Jerusalem – A large-scale Hamas terrorist formation in the West Bank and Jerusalem planned to destabilize the region through a series of deadly terror attacks in Israel and then topple the Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority, the Shin Bet said Monday.
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The plot was orchestrated by the Hamas overseas headquarters located in Turkey, and centered on a string of mass casualty terror attacks on Israeli targets, the Shin Bet added.
The end goal was to destabilize the Palestinian territories and use the instability to carry out a military coup, overthrowing the government of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Hamas infrastructure relied on support from cells in neighboring Jordan, and on couriers who delivered terrorist finances, totaling at least two million shekels, which were used to purchase weapons and homes that were used as hideouts, according to the investigation.
Ninety three Hamas members are in Israeli custody, and 46 have been questioned by the Shin Bet so far. Security forces plan to indict some 70 suspects. The investigation began in May, and is ongoing, security sources said.
Some 600,000 shekels have been seized by the Shin Bet, as well as 30 firearms, seven rocket launchers, and large amounts of ammunition. Security sources stressed that the plot was uncovered at an early stage.
The Shin Bet named senior Hamas leader Salah Al-Aruri, who is currently based in Turkey, as the mastermind behind the terrorist infrastructure.
Al-Aruri, originally from the village of Arura near Ramallah, spent years in prison for terrorism offenses, and left the region in March 2010, as part of an agreement with Israel. He has since served as the head of the West Bank sector in Hamas’s overseas wing.
According to the investigation, the plot began in 2010, as Al-Aruri was driven to the Allenby Border Crossing after agreeing to leave, following his release from prison.
In the car, Al-Aruri recruited his driver, Riad Nasser, another senior Hamas West Bank figure, the Shin Bet added.
Nasser, a resident of the Palestinian village of Dir Kadis, near Ramallah, was allegedly appointed by Al-Aruri as the local commander of the entire West Bank Hamas infrastructure.
Nasser served multiple prison sentences for terrorist offenses in previous years, and was taken into administrative detention in December 2013. The Shin Bet began questioning him on May 27 over his alleged involvement in the setting up of large numbers of terrorist cells.
“This infrastructure stretched from Jenin in the north to Hebron in the south. It is one the biggest we’ve seen in Judea and Samaria since Hamas’s formation in 1987,” a senior Shin Bet source, responsible for securing the Jerusalem district, told reporters on Monday. “They planned to carry out a coup and topple the Palestinian Authority,” he added.
A second Shin Bet source said the investigation serves as a warning over Hamas’s designs to replace the Palestinian Authority.
The infrastructure’s local nerve center was in Ramallah, where the PA is based, but cells branched out throughout 46 Palestinian cities, towns and villages.
Khaled Mashaal, Hamas’s overseas wing leader in Qatar, was aware of the plot, the sources said, though there was no involvement from Hamas in Gaza.
“The terrorists planned to undermine security, and launch a third intifada. They planned disturbances in the Temple Mount to rile the Palestinian masses. They were waiting for talks between the Israel and PA to collapse,” the source said.
During questioning, Riad Nasser allegedly said all of the operatives worked according to a plan devised by Al-Aruri designed to lead to a collapse of the PA’s rule.
According to Al-Ariri’s plan, a number of major terror attacks in Israel cause sufficient instability to facilitate a Hamas coup.
Hamas recruited many members, including students and academics, particularly those studying chemistry and engineering.
The terror cells allegedly kept in contact with Hamas member in Jordan, including Uda Zaharan, who originally hails from the village of Abu Mash’al in the West Bank, and who moved to Zarka, Jordan, in 2006. Zaharan allegedly maintained a system of couriers connecting various Hamas branches in Turkey, Jordan, and the West Bank, and transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars via multiple smuggling runs to operatives in the West Bank.
Additional suspects in custody include Majdi Mafarja, from the Palestinian town of Bet Likia , who holds a doctrate in computing. Security sources described Mafarja as representative of “a new generation of Hamas members,” adding that he is “highly intelligent” and fluent in computer programing.
Mafarja was sent by Hamas to Malaysia, where he trained in message encryption and computer hacking, the Shin Bet said. He was arrested on May 22.
Saleh Brakat, an Israeli citizen from Bet Safafa in east Jerusalem, was arrested on July 1 for allegedly transferring operational messages from Hamas in Jerusalem to members of the terror organization who are overseas. Brakat is active in Hamas’s Da’wa system, a civilian outreach network that offers social services to Palestinians.
Mahmoud Abu Daoud, of Hebron, was arrested on July 1 on suspicion of setting up terror cells that specialized in various attacks. He allegedly set up cells for for kidnappings, others for bombings, and shooting attack cells.
Muhammad Kafia, a resident of Beitunia, near Ramallah, heads a Hamas student cell at Abu Dis University. He was arrested on June 27, and turned over 19 automatic rifles and five handguns, security forces said.
Yahya Ata, a resident of Dir Abu Masha’al, near Ramallah was arrested on June 28 on suspicion of being recruited by Al-Arurir to set up a terror cell.
“The exposure of this infrastructure, one of the largest we have encountered, underlines the high danger posed by Hamas’s overseas headquarters,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
The investigation uncovered deep ties between Hamas operatives in Turkey and operatives in Judea and Samaria, as well as Hamas’s strategy to topple the Palestinian Authority, it added. Some of the planned attacks were meant to take place in recent weeks, during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, in order to open a second front of fighting, the intelligence agency added.
The danger also undelines what happens when you make so large prisoner excahnges and let the bad guys out of jail.
G-d forbid Hamas should actually do something for the benefit of their brethren.
“Security sources described Mafarja as representative of “a new generation of Hamas members,” adding that he is “highly intelligent” and fluent in computer programing”
Probably about like Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies
Makes that “two states for two peoples living side by side in peace” rhetoric from the State Dept. sound kinda hollow, doesn’t it? This is proof positive that the objective of a Palestinian state is to add another terror state.