Israel: Shin Bet to Use Big Brother Tactics to Monitor Facebook and Twitter in Palestine

Israel will monitor Facebook and Twitter accounts belonging to potential terrorists from Palestine in an attempt to thwart attacks being launched.

The secret service - Shin Bet - will intensify its sifting of social media sites used by Palestinians, especially youths living in occupied Jerusalem, according to Israel's Yedioth Ahranoth newspaper.

The agency believes it stands a better chance of disrupting potentially deadly operations when they are discussed online on sites including Facebook and Twitter.

Israel is thought to be adopting the Big Brother-style approach after it was claimed the Israeli army and intelligence leaders are concerned about the pressures the Palestinian Authority is under from the public to stop security coordination with Israel.

That cooperation has helped Israel stop a number of resistance missions.

News of the approach came as the Palestinian Authority arrested some 30 suspects last week thought to be planning terror attacks against settlers as well as operatives involved in incitement against Israeli, the Times of Israel reported.

The arrests were mainly in Hebron, where Hamas operatives were detained. Additional arrests were made in Nablus and Ramallah.