Gush Emunim Underground
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Gush Emunim Underground was a terrorist militant organization formed by prominent members of the Israeli political movement Gush Emunim, that existed from 1979-1984.
In 1983, three of its members were involved in a retaliation attack following the murder of a yeshivah student in Hebron. In broad daylight, two men entered the Islamic College of Hebron, spraying bullets and tossing a grenade. They murdered three students and wounded thirty-three.[1] In 1990, the three perpetrators of this attack, Menachem Livni, Shaul Nir and Uzi Sharbav, were released from prison by Israeli president Chaim Herzog. On their release, the three were hailed as "heroes" by leaders of the Gush Emunim movement.[citation needed]
The Gush Emunim Underground also carried out car bomb attacks against Palestinian officials. As a result of these attacks, Bassam Shakaa, the mayor of Nablus lost both of his legs and Karim Khalaf, the mayor of Ramallah lost one of his legs.[2]
Time Magazine writes [3]:
The trial points up the emergence of a new kind of zealot: the West Bank settler who feels that the best way to fight Arab violence is with Jewish violence. The vengeful cycle began in May 1980, when Arabs ambushed and killed six Jewish settlers in the city of Hebron. One month later, two car bombs went off on the same morning, severing both legs of Mayor Bassam Shaka'a of Nablus and blowing off part of the left foot of Ramallah Mayor Karim Khalaf. Every few months fresh blood was shed: a settler would die after being knifed or hit by a rock, then an Arab would be killed by a booby-trapped grenade hidden among stones. In 1983, three Arabs stabbed a Jewish student to death in Hebron's marketplace; three weeks later, two men opened fire on Arab students at Hebron's Islamic College, killing three people and injuring 33.
The group was also known for masterminding a failed attempt at destroying the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Shin Bet agents arrested the members during an attempted bus bombing in 1984 and during interrogation discovered the group's plot to blow up the pillars of the Dome of the Rock. Three of the men were sentenced to life in prison for the Islamic College attack. Controversially, their sentences were commuted three times, so they left prison in less than seven years.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Gorenberg, Gershom. The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. Oxford University Press: 2000. 128-137
- ^ "3 Israeli Terrorists Are Released In 4th Reduction of Their Terms," New York Times, 27 December 1990
- ^ What's Next For Israel? Time Magazine, July 9, 1984
[edit] See also
- "The Evolution of Gush Emunim" by Ian S. Lustick, University of Pennsylvania
- Fundamentalism, Terrorism, and Democracy: The Case of the Gush Emunim Underground by Ehud Sprinzak, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1986
