http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=121104JERUSALEM – An Israeli court yesterday convicted a suspected agent of the Palestinian Authority for attempting to kidnap an Israeli Arab accused of selling property in Jerusalem to Jews.
Abdullah Khader, a Palestinian who had been living in eastern Jerusalem, received 11 months in prison for the attempted kidnapping.
Israeli security officials familiar with the case told WND yesterday the indictment, which has not been released to the public, accuses Khader of working on behalf of Osama Mansour, an adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
WND first reported two years ago the PA established an intelligence apparatus in Jerusalem to clamp down on Israeli Arabs selling property to Jews in strategic areas of the city.
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Palestinians seek to create a capital in eastern sections of Jerusalem. The area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Israel annexed western Jerusalem with eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War. About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, with tens of thousands thought to be living illegally without building permits. The city has an estimated total population of 724,000, with a Jewish majority. As late as the 1800s, Jews far outnumbered Arabs in Jerusalem.
A contingent of Jewish groups, including an organization called Ateret Kohanim, work to strengthen the Jewish presence in Jerusalem by purchasing properties from Arabs, primarily in eastern neighborhoods, including in Jerusalem's Old City. Some of the purchased properties were formerly Jewish until Jews fled during Arab riots in the early 1900s.
Security sources speaking to WND in January 2008 said the PA's Preventative Security Services had re-established an intelligence arm in Jerusalem originally formed in the 1990s by the late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat to work at frustrating Jewish attempts at purchasing property from Arabs.
The intelligence arm consists of activists who work in Jerusalem to identify Israeli Arabs willing to sell land to Jews, the sources said. A potential Arab seller is warned against doing business with Jewish groups. The sources did not specify particular measures the PA might take against any Arabs working to sell property to Jews, but in the past, cases have been made public in which Arabs have been killed or tortured for such activity.
According to security sources, to ensure against land sales, the PA put together a list of wealthy Palestinian and Arab donors willing to purchase property from Jerusalem Arabs who must sell their land due to financial desperation.
The U.S. has called for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November announced a 10-month freeze to Jewish construction in the West Bank, a move U.S. officials have been calling for in Jerusalem, as well.
Topic: 'Arab intimidation forces' divide Jerusalem (Read 2345 times)