Thursday, November 22, 2012

Israeli Arab connected to Hamas and Islamic Jihad arrested in Tel Aviv bus bombing

(Fox News) An Israeli Arab has been arrested in the bombing Wednesday of a bus in Tel Aviv mere hours before a cease-fire was announced in the weeklong conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

The bombing injured 27 people near Israel's military headquarters and threatened to scuttle efforts to broker the cease-fire.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man, from the village of Taybeh in Israel, was connected to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups.

A Palestinian militant cell based in the West Bank village of Beit Lakiya sent the man to put a bomb connected to a mobile phone on the Tel Aviv bus Wednesday, Rosenfeld said.

After he planted the bomb, the man, who police declined to identify, left the bus and called his handlers, who remotely detonated the explosive by calling the phone, he said.

"He admitted to carrying out the terrorist attack," Rosenfeld said.

Attacks by Israeli Arabs are rare, though they have happened in the past.

The attack brought back harsh memories of frequent bus bombings during last decade's violent Palestinian uprising.