Category: Archive

As previously reported by RAW STORY, Anna had infiltrated a group that, by all accounts, was non-violent prior to her arrival: “In January 2006, Eric McDavid, Lauren Weiner, and Zachary Jenson were arrested in California and charged with knowingly conspiring to use fire or explosives to damage property. Their arrest was the direct result of work by Anna, who was ‘deeply embedded within the subjects’ cell,’ according to FBI documents.”
“However, McDavid’s attorney, Mark Reichel, states that Anna was always pushing McDavid to do something criminal, taught the three how to make the bombs, supervised their activities, and repeatedly threatened to leave them if they didn’t start doing ‘something.’"

In the Liberty City/Miami case, an undercover operative was also used, although this person was purportedly with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. Nonetheless, the case has raised similar concerns in the community about the propriety of such law enforcement actions.

Defense attorney Nathan Clark of Miami, appointed by the court to represent Rotschild Augustine, one of the “Liberty City Seven” defendants, states: “On the face of the indictment alone, this is a classic case of entrapment. Every activity deemed criminal in this case was written, directed, and produced by the government.”

Homegrown Terrorism or Made-for-TV Event?

Upon the arrests of the seven men, Federal officials claimed a victory against homegrown terrorism. The suspects are all black men from “Liberty City,” part of a community called “Little Haiti” in Miami. Five of the men are American citizens, one is a Haitian resident alien, and the seventh is an illegal Haitian immigrant.

The Liberty City men are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Under conspiracy law, no actual crime needs to have been committed for the defendants to be found guilty of conspiring to commit the underlying crime. Only an agreement to commit the crime is necessary for conviction. The government alleges that the suspects agreed to “provide personnel, including themselves, to work under al Qaeda’s direction and control.”

Yet prior to the arrival of the FBI informant, the group allegedly had no plan or interest in attacking anyone or anything.

Max Rameau, spokesperson for the group CopWatch, notes that “Top brass in the FBI itself think these guys were not much more than amateur wannabes who posed no real danger to anyone, except themselves. The raid made a big media splash while taking attention away from other developments,” such as recent revelations that the Administration had been spying on financial records using a Belgian-based company not subject to U.S. privacy laws.

Rameau says that the Liberty City Seven coverage has upstaged other important news. In a conversation with RAW STORY earlier this week, he said that on the day of the Liberty City arrests, “a former director of the right-wing Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) admitted to planning terrorist acts against Cuba.”

Yet this “failed either to draw national attention or merit ‘above the fold’ coverage on the front page of the Miami Herald,” said Rameau.

The CANF conspirators were charged and acquitted by a Puerto Rican jury in 1997, after a federal judge threw out one of the defendants’ self-incriminating statements. No charges have ever been brought against the individuals on the U.S. mainland.

Rameau notes that while the government has taken action against "men with little to no demonstrable capacity to advance their plans beyond the discussion stage,” it has refused to extradite – or prosecute – Luis Posada, suspected mastermind of the bombing of a Cuban airliner “full of human beings” in 1976.

The arrests also came at a time when reports of a covert U.S. program to search bank records of citizens have created blowback for the Administration.

The government’s actions, Rameau claims, exhibit “a double standard in the war on terror, characterized by the selective prosecution of groups with minimal social and political value.”

Rameau further notes that the raid “was timed to happen at the exact same time that FBI Director Robert Mueller was on the Larry King Show. It was a made-for-TV event.”

Legal scholars and civil liberties advocates also have criticized the Liberty City Seven case. In general, the material support provision – conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization – has been widely challenged by lawyers and several courts have found portions of it unconstitutional.

Federal attorneys, however, cite the war on terror as having changed how the Department of Justice handles such cases.

“Terrorism is a whole different ballgame,” the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Guy Lewis, told the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel in discussing the arrests: “The Justice Department’s mission went from being reactive . . . to being proactive. Prevention is now the number one priority.”

But former Miami ACLU chapter chair Lida Rodriguez-Taseff sees this case much differently, telling the Sun Sentinel that “These men look like a bunch of fools doing God-knows-what. They’re certainly not the picture of the homegrown terrorist that Timothy McVeigh was.”

Jack Lieberman – a Miami activist, a member of South Florida Peace and Justice Network (a coalition of roughly twenty separate South Florida peace and justice groups), and a member of a Haiti democratic support group called Haiti Solidarity – told RAW STORY: “For the government to infiltrate a small ineffectual group that was involved in little more than ‘trash talk,’ provide it with money, leadership (the agent’s claim to be Al Qaeda), and a plan, and then claim it has caught dangerous ‘domestic terrorists,’ is a sham designed to sucker the American people into supporting them.”

Both the South Florida Peace and Justice Network and Haiti Solidarity plan to protest the arrests of the Liberty City men.

Informant Methods Questioned

As with the infamous Anna, whose methods were described as using seduction and "identifying ‘radical’ young men and women and ‘getting them’ to fall in love with her," the methods used by the informant in the Liberty City seven case are also in question.

According to the indictment, “an individual known to the Grand Jury who was purporting to be a member of a foreign terrorist organization later identified as al Qaeda” infiltrated the ragtag group.

The individual was not otherwise identified in the indictment, but a Justice Department press release stated that the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) was responsible for the arrests.

While the JTTF is comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, joint operations such as the Liberty City one, are conducted under guidelines issued by the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, for the FBI.

The indictment states that the seven men swore oaths of loyalty to al Qaeda – whether at the behest of the “al Qaeda representative” or spontaneously is unclear – ordered various supplies from him, revealed to him their “mission” to build an “Islamic Army,” and plotted to destroy the Sears Tower, bomb FBI buildings, and wage a “full ground war” against the United States in order to “kill all the devils we can.”

In the opinion of Bob Moss, an independent researcher who has been investigating and cataloging government terrorist cases, the FBI infiltrator “spoon-fed” the men “every step.” Moss tells RAW STORY that the informant gave the alleged ring-leader, Narseal Batiste, a video camera, with which Batiste promised to obtain “good footage.” A week later, Batiste asked the “al Qaeda representative” for a van so he could get the footage. Moss concluded that it was “more likely that the impatient informant pressed Batiste for the ‘good footage,’ and Batiste replied by saying he needed a van.”

The next day, the informant accompanied Batiste and another individual to purchase a memory chip for their camera. Moss states cynically, “Either the plotters couldn’t buy a memory chip unsupervised or they just didn’t do anything without being pushed by the informant.”

Moss found it laughable that the “only actual act” done to further the alleged Sears Tower attack was to “’take possession’ of an unspecified number of military boots from the informant.” While the indictment lists twenty-six overt acts, involving mostly planning meetings and trips, Rameau – noting there were no explosives or supplies which could be used to make explosives – asks “What were they going to do, kick the FBI building down with their new boots?”

Nathan Clark tells RAW STORY that the defendants “never had the manner or means to do anything.”

FBI Violating the Guidelines for Undercover Operations?

According to the Attorney General Guidelines for FBI Undercover Operations (UO Guidelines), because undercover techniques “inherently involve an element of deception and may require cooperation with persons whose motivation and conduct are open to question,” they “should be carefully considered and monitored.”

Undercover operations may be used to prevent crimes as well as to solve or prosecute crimes, according to the UO Guidelines. But the Guidelines clearly prohibit entrapment: “Entrapment must be scrupulously avoided. Entrapment occurs when the Government implants in the mind of a person who is not otherwise disposed to commit the offense the disposition to commit the offense and then induces the commission of that offense in order to prosecute.”

Even more specifically, the UO Guidelines state: “The undercover employee shall be instructed in the law of entrapment.”

“In Britain, the King can do no wrong,” say Clark, “but here the King can do wrong. The Guidelines are frequently broken.”

A spokesperson for the FBI told RAW STORY: “We are not saying anything not already said at our press conference or in our press release.” Justice Department officials had not returned calls by press time. U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta states in the DOJ press release that the group “had the intent and took several steps toward fulfilling their plan” but “the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force successfully performed its mission to prevent terrorism by identifying, disrupting and prosecuting these individuals before they posted an immediate threat to our nation.”

FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole remarked in the same press release that the arrests marked “yet another important victory in the war on terrorism,” underscoring “the need for continued vigilance and cooperation.”

Some of the members of Irgun declared a truce with England in order to help them fight the Nazis, but others continued performing terrorist acts against the British.  By February of 1944, Menachim Begin (eventually a Prime Minister of Israel) revoked the truce:

In February of 1944, under the new leadership of Menachem Begin, Irgun resumed hostilities against the British authorities. The purpose of these attacks was to increase the cost of British mandatory rule and influence British public opinion so as to encourage British withdrawal. It included attacks on prominent symbols of the British administration, including the British military, police, and civil headquarters at the King David Hotel and the British prison in Acre. Although these attacks were largely successful, several Irgun operatives were captured, convicted, and hanged. Refusing to accept the jurisdiction of the British courts, those accused refused to defend themselves. The Irgun leadership ultimately responded to these executions by hanging two British sergeants, which effectively brought the executions to an end. (Emphasis added)

So two future Prime Ministers of Israel authorized the kidnapping and execution of British soldiers.  That fact seems relevant to today.

From Wikipedia’s King David Hotel bombing

King David Hotel bombing (July 22, 1946) was a bombing attack against the British government of Palestine by members of Irgun –a militant Zionist group. The Irgun exploded a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which had been the base for the British Secretariat, the military command and a branch of the Criminal Investigation Division (police). 91 people were killed, most of them civilians: 28 British, 41 Arab, 17 Jewish, and 5 other. Around 45 people were injured.
The attack was initially ordered by David Ben Gurion, who was in the United States. Both Ben Gurion and Menachem Begin, head of the Irgun, would later become Israeli Prime Ministers. The attack was commanded by Yosef Avni and Yisrael Levi.

The attack on the hotel was the largest attack against the British in the history of the Mandate. Some claim this act should be considered in light of the escalating violence in the region and the conflict between the three main forces in the region: British, Jewish and Arab. In particular, the attack was made in retaliation for the British mass arrests Operation Agatha of June 29 1946, when British troops raided the Jewish Agency and confiscated large quantities of documents, such as information about Jewish Agency operations, including intelligence activities in Arab countries. At about the same time, more than 2,500 Jews from all over Palestine were placed under arrest. A large number of seized documents were taken to the hotel. However, the bomb attack had already been planned.

The British began to give up.  The Irgun then took things a step further:

Deir Yassin, also Dayr Yasin, was an Arab village that was captured by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It is most known for the massacre that took place there, as a result of which the village was de-populated.

I guess ‘de-populated’ is Hebrew for Genocide.

After that, Irgun changed it’s name to the IDF but didn’t change it’s policies.  If anything, they became even more brutal towards the Arabs.  But that is another diary entry.

Why is this significant?

Let us consider the commercial air traffic on a typical Tuesday morning
over New York City. There are three major airports servicing the city: La Guardia and JFK
International to the east, and Newark International across the Hudson to the west. Normal
holding patterns for these airports do not intersect the borough of Manhattan at any point. Lower
Manhattan is, and was on the morning of 9/11/01, a low-altitude flight-restricted (no fly) zone
for commercial jets, as designated by the FAA, for the obvious reason that heavy, fast-moving
aircraft and tall buildings pose mutual hazards. Air traffic near the WTC towers was doubly
restricted, with a minimum ceiling extending two thousand feet above the towers (3,300 feet)
within a radius of one nautical mile, excepting only police aviation without special permit. These
were the VFR (visual flight rules) parameters in effect on the morning of 9/11. Once WTC1 was
hit, the black smoke plume expanding southeast from the tower would pose an additional threat
to navigation.
No avoidance warning from Air Traffic Control would be necessary, as no rational commercial
pilot (no matter how curious) would risk his aircraft, crew or passengers in a "fly-by" of the
burning North Tower. But in this anonymous Camera Planet segment we see a large, twin-jet
aircraft (757/767-class) doing just that at approximately 8:58am (assuming the time signature is
uncorrected by one hour), five minutes before WTC2 will be struck. Even disregarding the
indicated time, as WTC1 is burning and WTC2 is not, the segment is clearly recorded between
8:46am and 9:03am. Note this white aircraft with dark engines and vertical stabilizer is not the
aircraft that will impact WTC2.
http://terrorize.dk/911/wtc2hit13/911.wtc.yet.another.plane.wmv
This still from the video isolates the aircraft:
Journal of 9/11 Studies 27 June 2006/Volume 1
According to the 9/11 Commission, two F-15s were scrambled from Otis Air Force Base at
8:46am (some 33 minutes after flight controllers lost contact with AA11), and were inbound to
NYC at high speed, presumably to intercept suspicious airliners. Presumably commercial flights
in NY airspace would be alerted to this danger. Yet this aircraft cruises slowly near the stricken
North Tower, seemingly unconcerned its behavior makes it a logical target for these fighters. Of
course, the absurdly late scramble and non-arrival of the F-15s is a serious problem for the
official narrative, which remains obscured by contradictory accounts from the FAA, NORAD,
NEADS, the news media and the pilots themselves. (The Commission has these fighters finally
arriving for Combat Air Patrol over NYC at 9:25am, after being vectored into a holding pattern
off Long Island.)
At least one photograph captures this aircraft (or one with a similar profile) in the interval
between the tower strikes, flying another pass almost directly above WTC2 at an altitude of
approximately 2,000 feet, judging by its size and position relative to the smoke plume, to which
it appears recklessly close:
Journal of 9/11 Studies 28 June 2006/Volume 1
At 9:03am, "UA175" approaches from the south at an improbably high speed and impacts the
South Tower. CNN aired this "amateur video" of the event, which captures (without notice by
Aaron Brown or Paula Zahn) what is evidently the same jet seen in the Camera Planet segment,
making a similar northwest pass (but farther west, approximately over Battery Park) as the South
Tower hit occurs.
www.areadownload.com/video/wtc/WTC%20-%20Amateur%20Video%2004.mpg
This still from the video isolates the aircraft as "UA175" rips through the South Tower:
At 9:04am, Diane Sawyer of ABC News made remarks on-air about the "circling" jet she and her
colleagues "all saw" prior to the second strike. She admits she "just assumed" it was the same
one that struck the South Tower.
http://www.terrorize.dk/911/comments/911.wtc.plane.circling.around.wmv

The author of an article about the   attack on the World Trade Center has found himself under attack for having  published it in a new on-line publication, Journal of 9/11 Studies. 

Entitled "The Flying Elephant", the article discusses evidence that a third airplane was captured on video at the time of the WTC attack.  He has now received a thinly-veiled threat against his children, who are cited by name, suggesting it would be a good idea if his article were to simply "go away".

Scholars for 9/11 Truth is a non-partisan society of experts and scholars committed to exposing falsehoods and revealing truths about the events of 9/11.  The journal, which is archived at journalof911studies.com, is its latest attempt to create forums for discussion and debate about these important issues beyond its web site, which is archived at st911.org. The author, Reynolds Dixon, a writer and Professor of English, former lecturer and Fellow at Stanford University, has withdrawn from the society.

"Threats of this kind have no place in a democratic nation", said James H. Fetzer, the founder of S9/11T.  "These are the tactics of brown-shirts and totalitarians who fear the discussion of controversial questions that threaten the government’s control over the governed.  This is a despicable act and we are not going to back down!"  He added that the organization itself will assume responsibility for the study, which Reynolds has relinquished.  "We cannot allow advances in understanding what happened on 9/11 to be suppressed by threats to our members.  The stakes are simply too high."

Colmes asked Fetzer something to the effect, "So can you give us one piece of evidence that would tend to point toward 9/11 being an inside job by the Bush Administration?"

While Ollie North (who was guest hosting for Hannity) was apparently still lost in confusion, Fetzer had a rare opportunity to speak a few full sentences without hostile, obnoxious interruptions. He said (and I’m paraphrasing here again), "I point you to Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission. Mineta said he had encountered Vice President Cheney in a bunker in Washington, DC, at 9:20 AM, on the day of the attacks [forty-three minutes earlier than Cheney said he had arrived]. Every few seconds a young man would come into the room and say, ‘Sir, it’s 50 miles out. Sir, it’s 40 miles out. Sir, it’s 30 miles out,’ and so on. Finally the young man asked the Vice President, ‘Sir, do the orders still stand?’ Cheney replied gruffly, ‘Of course, the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?’

Fetzer went on to explain that only later did Mineta learn that the young man was referring to Flight 77 approaching Washington, DC, and the orders the young man was referring to were obviously orders NOT to shoot the plane down [please see my first July 6, comment in the comments section for an update on this paragraph]. That’s why the young man had finally asked if the orders still stood, to which Cheney replied that they did. Shortly thereafter, Flight 77 (or a "reasonable" facsimile thereof) struck the Pentagon.

Obviously, the producers of the "Hannity & Colmes Propaganda Hour" had not anticipated such a damning bit of irrefutable evidence to escape over "their" airwaves to their glassy-eyed, drool-chinned audience.

Here’s the Real Kicker…
The very next morning, less than twelve hours after his 9/11 testimony had been unexpectedly "exposed" to the FOX faithful, Norman Mineta resigned as Secretary of Transportation.

What an unbelievably amazing coincidence of timing!

Just for the sake of argument, let’s say Mineta’s timing was truly nothing more than a coincidence. If so, then he couldn’t have picked a worse time to announce it (unless it was his relatively subtle way of sending a message to the masses). Or, if he was forced to resign by Bush/Cheney (for whatever reason), they couldn’t have picked a more self-incriminating time to make it happen.

There has been barely a peep about Mineta’s resignation in the mainstream media. I saw the same, generic, non-informational, totally uncurious five-second clip about it several times, but there has been absolutely no speculation as to why he did it (although his recent back surgery is implied to be the main reason). That’s incredibly unusual behavior for our babbling heads, isn’t it? Other high-level resignations in the last few months from the Bush Administration were the subject of endless babble among the MSM "elite."

A Final Thought
I can only imagine the sudden conflicting thoughts of at least five out of every one hundred Fox viewers who had heard Fetzer mention Mineta’s damning testimony just a few hours before Mineta resigned. What must they have been thinking for a short time before their self-hypnosis kicked back in?

Click here to download the clip of the four-minute interview (in Windows Media Format). An AVI version is here.

[Note: James H. Fetzer (FM) Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, a former Marine Corps officer, author or editor of more than 20 books, and co-chair of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.]

A Justice Ministry spokesperson said that the change in policy towards ministers and parliamentarians who are members of Hamas was carried out with the approval of and in coordination with the judiciary, and that Israel intends on arresting more Hamas officials.

"We are talking about people suspected of criminal violations such as membership in terror organizations, affiliation with terrorist leadership, and other violations," the spokesperson said.

"The criminal proceedings will follow accepted legal standards. The suspects will be entitled to legal defense, and the arrest and investigation will be subject to judicial oversight. If a charge against a suspect is found to be baseless, he will be released," the spokesperson added.

Israel Defense Forces troops launched a major arrest operation overnight, detaining 64 members of the Hamas political wing, including cabinet members and parliamentarians, as well as 23 militants.

The move is part of Israel’s expanded military operation against the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian Authority.

The arrests took place in Ramallah, Qalqilyah, Hebron, Jenin and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian reports. Soldiers carried arrest warrants signed by judges that were issued following cooperative preparatory work by the state prosecution and police.

"The detention of elected members of the Palestinian government and legislature raises particular concerns," said a joint statement by the G8, which also called on Israel to exercise "utmost restraint."

"[This]… is a pre-planned plot to destroy the [Palestinian] Authority, the government and the parliament and to bring the Palestinian people to their knees," Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri said Thursday.

There appeared to be some confusion Thursday as to whether Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser a-Shaer, had been one of those detainees or whether he had evaded capture and gone into hiding in the West Bank.

The Hamas ministers had apparently expected the arrests. A-Shaer’s wife said Thursday that he had avoided the military arrest operation as he had not been sleeping at home when the sweep took place.

He reportedly had disconnected all his cellular telephones for fear Israeli security services would again attempt to track him down and arrest him.

A-Shaer’s wife said she had been in contact with him, and that he was not arrested. Employees at the Ministry of Education offices in Ramallah reported seeing him in the building in the late morning.

But GOC Southern Command Major General Yair Navbeh confirmed at a news conference Thursday that a-Shaer was among those who had been detained.

Warning to Haniyeh
On Thursday morning, National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer hinted that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is not exempt from arrest or harm.

"No one is immune… This is not a government. It is a murderous organization," Ben-Eliezer said.

A Hamas official called the arrests an "open war against the Palestinian government and people," and said that Israel must be prepared to pay their consequences.

"We have no government, we have nothing. They have all been taken," Saeb Erekat, an ally of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said of the arrests. "This is absolutely unacceptable and we demand their release immediately."

Israel Radio quoted Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin as having told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the day of the kidnapping: "If the soldier is not returned in 24 hours, Israel will not allow the Palestinian government to survive."

The Foreign Ministry released a statement Thursday saying the recent security-related events, particularly the Qassam rocket fire and the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, were realizations of the Palestinian government’s policies of terror.

The acceptance of responsibility for the kidnapping and the Hamas-led government’s demand to exchange prisoners prove that Hamas’ primary objective is not concern for the Palestinian people but determination to implement its policies of terror, the statement said.

"As a result of this, and out of a basic obligation to its citizens, Israel decided to implement orders to prevent terrorism," it went on.

Included among the detainees were Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek; Minister Samir Abu Aysha; Khaled Abu Arfeh; and Jerusalem Affairs Ministers Naef Rajoub, the brother of senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub.

Five of the cabinet ministers were arrested at the same Ramallah hotel.

Ahmed al-Najjar, a receptionist at the hotel, said he was asleep when troops arrived after midnight, demanded a list of guests, and took the men from their rooms at gunpoint.

Palestinian attorneys representing security detainees at the IDF military court in Salem said Thursday morning they refuse to represent the Hamas members arrested overnight because they maintain the arrests themselves are illegitimate.

In Ramallah, troops arrested at least two cabinet ministers and four lawmakers, all from Hamas, in a raid on a complex of buildings, Palestinian security officials said.

Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti was stopped on his way to his village, Kabur, just north of Ramallah. Military jeeps stopped his car, ordered him out of the vehicle and took him away, the officials said.

In East Jerusalem, lawmakers Mohammed Abu Tir, Wael al-Husseini and Ahmed a-Tun were arrested.

Also, the Hamas mayor of the West Bank town of Qalqilyah and his deputy were detained, security officials said.

An IDF spokeswoman said the arrests were part of an operation against suspected terrorists, and were not "bargaining chips" for the release of abducted IDF soldier Corporal Gilad Shalit.

"They are not bargaining chips for the return of the soldier. It was simply an operation against a terrorist organization," she said. "They will be investigated, brought before a judge to extend their detention and charge sheets will be prepared."

The arrests are part of several moves designed to increase pressure on the militant group to free a captive soldier. Israel blames Hamas for the abduction of Shalit, kidnapped Sunday by militants who attacked an IDF post near the border with Gaza.

Army Radio speculated that the lawmakers might be used to trade for the captured soldier, but the IDF refused to comment on the matter.

The operation Thursday night came amidst IDF operations in the southern Gaza Strip aimed at securing Shalit’s release.

 

The Group of Eight industrialized countries said Thursday that the Hamas arrests raised "particular concerns."

A Justice Ministry spokesperson said that the change in policy towards ministers and parliamentarians who are members of Hamas was carried out with the approval of and in coordination with the judiciary, and that Israel intends on arresting more Hamas officials.

"We are talking about people suspected of criminal violations such as membership in terror organizations, affiliation with terrorist leadership, and other violations," the spokesperson said.

"The criminal proceedings will follow accepted legal standards. The suspects will be entitled to legal defense, and the arrest and investigation will be subject to judicial oversight. If a charge against a suspect is found to be baseless, he will be released," the spokesperson added.

Israel Defense Forces troops launched a major arrest operation overnight, detaining 64 members of the Hamas political wing, including cabinet members and parliamentarians, as well as 23 militants.

The move is part of Israel’s expanded military operation against the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian Authority.

The arrests took place in Ramallah, Qalqilyah, Hebron, Jenin and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian reports. Soldiers carried arrest warrants signed by judges that were issued following cooperative preparatory work by the state prosecution and police.

"The detention of elected members of the Palestinian government and legislature raises particular concerns," said a joint statement by the G8, which also called on Israel to exercise "utmost restraint."

"[This]… is a pre-planned plot to destroy the [Palestinian] Authority, the government and the parliament and to bring the Palestinian people to their knees," Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri said Thursday.

There appeared to be some confusion Thursday as to whether Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser a-Shaer, had been one of those detainees or whether he had evaded capture and gone into hiding in the West Bank.

The Hamas ministers had apparently expected the arrests. A-Shaer’s wife said Thursday that he had avoided the military arrest operation as he had not been sleeping at home when the sweep took place.

He reportedly had disconnected all his cellular telephones for fear Israeli security services would again attempt to track him down and arrest him.

A-Shaer’s wife said she had been in contact with him, and that he was not arrested. Employees at the Ministry of Education offices in Ramallah reported seeing him in the building in the late morning.

But GOC Southern Command Major General Yair Navbeh confirmed at a news conference Thursday that a-Shaer was among those who had been detained.

Warning to Haniyeh
On Thursday morning, National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer hinted that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is not exempt from arrest or harm.

"No one is immune… This is not a government. It is a murderous organization," Ben-Eliezer said.

A Hamas official called the arrests an "open war against the Palestinian government and people," and said that Israel must be prepared to pay their consequences.

"We have no government, we have nothing. They have all been taken," Saeb Erekat, an ally of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said of the arrests. "This is absolutely unacceptable and we demand their release immediately."

Israel Radio quoted Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin as having told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the day of the kidnapping: "If the soldier is not returned in 24 hours, Israel will not allow the Palestinian government to survive."

The Foreign Ministry released a statement Thursday saying the recent security-related events, particularly the Qassam rocket fire and the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, were realizations of the Palestinian government’s policies of terror.

The acceptance of responsibility for the kidnapping and the Hamas-led government’s demand to exchange prisoners prove that Hamas’ primary objective is not concern for the Palestinian people but determination to implement its policies of terror, the statement said.

"As a result of this, and out of a basic obligation to its citizens, Israel decided to implement orders to prevent terrorism," it went on.

Included among the detainees were Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek; Minister Samir Abu Aysha; Khaled Abu Arfeh; and Jerusalem Affairs Ministers Naef Rajoub, the brother of senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub.

Five of the cabinet ministers were arrested at the same Ramallah hotel.

Ahmed al-Najjar, a receptionist at the hotel, said he was asleep when troops arrived after midnight, demanded a list of guests, and took the men from their rooms at gunpoint.

Palestinian attorneys representing security detainees at the IDF military court in Salem said Thursday morning they refuse to represent the Hamas members arrested overnight because they maintain the arrests themselves are illegitimate.

In Ramallah, troops arrested at least two cabinet ministers and four lawmakers, all from Hamas, in a raid on a complex of buildings, Palestinian security officials said.

Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti was stopped on his way to his village, Kabur, just north of Ramallah. Military jeeps stopped his car, ordered him out of the vehicle and took him away, the officials said.

In East Jerusalem, lawmakers Mohammed Abu Tir, Wael al-Husseini and Ahmed a-Tun were arrested.

Also, the Hamas mayor of the West Bank town of Qalqilyah and his deputy were detained, security officials said.

An IDF spokeswoman said the arrests were part of an operation against suspected terrorists, and were not "bargaining chips" for the release of abducted IDF soldier Corporal Gilad Shalit.

"They are not bargaining chips for the return of the soldier. It was simply an operation against a terrorist organization," she said. "They will be investigated, brought before a judge to extend their detention and charge sheets will be prepared."

The arrests are part of several moves designed to increase pressure on the militant group to free a captive soldier. Israel blames Hamas for the abduction of Shalit, kidnapped Sunday by militants who attacked an IDF post near the border with Gaza.

Army Radio speculated that the lawmakers might be used to trade for the captured soldier, but the IDF refused to comment on the matter.

The operation Thursday night came amidst IDF operations in the southern Gaza Strip aimed at securing Shalit’s release.