Israeli Arab rights groups on Friday declared they would act to curb what they called an "incitement campaign" by the Shin Bet security service against the Israeli Arab public. According to the groups, the Shin Bet recently warned the official journal of the Arab Knesset party Balad, Fassal al Makal, that it would curtail any activities seeking to change the current makeup of Israel, even if such activities were legal, for being of a subversive nature.

The rights groups, led by the Adala Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and Ittija - the Union of Community-Based Organizations, announced Friday that they would complain to the United Nations and foreign ambassadors in Israel against the untouchability of the Shin Bet and about its treatment of the Arab minority. In addition, the groups intend to publish a petition against the Shin Bet operation methods, signed by prominent Jewish and Arab figures.

The announcement was made at a conference of representatives of Arab social activist groups at the Adala headquarters. Adala chairman Marwan Dwiri, who opened the meeting, said that the Shin Bet is mainly targeting documents compiled by Arab groups that it deems to pose a "strategic threat" on the State of Israel.

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Some of those who attended the meeting said it was very tense because of disagreements between figures identified with different political parties. Immediately after the meeting opened, Islamic Movement spokesman Zahi Nujidat left the conference. Nujidat said he agrees to discuss the way the state handles Arab political factions, but he would not discuss the documents, because his movement is not privy to them.

Later on, director general of the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, Jaffer Farah, who compiled one of the said documents, left the meeting as well.

Although Arab MKs of all factions were invited to the conference, none of them attended.