ISA & ISRAEL POLICE ARREST BROTHERS FROM GHAJAR, WHO WERE WORKING FOR
HIZBALLAH
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Tuesday, 30 December, 2003

An ISA-Israel Police investigation has recently revealed that two Israeli
Arab brothers - Muhammad Shamali, 22, and Ahmad Shamali, 24 - from Ghajar
village have provided assistance to Hizballah terrorists in Lebanon,
including passing information, receiving orders to purchase technical
literature and smuggling drugs into Israel. In exchange for the drugs, the
two were requested to carry out intelligence-related tasks.

The geo-political status quo that has prevailed in Ghajar since the IDF
withdrawal and its redeployment along the international border
( www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0hdt0 ) and the fact that
today, the Israeli-Lebanese border is completely breached at Ghajar, have
created fertile ground for contacts and links with Hizballah terrorists who
may be found a few meters from Ghajar's northernmost homes. As both the
present and previous cases (dating from January and February 2003) show,
these contacts are exploited for ramified criminal and intelligence-security
purposes.

Muhammad Shamali has confessed to traveling to Lebanon and meeting with
Hizballah terrorists in Kila village, with a Lebanese drug dealer acting as
intermediary. Shamali gave Hizballah terrorists information about the IDF
position at the entrance to Ghajar, including the number of soldiers
stationed there and how they check incoming and outgoing vehicles. Shamali
was asked to purchase - and pass on to his Lebanese drug dealer
intermediary - various books, including an atlas of Israeli cities, copies
of the Yellow Pages, etc. Shamali also confessed to perpetrating at least
five drug deals, receiving the drugs from his intermediary's people and
passing them on to another Ghajar resident for distribution in Israel.

Ahmed Shamali has also confessed to perpetrating several drug deals on
behalf of the intermediary and of being aware of his brother's
aforementioned activities.

Security officials believe that the exposure and arrest of the Shamali
brothers has prevented a serious attack on the security of the State of
Israel based on the intelligence that the brothers had gathered and were
gathering.