ANALYSIS / New generation of East Jerusalem terrorists inspired by TV, Internet

The timing of the joint announcement by the Shin Bet security service and the police, according to which they have found the terror cell that killed two policemen in Jerusalem in the past year, was unusual.

Indictments were submitted ten days ago but the news was kept under wraps by a gag order that was only lifted Wednesday. Could it be that security forces are trying to show us that despite Monday's attack in which a Palestinian ran over a group of Jews they are still in control?

Wednesday's disclosures showed two things: that the Shin Bet has scored some successes in preventing attacks by East Jerusalem residents, but also that the challenge to stop further attacks continues and is very complex. Shin Bet insists that the four recent attacks carried out by men from East Jerusalem (the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva shooting and the three incidents where Palestinians deliberately ran over Jews) were unrelated, despite the fact that the perpetrators all came from the same part of the city.

The cell whose existence was announced Wednesday, whose members came from a different part of East Jerusalem, was also not part of a broader terrorist organization, Shin Bet said. Yet unlike the other attacks these were carefully planned.

One thing is certain: Terror activity in East Jerusalem is on the rise. If the city's Palestinians once made do with being informants for terror organizations, using their freedom of travel to harbor and to transfer terrorists, now they are taking the initiative. Security officials are worried about what they say is growing Islamic fundamentalism in East Jerusalem.

In addition, they say that friction caused by the construction of the separation fence, severing East Jerusalem from the Palestinian areas around it, has translated into increased terrorist activity.

The story of Mohammed Abu-Sneina, the head of the recently uncovered cell, is of particular interest as his father, a Fatah member, was also involved in terrorism and killed two Jews in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He was convicted and sentenced to life but was released in 1985 as part of a prisoner exchange with the PLO. Abu-Sneina Jr. was born just two years later, part of the first Intifada baby boom.

Interrogators said that during their sessions with him Abu-Sneina related to the murders in a cold-blooded manner. In the first incident he shot the police officers from point-blank range. He covered his face during the second shooting so that he couldn't be identified by cameras put up around the Old City.

Abu-Sneina believes that killing Israeli soldiers, as opposed to civilians, is an appropriate response to what he termed Israel's oppression of East Jerusalem residents. He, and the other terrorists and suspects, are all young and motivated individuals whose brand of terrorism is more reminiscent of the Irish Republican Army than the Middle East. They receive inspiration from the Internet and television, but are not part of an organized terrorist network.