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Israel arrests group smuggling terrorists from gaza Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aYr1mCAsyAC4&refer=top_world_newshttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aYr1mCAsyAC4&refer=top_world_news
Israel Arrests Group Planning to Smuggle Terrorists From Gaza
Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli security forces arrested four men accused of trying to smuggle terrorists from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory to carry out attacks.
Three members of the Palestinian group al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and an Egyptian national were detained last month after they infiltrated the Negev Desert from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the Israeli government said in an e-mailed statement today.
``The cell was intended to establish a forward infrastructure to assist in infiltrating terrorists into Israel and in locating suitable targets,'' the government said.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority last week reached an agreement, brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to open a crossing between Gaza and Egypt and ease the movement of Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank. Israel evacuated more than 9,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza in September to try to advance the peace process.
The three detained men from the Gaza Strip told Israeli security forces they were recruited into the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades by a member of the group who organized a suicide bombing at the Erez crossing point in 2004 that killed two Israeli soldiers, the government said in its statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he won't hold talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas until the Palestinian leader disarms armed groups.
Sharon yesterday resigned as head of Israel's Likud Party and lawmakers voted to dissolve parliament, paving the way for new elections in March next year.
Sharon said he will create a new party that will be dedicated to resolving the Middle East conflict.
If the elections result in a new Sharon government with more room to maneuver in negotiations with the Palestinians, the peace process may be re-energized, analysts said.
Likud Opposition
Sharon, 77, decided to leave the Likud because of friction with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and about a quarter of the party's 40 members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, who opposed Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Sharon's new party would take 28 Knesset seats, allowing him to set up a new coalition with Labor and other parties that support withdrawal from the West Bank and Palestinian statehood, according to a poll conducted by Mina Tzemach and published Nov. 18 in the newspaper Yediot Aharono.
The poll predicted Labor would win 28 seats and Likud would take 18 seats, less than half its current number. The poll of 501 eligible voters had an error margin of 4.5 percentage points.
Last Updated: November 21, 2005 21:08 EST
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