- An Israeli court has convicted a Jewish extremist for
belonging to an organisation that carried out a series of deadly attacks
against Arabs.
-
- The charge sheet said Shahar Dvir-Zeliger's group - which
was not named - attacked mainly against Arab schools.
-
- Prosecution lawyers say it is the first time that a court
in Israel has acknowledged the existence of a violent anti-Arab group.
-
- The group murdered eight Palestinians and injured 16
in 2001 and 2002.
-
- "This is a very serious outcome from a public point
of view," said prosecution lawyer Dan Eldad.
-
- "It is the first time that an Israeli court has
determined that a Jewish terrorist organisation exists which had the aim
of harming innocent Arab citizens," Mr Eldad told reporters outside
the court.
-
- The last comparable case in Israel was in 1994 when the
Israeli Cabinet declared two extremist settler groups, Kach and Kahane
Chai, as terrorist organisations.
-
- Dvir-Zeliger, from the West Bank settlement of Adei Ad,
was also found guilty on four other charges including being an accomplice
to murder and weapons-related offences.
-
- He is the third suspected member of the cell to be convicted,
but the first to be directly linked to the group, the Jerusalem Post newspaper
reports.
-
- He is expected to be sentenced at a later date.
-
- Two other suspected cell members - Yitzhak Pass and Matityahu
Shvu - are serving two-year jail sentences on explosives charges.
-
- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3619012.stm
|
