Israel On Alert
Israeli police and troops were on top alert Sunday for possible bomb attacks by Palestinian militants in Israeli cities, officials said.
The troops were supported by helicopters and bomb squads with dogs trained to detect explosives, a senior police officer said.
Extra roadblocks were set up on the borders between the Palestinian areas and Israel, and patrols were strengthened at shopping malls, bus stations and other crowded places, said Yehuda Bachar, the police chief of operations.
"Our deployment consists of several concentric rings, beginning with roadblocks on the border, followed by increased police presence on the roads and crowded places in the cities," Bachar told Israel radio. "Our activities are both visible and covert."
The alert followed Thursday's siege of a house in the Israeli Arab city of Taibeh, where Israeli police commandos killed four Palestinian Islamic militants and arrested one other.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak said the uncovering of the cell by the Israeli Shin Bet security service prevented a major attack. He did not elaborate, but TV reports said the men were planning a series of suicide bombing attacks in the greater Tel Aviv area.
"It would not be imprecise to say that the present alert is a consequence of the Taibeh affair," said Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who is responsible for the police.
The cell belonged to the militant Hamas group, which is opposed to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and has killed scores of Israelis in suicide bombing attacks. Israeli media reported Sunday that Hamas was determined to carry out a new attack.
The Israeli media said Palestinian security forces were cooperating with Israel in the hunt for the Hamas militants, in an attempt to prevent new attacks inside Israel.
"Hamas is a common enemy of the Palestinian Authority and Israel," Ben-Ami told Israeli army radio, "and the Authority understands that Hamas is a fire which can consume the stability of the Palestinian Authority too."
Palestinian police have arrested two bodyguards in Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin's entourage, Yassin told The Associated Press, naming them as Soheal Abu-Naher and Ramez al-Halabi. Another six members of Hamas' youth movement were also arrested.
Yassin accused Israel of grandstanding, saying he had nothing to do with the Taibeh affair and has no connection with the military wing of Hamas.
"Those people want to show that they have found evidence and a big story, and they want to give the Israeli people the feeling that they are taking care of Israeli security," he said.
He acknowledged, however, that two of the dead named by the Israeli media - Nael Abu Awad and Ali Hassanein - were followers of Hamas.
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