on dangerous extremists] cannot be exposed in court." Livni said Attorney General Menachem Mazuz also supports the use of this measure and would approve requests by the Defense Minister to issue warrants against Jewish extremists.
"This option [of administrative arrests] should have been used earlier," Livni said.
The AP contributed to this report.
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