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The New York Post reported this week that the IDF recently sank a ship that was ferrying arms that the Hezbollah was trying to smuggle into the Gaza Strip, in the area of the Palestinian Authority. According to the article, the Palestinians did not what happened to the ship until this publication came to light. Official Israeli sources refused to comment. According to various reports, the Israeli censor banned publication of the article, and the Post article circumvented the Israeli censorship. According to the IDF, Palestinian efforts to smuggle arms have recently resumed, primarily after the IDF confiscated huge amounts of weaponry during Operation Defensive Shield. In January, Israeli frogmen seized the Karine A and in May last year Israeli forces intercepted the Santorini, a ship loaded with explosives and weapons smuggled from Lebanon and financed by Iran. Previously, several ships carrying arms had evidently succeeded in reaching their destinations in the Gaza Strip. The terror organizations are also trying to continue smuggling by land, primarily through areas near the Egyptian border. In this area last week, in Raf.ah, four tunnels that were used to smuggle arms to terror organizations, were uncovered and blown-up. Security sources add that in recent months the shortage in rifles and pistols in the Palestinian areas has been noticeable. Two sisters from the Israeli-Arab village of Sakhnin in the Galiliee, were arrested on suspicion of having been in contact with a Tanzim militant and with intending to to assist in carrying out a suicide atack, with the intention of assisting a suicide attack against Israel. The sisters, 20 and 25 years old, are suspected of having had contact with a Tanzim terrorist to help a young Palestinian woman carry out an attack. An indictment has been filed against the two on charges of conspiring to help the enemy in time of war (treason), making contact with a foreign agent, and supporting terror organizations. The two confessed to most of the charges. During her interrogation, one of the sisters revealed that the terrorist had originally planned to carry out the attack in one of the shopping centers in the north, but the location was nixed because of the large number of Arabs that frequent the center. The two gathered information on large concentrations of people in Haifa and the North on Israel on Independence Day where suicide attacks could be carried out. The police reported that one of the sisters was about to help a suicide bomber infiltrate into the Haifa area; however, when the plan failed, it was decided to carry out an attack in Jerusalem's Machaneh Yehuda market. The two sisters knew ahead of time about the April 12 attack in which a female suicide bomber detonated herself in the market, killing six people. The two were arrested after the arrest of the Tanzim terrorist, and he evidently revealed their names. For a change: a mission of senior economic officials in Great Britain came to Israel this week to further an infrastructure project. The delegations includes heads of leading companies in Great Britain, including Lord David Young, chairman of the large investment company Young Associates (formerly chairman of Bell and Willers) Sir Victors Blank, Chairman of Great Universal Stores PLC with marketing chains throughout the world; Sir Richard, Chairman of the Lex Vehicle Leasing Company with car leasing and gas stations throughout the world; Sir Trevor Chinn, British Chair of the British-Israel Business Council, and others. The Israeli host, Dan Gillerman, the president of the Israeli British Council said that the visit is taking place despite the difficult situation; it is a sign of identification by the heads of the British economy with Israel and that the mission arrived with the encouragement of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Members of the mission will meet with the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Knesset, and ministers, and with leading figures in the Israeli economy. 100 year old Ezra Lev will be the youngest guest at a special event that will take place next week at the President's Mansion. President Moshe Katsav will host around 50 Israelis, who are at least 100 years of age. Some of the families will be represented by five generations - the honorees, stars of the event, their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. According to statistics of the National Insurance Institute, there are at least 610 aged people of these ages in Israel with the oldest 116! "This is a group of people who all function. We are speaking not only of longevity but also of quality of life," say the event planners. Ezra Lev, who is a member of the Order of the British Empire, says that he owes his longevity to daily exercise and refraining from smoking and drinking. But primarily, "One needs to know to choose one's parents," he said, quoting late US president Harry Truman. Many of the volunteers who help the elderly are "youngsters" of 80 and above, and one, who has been volunteering for 25 years, is herself 87.
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