S'13
12-04-2003, 02:59 PM
Yokne'am school bombing foiled
By DAVID RUDGE AND MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi told Army Radio Thursday morning that the success of the terror operation aimed at the pupils of a Northern junior high school would have changed the regional map totally, referring to the retaliations for the Park Hotel bombing in Passover 2002.
A massive security alert in the North was lifted Wednesday afternoon after the two Palestinians allegedly planning a suicide bombing at a school in Yokne'am were captured by IDF soldiers in the West Bank.
One security source confirmed that the would-be terrorists Munir Rabiah, 23, of Gaza City, and Morad Zeitoun, 20, of the village of Zbubeh near Jenin, are both members of the PA security forces.
Once captured, the two revealed to security officials the whereabouts of a 10-kg. explosives' belt that Rabiah was to have worn in the attack in Yokne'am, the source said. The foiled plan was for Rabiah to blow himself up near the entrance of the school, as the hundreds of children were leaving it to go home.
Morad Zeitoun worked nearby the school and was well acquainted with its layout. The two told investigators they aimed at Israel's north because there was no security fence there.
Three days after Syrian President Bashar Assad called for renewed talks with Israel, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose offices are in Damascus, sent two suicide bombers to attack Israeli schoolchildren in Yokne'am and more Israelis in the northern city of Beit She'an, a senior security official said.
Speaking to Channel 1, the official said that Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus issued the order to its Jenin cells to carry out the attacks. The order was given in the past few days, the source said.
The arrests of the two members of the Palestinian Authority security services and affiliated with Islamic Jihad came after a daylong alert imposed on the Wadi Ara area.
Security sources said the two had planned an attack on a school near the commercial center of Yokne'am and another in Beit She'an.
They said that the attempt to attack a school was a "serious escalation."
A Shin Bet source said the two men left Jenin Tuesday morning and set out for Bardaleh, where they planned to cross into Israel. "They told investigators that they had chosen the location as there is no security fence in the area," he said.
At about 2 p.m., acting on an intelligence tip-off, security forces arrested Rabiah after surrounding a mosque in the Israeli-controlled part of Bardaleh. Palestinians reported there were 20 worshipers inside the mosque when it was surrounded by troops, who entered the village and imposed a curfew.
Zeitoun had been arrested by security forces in a sweep of the Jenin area late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. According to the source, he planned to perpetrate a suicide bombing in Beit She'an.
Security officials noted that there are a number of different cells affiliated with the Islamic Jihad and the Fatah Tanzim in Samaria which continue to plan attacks. On Wednesday, the security establishment registered 42 warnings of planned attacks.
During the high alert, the Wadi Ara road was closed and roadblocks were set up in the area, causing severe traffic jams.
http://www.jpost.com/
By DAVID RUDGE AND MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi told Army Radio Thursday morning that the success of the terror operation aimed at the pupils of a Northern junior high school would have changed the regional map totally, referring to the retaliations for the Park Hotel bombing in Passover 2002.
A massive security alert in the North was lifted Wednesday afternoon after the two Palestinians allegedly planning a suicide bombing at a school in Yokne'am were captured by IDF soldiers in the West Bank.
One security source confirmed that the would-be terrorists Munir Rabiah, 23, of Gaza City, and Morad Zeitoun, 20, of the village of Zbubeh near Jenin, are both members of the PA security forces.
Once captured, the two revealed to security officials the whereabouts of a 10-kg. explosives' belt that Rabiah was to have worn in the attack in Yokne'am, the source said. The foiled plan was for Rabiah to blow himself up near the entrance of the school, as the hundreds of children were leaving it to go home.
Morad Zeitoun worked nearby the school and was well acquainted with its layout. The two told investigators they aimed at Israel's north because there was no security fence there.
Three days after Syrian President Bashar Assad called for renewed talks with Israel, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose offices are in Damascus, sent two suicide bombers to attack Israeli schoolchildren in Yokne'am and more Israelis in the northern city of Beit She'an, a senior security official said.
Speaking to Channel 1, the official said that Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus issued the order to its Jenin cells to carry out the attacks. The order was given in the past few days, the source said.
The arrests of the two members of the Palestinian Authority security services and affiliated with Islamic Jihad came after a daylong alert imposed on the Wadi Ara area.
Security sources said the two had planned an attack on a school near the commercial center of Yokne'am and another in Beit She'an.
They said that the attempt to attack a school was a "serious escalation."
A Shin Bet source said the two men left Jenin Tuesday morning and set out for Bardaleh, where they planned to cross into Israel. "They told investigators that they had chosen the location as there is no security fence in the area," he said.
At about 2 p.m., acting on an intelligence tip-off, security forces arrested Rabiah after surrounding a mosque in the Israeli-controlled part of Bardaleh. Palestinians reported there were 20 worshipers inside the mosque when it was surrounded by troops, who entered the village and imposed a curfew.
Zeitoun had been arrested by security forces in a sweep of the Jenin area late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. According to the source, he planned to perpetrate a suicide bombing in Beit She'an.
Security officials noted that there are a number of different cells affiliated with the Islamic Jihad and the Fatah Tanzim in Samaria which continue to plan attacks. On Wednesday, the security establishment registered 42 warnings of planned attacks.
During the high alert, the Wadi Ara road was closed and roadblocks were set up in the area, causing severe traffic jams.
http://www.jpost.com/