Mordy Har'el, the general secretary of the three Shilo-area hilltop sister communities of Adei Ad, Achiyah, and Givat Har'el, was arrested last night, together with another man. The police say that their arrest is a continuation of the investigation of Yitzchak Pass and Mati Shvo. The latter two have been held for two weeks on "security-related charges" without having been allowed to meet with a lawyer or family members. According to the law, a court is permitted to allow the police to hold them in this manner for another week - as they are suspected of planning a future crime. Only those who are accused solely of having already perpetrated a crime may not be prevented from meeting with a lawyer.



Har'el and his fellow arrestee, whose brother has been jailed for over a year in the alleged Bat Ayin conspiracy, were to be brought before a judge this afternoon.



Yitzchak Pass is the father of Shalhevet, a ten-month-old baby who was murdered with a bullet to her head by a Palestinian terrorist in Hevron over two years ago.



Rabbi Dov Lior of the Yesha Rabbis Council issued a statement today condemning the "custom" of banning the Yesha suspects from meeting with their lawyers. "This practice is reminiscent of dark regimes that trampled people's basic civil rights," Kiryat Arba's Chief Rabbi said. "The Torah commandment of Pidyon Shvuyim - redeeming captives - which takes priority over almost everything else, is applicable to all those arrestees whose guilt has not been proven and who are not permitted to meet with lawyers."