Three PFLP members confess to abduction plot

Jerusalem Post ^ | Jul. 30, 2003 | MARGOT DUDKEVITCH

[yonif]

Three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine admitted to plotting to kidnap and murder a soldier who serves in Samaria.

The three, who were arrested recently in a combined operation by the Shin Bet and the IDF, were detained because of their affiliation with an enemy organization, Judea and Samaria Police spokesman Rafi Yafe said. When questioned by investigators they revealed their plans.

Yafe said the identity of their target is unknown and that the findings had been handed over to the military prosecutor to prepare indictments against them. Yafe added that additional suspects may be arrested.

Shin Bet and security officials issued warnings that all the terrorist organizations operating in the West Bank are plotting to abduct Israelis on both sides of the Green Line. In addition, the officials warned that general warnings of plans to attack Israeli tourists abroad have been received.

In the past week, which completed the first month of the hudna, security forces captured 47 Palestinian fugitives and suspects in the West Bank and registered 15 shooting attacks on soldiers and Israeli civilians. In addition, five bombs were detonated near troops deployed in Judea and Samaria.

On Wednesday a special IDF undercover unit arrested Hatem Suweiti, a senior Islamic Jihad commander in Ramallah. Earlier in the day security forces arrested two Hamas fugitives in Nablus and one of the surrounding villages. Shots were fired several times at soldiers deployed in Kadim near Jenin.

In the Gaza Strip over the past week, there were five shooting attacks on soldiers. Two Kassam rockets were fired by Palestinians near the Gaza border fence and Palestinians attempted to fire two mortar shells in the north Gaza Strip, the shells exploded in an open area under Palestinian Authority control.