Israelis married Muslim women to spy on Arabs

The security commentator Yossi Melman in the Israeli daily "Haartez" revealed that members of intelligence unit belonging to the internal security system Shin Bet working during the 1950s married Arab women under false names in order to cover up theit identities and carry out missions assigned to them.

Melman said that Shin Bet members were planted in Arab cities and among Bedouin tents, where they lived as Arabs. The commentators added, "Several of them eventually succumbed to social pressures and married local women. Some even went on to have children."

For several years, Arab cities lived under Israeli military rule following the establishment of Israel in 1948 in an atmosphere where doubts prevailed on the commitment of the Arabs to Israel. In a statement to the paper, Amos Manor, who chaired the Shin Bet at that time said, "We were meant to use these agents in case of violent action on the part of the Arab minority."

The paper added that the secret "unit" which had worked for several years and left after being dissolved due to social problems. Haartez quoted Shmuel Moriah, first leader of the unit, as saying that permitting the Israeli "agents" to marry Muslim women was a mistake. It created grave problems for the Israeli agents and to the families they had established, alike.

Melman said the initiative to establish such a "unit" was proposed by the Mossad chief, Ayser Hariel.