The Israeli authorities are holding a man for interrogation for the last five days about alleged links between dissident Irish republicans and Palestinian extremists opposed to a Middle East peace agreement. The man is also understood to be wanted by the British authorities, Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
The suspect, believed to be from Northern Ireland, was apprehended last Thursday at a road block south of Ramallah on the West Bank. A "gagging order" was issued and, as a result, the Israeli Government Press Office was not responding to questions about the case.
Israeli papers have been quoting reports emanating in London to get around the censorship order. But late last night, Channel One, a State-run Israeli television station, reported that the man had been arrested north of Jerusalem and that the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet, was interrogating him. The report said the authorities did not believe he had engaged in bomb-making in recent years.
Well-placed sources have told The Irish Times that, in addition to being interrogated by the Israelis, the man is also being sought by the British authorities. They said that if the Israelis find no evidence that he was involved in any wrongdoing in areas under their control he will be handed over to the British.
However, these sources expressed surprise at suggestions that the man had come to Israel on his own passport since, they said, he was also being sought by the British security services.
Meanwhile, senior sources in the Palestinian Authority said they knew nothing about the case and had received no request for information from the Israelis, under the arrangements for joint security co-operation, about anyone with Irish republican connections.
The Palestinian factions whose names are being linked with the case, such as Islamic Jihad, are usually associated with suicide bombings.
There is unconfirmed speculation that dissident republicans may have been trying to sell their expertise in bomb-making, particularly mortar bombs, to Palestinian factions.
Over the years, there have been unconfirmed reports of links between Irish republican activists and elements on the Palestinian side. When seven Israeli soldiers were killed at a checkpoint by sniper fire, it gave rise to rumours of a connection with the republican movement. In the 1980s, prior to the current ceasefires, the Provisional IRA imported massive quantities of arms by ship from Libya.