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| Israel-Palestine |
| Shin Bet alert over Right-wing plot to kill Sharon |
| 2004-07-08 |
| Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service is intensifying surveillance of far-Right Jewish activists after intelligence reports that Ariel Sharon faces an imminent assassination attempt over his Gaza disengagement plan. Tsahi Hanegbi, the cabinet minister in charge of public security, said yesterday that he had a "bad feeling" that "someone, somewhere, was already planning an attack" against the prime minister or senior government figures. He said the would-be assassin was motivated by an urge to "save the people of Israel" and the hope that his action would block Mr Sharon’s plan to give up the Jewish presence in the Gaza strip and the northern West Bank by 2005. A similar warning was sounded on Sunday by Avi Dichter, head of the Shin Bet, which is equivalent to MI5. Mr Hanegbi said that the current atmosphere of "incitement and extremism" bore similarities to the days that preceded the 1995 assassination of the then Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. Mr Sharon, 76, said earlier this week that he was saddened by the thought that "I have worked all my life to protect Jews, and now I need protection from Jews". He incurred the wrath of Jewish settlers and lost his parliamentary majority because of his Gaza disengagement plan. He is counting on the opposition Labour party to join his government coalition if remaining Right-of-centre partners pull out. But the Labour party is deeply divided over the issue. Mr Sharon said yesterday he would seek another term as prime minister in the next general election. In a ruling that addressed petitions by Labour and other opposition parties, Israel’s supreme court has ruled that elections will be held in November 2006, a year earlier than expected. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |