Arab MK (Israeli Parliament Member) Suspected of Terror Contacts

Arutz Sheva ^ | 26 November 2003

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Arab MK Suspected of Terror Contacts
09:06 Nov 26, '03 / 1 Kislev 5764

The Shabak suspects Arab MK Abdel Malek Dehamshe of having incited, encouraged and possibly even aided Palestinian terrorist prisoners during his many visits to them in jail.

The Shabak (General Security Service) suspects Arab MK Abdel Malek Dehamshe, who has been in the Knesset since 1996, of having incited, encouraged and possibly even aided Palestinian terrorist prisoners during his visits to them in jail.

Dehamshe is a regular visitor to Israeli prisons, having filed more than 80 requests to visit top terrorists just this year. Their suspicions aroused, the Shabak and the Prison Service composed a classified document with intelligence information on Dehamshe's meetings. Among the terrorists he visited were Mahmad Abu-Ali, the murderer of Yehoshua Saloma in Hevron; Israeli Islamic Movement head Raad Salah; Amana Muna, recently convicted of having enticed a 16-year-old Israeli to his death; Samir Kuntar, murderer of the Haran family in Nahariya; Muhammad Al-Garbiye of the Night of the Gliders attack in 1992; and Othman Musalah, sentenced to 21 years for several attacks and the spokesman for the terrorists incarcerated in the Shikmah Prison.

"Just last week, Dehamshe met with a large group of arch-terrorists," said a top Prison Service official yesterday. "He went from prison to prison and spoke with them privately. We're now checking if he passed messages from one prisoner to another."

Dehamshe himself says that the accusations are a "blood libel" designed to malign his name, and that he is willing to give up his parliamentary immunity in order to have the suspicions investigated. He said he will continue to visit the prisoners in an attempt to bring about a hudna (temporary ceasefire). Dehamshe admitted that terrorists asked him to pass messages, but he says he refused to do so.

Left-wing MKs were not quick to respond, but those on the right were. MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said that the authorities should complete their investigation and enable Dehamshe to "spend a long and consecutive time in the company of the terrorists he likes to visit." More to the point were MK Gila Finkelstein (NRP), who submitted a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee, and MK Yuri Stern (National Union), who said he would propose changes in the parliamentary immunity granted to Knesset Members. Stern said the immunity should not apply to defense matters, or to contacts with convicted terrorists.

The Arab terrorists in Israeli prisons have learned to put their situation to their best advantage, smuggling cell-phones in and messages out in various imaginative ways, to continue their terrorist struggle even from behind bars. Terrorists have even been known to address Arab rallies via cell-phone. In one notable case, a Hamas member imprisoned for having planned several suicide attacks was able to make contact from his prison cell with terrorist colleagues in Jerusalem and Ramallah, instructing them to abduct soldiers to be held as ransom for the release of Arab prisoners. He was later moved to an isolated cell.