Israel has arrested two Arab Israelis and four Palestinians from east Jerusalem, accusing them of attempting to organise a local network of Al-Qaeda, the "Shin Beth" security service said on Friday. "The six suspects were arrested over the course of the months of June and July and were charged on Friday," a Shin Beth spokesman said, according to AFP.
The two Israeli citizens were named as Ibrahim Nashef, from Taybeh, and Mohammed Nejam, from Nazareth. Both are students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Nejam is suspected of having studied and photographed the helicopter landing area on the university campus with the view to an eventual attack on it, the spokesman said. US President George W. Bush landed there during his visit in January.
The charge sheet said the suspects met at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and had collected information from the Internet on how to make bombs. The four Palestinians were said to have wanted to become part of the network that was being formed.
Two other Arab Israelis, both Bedouins, were charged on July 9 on suspicion of being Al-Qaeda agents.
