TEL AVIV, Sept 6 (AFP) - Dozens of left-wing activists demonstrated Monday in Tel Aviv against a decision to place a young Israeli woman in administrative detention on suspicion of involvement in Palestinian attacks.
The protesters gathered outside Tel Aviv district court, where the lawyer of Tali Fahima presented an appeal against the four-month administrative detention order imposed on her by Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz a day earlier.
Fahima, 28, is a close friend of Zakaria Zubeidi, who as leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank town of Jenin is one of the most wanted of all Palestinian militants.
At the hearing, the judge postponed a decision on whether or not to approve the administrative detention order for another eight days, army radio reported, saying she would be held until a decision was made.
The judge took the decision in order to allow the defence team to conduct an investigation into the Shin Bet internal security officer who was responsible for investigating Fahima.
As demonstrators chanted slogans demanding her immediate release, lawyer Smader Ben Natan slammed what she called the "totally scandalous" order which had been imposed on her client "without any proof".
Earlier, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told the radio that after reading the arguments put forward by the Shin Bet internal security service, he agreed with the administrative detention order.
Rejecting claims that the state was using administrative detention as a political weapon against the left, Lapid said that in recent months the state had placed a right wing extremist in administrative detention, the radio said.
Administrative detention orders are usually imposed on Palestinians who have not been found guilty of any offence in a court of law.
"Fahima represents a concrete and immediate threat to the security of the state" Mofaz said on Israeli radio, adding that it was impossible to present evidence before a judge for fear of jeopardising intelligence sources.
Fahima, said by the Israeli press to be the first Israeli Jew to be detained on allegations of involvement in Palestinian attacks, has vehemently protested her innocence.