Sayeret
03-18-2004, 02:26 PM
A terrorist plan to hijack two buses in the Efrat area and drive them to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was foiled by Israeli security services earlier this month, the Shin Bet released for publication Thursday.
The hijackers, two senior employees of the Palestinian Authority, were to have been kitted out with explosives belts and would threaten to blow themselves up inside the buses. The cell planned to show the bus driver their explosives belts, and direct the driver to take the buses to the nativity church, where they planned to conduct negotiations with Israeli authorities.
The Israeli passengers were to be held hostage until authorities succumbed to the terrorists' demand to release Palestinian security prisoners. According to the information released for publication, the terrorists also planned to attach a remote-controlled bomb to one of the passengers.
According to the plan, if Israel failed to release the prisoners, the buses would be blown up as near as possible to the church. This particular Tanzim cell was also responsible for the last two bus bombings in the capital, security services revealed. Nineteen Israelis were murdered in the attacks on the numbers 14 and 19 buses.
In March-April 2002, Palestinian terrorists sought refuge in the famous church and were released as part of an internationally mediated deal.
Security responsibilities for Bethlehem was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in the summer of 2003, and since then the terror infrastructure in the city has blossomed.
The Tanzim cell's explosives 'engineer' was an employee of the PA's Preventive Security service, and he also worked as the bodyguard of Bethlehem's mayor.
Chief-Superintendent Marco Dahan, an investigator with the Judea and Samaria Police and one of the officers responsible for stopping the Tanzim cell, told Israel Radio that good intelligence lead to the cell's capture.
He said the cell was comprised of 6 members, some from the Tanzim and some from the Palestinian Authority. One of the cell members was a legal advisor for the PA's special forces, and acted as liaison with terror groups.
Dahan said senior PA officials knew in advance of the cell's plans to hijack the buses and bomb nightclubs. He said that the hijacking was coordinated with PA authorities so that there would be "assets on the ground" to receive the buses when they arrived at the Church of the Nativity.
"Our information points to the fact that senior people in the Palestinian Authority knew about the planned hijacking. I can't say Yasser Arafat personally knew about it, but his senior aides definitely knew about it," Dahan said.
Dahan said that this particular Tanzim cell had no connection with Hizbullah.
The hijackers, two senior employees of the Palestinian Authority, were to have been kitted out with explosives belts and would threaten to blow themselves up inside the buses. The cell planned to show the bus driver their explosives belts, and direct the driver to take the buses to the nativity church, where they planned to conduct negotiations with Israeli authorities.
The Israeli passengers were to be held hostage until authorities succumbed to the terrorists' demand to release Palestinian security prisoners. According to the information released for publication, the terrorists also planned to attach a remote-controlled bomb to one of the passengers.
According to the plan, if Israel failed to release the prisoners, the buses would be blown up as near as possible to the church. This particular Tanzim cell was also responsible for the last two bus bombings in the capital, security services revealed. Nineteen Israelis were murdered in the attacks on the numbers 14 and 19 buses.
In March-April 2002, Palestinian terrorists sought refuge in the famous church and were released as part of an internationally mediated deal.
Security responsibilities for Bethlehem was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in the summer of 2003, and since then the terror infrastructure in the city has blossomed.
The Tanzim cell's explosives 'engineer' was an employee of the PA's Preventive Security service, and he also worked as the bodyguard of Bethlehem's mayor.
Chief-Superintendent Marco Dahan, an investigator with the Judea and Samaria Police and one of the officers responsible for stopping the Tanzim cell, told Israel Radio that good intelligence lead to the cell's capture.
He said the cell was comprised of 6 members, some from the Tanzim and some from the Palestinian Authority. One of the cell members was a legal advisor for the PA's special forces, and acted as liaison with terror groups.
Dahan said senior PA officials knew in advance of the cell's plans to hijack the buses and bomb nightclubs. He said that the hijacking was coordinated with PA authorities so that there would be "assets on the ground" to receive the buses when they arrived at the Church of the Nativity.
"Our information points to the fact that senior people in the Palestinian Authority knew about the planned hijacking. I can't say Yasser Arafat personally knew about it, but his senior aides definitely knew about it," Dahan said.
Dahan said that this particular Tanzim cell had no connection with Hizbullah.