CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - The Shin Bet (General Security Services) has received seven warnings of possible terror attacks ahead of the Purim holiday, which begins Thursday evening and goes through Sunday evening.

The festival of Purim celebrates the miraculous deliverance of the Jews -- living in the 127 provinces of the fifth century Persian Empire -- from Haman the Agagite, chancellor to King Ahasuerus, who convinced the king to annihilate all the Jews in his kingdom.

On Wednesday, Israel will place a full closure on Palestinian Authority- (PA) controlled areas in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).

"Any Israeli holiday is a sensitive period, as terror groups' motivation to launch attacks is especially high during this time," said one senior security official. "Therefore, the alert level of the entire security establishment will be very high [during Purim]," he said.

An added concern is the end of the 40-day Muslim mourning period for arch-terrorist Imad Muniyeh, killed February 12 when a bomb exploded in his car in an upscale neighborhood in Beirut.

Muniyeh's trail of terror extended from a U.S. Marine base in Lebanon, where 241 were killed, to kidnappings in the 1980s, to the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina and a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, to name a few of the major attacks he masterminded.

At Muniyeh's funeral, Hezbollah spiritual leader Hassan Nasrallah promised that no Jew in Israel or abroad would be safe from revenge attacks.

During the three-day Purim holiday, Israeli police will be deployed nationwide in recreation areas, malls, bus stations and other public venues.

Sources: The Jerusalem Post, israel national news