Arabs from north accused of recruiting for Hamas

Two residents of Shfaram and Umm al-Fahm indicted for attempting to locate weapons cache set aside for Hamas-directed attacks. One of them admits to trying to recruit Arab to Hamas, sending him for training in Turkey or Syria

Ynet|Published: 09.28.10 , 17:24

Within just a few hours of one another, two charges were issued in court for two serious security breaches. Two Israeli Arabs, residents of Shfaram and Umm al-Fahm, were indicted on Tuesday after allegedly being asked by Hamas to locate a hidden weapons cache set aside for carrying out attacks directed by the group.

In addition, one of the men confessed to attempting to recruit another Arab Israeli to Hamas in order to send him to train abroad.

The two suspects were arrested by Shin Bet and the police a number of weeks ago.

The indictment, which was issued in Haifa District Court, reveals that Mazen Mahzouma, 52, and Khaled Agbariya, 59, have both served extended prison sentences in the past for security offenses. They said in their invesigations that they met with a number of Hamas operatives in recent years in Saudi Arabia.

The meetings were reportedly setup by Mahzouma's brother, who, having sat time in an Israeli jail in the past, today lives between Lebanon and Syria. He has made efforts in recent years to recruit Arab Israelis to carry out terrorist attacks in Israel.

During their investigations, the two said that they had been asked to locate a hidden weapons cache earmarked for carrying out Hamas-directed attacks. They received a map and a description of the secret location. However, despite repeated attempts, neither of the two succeeded in locating the site. Agbaria laid out how to reach the site to his investigators, and even took them to the estimated location of the cache. The weapons have not been located.

Agbaria also confessed to being asked to recruit an additional operative from within Israel's Arab population to Hamas' ranks. The new recruit was slated to undergo Hamas military training in Turkey or Syria. Agbaria claimed that he did not carry out this mission. Mahzouma, on the other hand, said under investigation that efforts were made to recruit another Arab Israeli to Hamas activity, but to no avail.

The investigation also revealed that the two men were paid thousands of dollars for their activities and for their time in prison.

Mahzouma said that he learned from his brother that the latter is in contact with Syrian military officers and that his brother also intended to ask that he photograph various locations in Israel for Syria.

Earlier on Tuesday, an indictment was issued against two Majdal Shams residents for spying for Syria. One of them said that he was asked in an internet correspondence to kidnap an IDF soldier in exchange for money, but he refused.