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The establishment of an undercover squad composed of Jews who will pretend to be Arabs in areas within Israel has been slammed by a Palestinian-Israeli Ìýas "racist" and "illegal".

Israeli police revealedÌýon Tuesday the creation of the Mistaaravim undercover unit, which it said would combat "organised crime" in Palestinian parts of Israel.

Mistaaravim, whichÌýloosely translates as "artificial Arabs", are commonly used by Israel inÌýprotests inÌýPalestinian neighbourhoods.

Rights groupÌý expressed its outrage at the moveÌýin a letter to , the Israeli attorney general, and Kobi Shabtai, the nation's police chief, on Wednesday.

Adalah stressed that "designating a special unit to a specific ethnic group is racist and illegal".

"The decision to set up an undercover unit that intends to operate solely within Palestinian Arab towns and villages in Israel is a racist act,"ÌýMyssana Morany, a lawyerÌýfor the minority rights group, said.

"[This] produces a unique and separate law enforcement system for Arab citizens than the one in place for Jewish Israeli citizens," MoranyÌýsaid.

"This special system is based on the worldview of the Israeli police as 'the Arabs as an enemy'."

Adalah has urged that theÌýunit be dismantled.

"Using the excuse of the high incidence of crime within the Arab towns and villages to justify the use of special undercover police units or the granting of powers to the Shabak (GSS) are dangerous moves,"ÌýMorany said.

"[This] will certainly lead to more human rights violations against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and could endanger their lives."

TheÌýMistaaravimÌýat times employ "extreme violence against legitimate demonstrators", according to Adalah.

The rights group said they "assault[ed] demonstrators" when Palestinian citizens of Israel rose up in May against Tel Aviv's deadly bombing campaign against Gaza, attacks onÌýAl-Aqsa mosqueÌýand expulsion efforts against residents of Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

This, coupled with the new unit's creation, suggests Israeli policing of its Palestinian citizens is more and more closely resembling the it uses against Palestinians in the West Bank.

"The Mistaaravim... [have been] working for decades already in the West Bank and they are doing the same [thing].ÌýThey are going between the demonstrators and starting throwing stones and actually giving the military sometimes a reason to fire on the demonstrations and then they will detainee [sic]Ìýwhoever is among them,"ÌýMorany told °®Âþµº.

Palestinians in Israel were subject to an Israeli military administration 1948 and 1966, as those in the West Bank are today.

"It's the same legacy,Ìýit's the same vision that [is] still affecting the way that the state of Israel is treating the Palestinians,"Ìýshe said.

"It's the same system using different tools... it's the same old ideology of control over the minority."

°®ÂþµºÌýhas contacted the Israel Police for comment but did not receive a response at the time of writing.