In May 2012, the Shabak, with the assistance of the IDF and the Israeli Police, arrested a military squad of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) that planned to carry out shooting and abduction attacks for the purpose of negotiating the release of prisoners. The members of the squad were arrested before they could carry out their plans, and weapons were caught during the arrest of one of them.
The arrested squad members, all of them PFLP operatives, began their activities in the area of April-May 2012. While simultaneously participating in the protest activities for Palestinian prisons, the squad members planned to abduct a soldier or settler for the purpose of releasing prisoners, chiefly Ahmed Saadat, PFLP Secretary General, arrested in Israel for involvement in directing harsh terror attacks, including the murder of the late Israeli minister Rehavam Ze’evi.
The squad also planned to carry out a shooting attack towards soldiers at the Macabim checkpoint, and even gathered intelligence towards this goal, as well as another attack at the Jaba checkpoint, north-east of Jerusalem. In this case, the squad members planned to carry out the attack while using a motorcycle or a car to allow the perpetrators to quickly escape the scene towards Ramallah. This was in an attempt to conduct an act of revenge, in case of the death of one of the prisoners during the hunger strike.
The squad planned to use a variety of weapons, including M-16 rifles, a short Kalashnikov rifle, a Jericho pistol, MP5 submachine-gun and a Glock pistol.
Bills of indictment were submitted in recent days to the Yehuda military court, attributing those involved with charges of conspiracy to open fire towards a person and possession of weapons. The court also ordered that they be under arrest until the completion of legal proceedings.
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