The Shin Bet exposed a terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the West Bank, which carried out the IED attack on a bus in Beitar Illit and planned to carry out additional attacks, according to a report released Monday.
Six Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) operatives, members of its student cell, residents of the Dheisheh refugee camp, the village of Battir and Beit Jala in the Bethlehem area, were detained. The operatives were: Wassam Awina, Ahmad Abu Naama, Mazen Obeidallah, Muhammad al-Barak, Rami al-Ahmar and Nur Mahmoud.
The operatives who were detained, photo: ISA spokesperson
In addition, an Israeli resident was detained for bringing the perpetrator into Israel on the day of the attack in violation of the Entry into Israel Law. After it became clear during her interrogation that she was unaware of his intentions regarding the attack, an indictment was filed against her for transporting an illegal alien.
Documentation from the attack that was prevented in Beitar Illit: The IED was activated - but did not explode
The interrogation of the suspects revealed their involvement in carrying out the IED attack on a bus in Beitar Illit, starting from the stage of preparations they carried out for the attack and the division of roles between them, including recruiting the terrorist and the operatives for infrastructure, renting hiding apartments, one of which served as an explosives laboratory, manufacturing explosives for IEDs in the apartment, and purchasing an escape vehicle. Some members of the network even acted to carry out additional attacks in the name of the organization.
Materials for making IEDs, photo: ISA spokesperson
The weapons that were surrendered, photo: ISA spokesperson
The suspects will be indicted for serious security offenses of attempted intentional manslaughter, manufacturing explosives, membership in an illegal association, and more.
As a result of the investigations and in light of an intelligence gathering effort, an extensive terrorist infrastructure operating on behalf of the PFLP was exposed, with the approval and guidance of senior members of the organization – PFLP Secretary General Ahmad Sa'adat and PIJ Deputy Secretary General Jamil Mazhar, as well as other senior figures imprisoned in Israel. In this context, the involvement of the PFLP leadership in the Gaza Strip, as well as of PFLP elements in Lebanon, who directed the activity, was also revealed, with a senior PFLP official from Lebanon directly directing the squad that carried out the attack in Beitar Illit, as well as other squads on the ground.
The search for the terrorist in Beitar Illit
As part of the infrastructure, operatives were recruited throughout Judea and Samaria who planned to promote terrorist attacks in the immediate future, under the guidance of the PFLP leadership, while receiving funding and assistance to that end. The operatives who were recruited were asked to recruit additional squad members, purchase weapons, manufacture IEDs and promote shooting and IED attacks targeting Israeli targets in the West Bank and Israel. The activities of these operatives were thwarted by security forces during a wave of arrests carried out throughout the West Bank.
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