VIDEO - Cleared for publication: The Shin Bet and Israel Police have recently uncovered a terror cell operating out of east Jerusalem.
The cell, consisting of seven Arabs, six of them east Jerusalem residnets, carried out two attacks in the past year in which two Border Guard officers were killed and two others were injured, it was cleared for publication on Wednesday.
Ten days ago, the Jerusalem District Prosecution filed indictments against the terrorists for murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and weapons trafficking.
Terror suspects in court (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
The terrorists also planned several other attacks, apparently ploting an assassination, a kidnapping and a shooting attack before they were apprehended. The head of the terror cell was identified as Mahmad Abu-Senena.
On January 24, 2008 Abu-Snena and an east Jerusalem resident Mahmad Julani carried out a shooting attack at the Ras Hamis checkpoint, adjacent to the Shuafat refugee camp. Julani remained in the vehicle as a lookout while Abu-Snena passed through the checkpoint, presenting an Israeli (blue) identification card to the Border Guards.
Scene of Lions' Gate attack (Archive photo: Gil Yohanan)
Abu-Snena returned to the checkpoint a short while later, shot Border Guard officer Rami Zuari at close range and seriously injured a female officer. The terrorist snatched the officers' rifle and fled the scene in the waiting vehicle.
On July 11, 2008 Abu-Snena and another terrorist arrived by car at the Lions' Gate in the Old City. Abu-Snena stepped out of the vehicle, ran toward two Border Guard officers guarding the site, opened fire in their direction and fled the scene. Officer David Shriki died of his wounds two weeks later.
A Shin Bet investigation revealed that the cell was also planning to assassinate a Jerusalem District Police officer, carry out a shooting attack on the bus station located at the French Hill junction, kidnapp a civilian or a security officer, and stage a shooting attack on a police squad car driving along the Jerusalem-Dead Sea highway. Also in the works, was an attack at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Scene of attack at entrance to Shuafat (Archive photo: Gil Yohanan)
The shooting attack at Tel Rumeida was to be carried out with the help of another terror cell from Hebron.
Since 2007 Israel has seen a significant rise in the in involvement of east Jerusalem Arabs in terror activity, including a plot to assassinate a Shas Party minister. During this time Israeli security services thwarted seven terror attacks in the capital.
The east Jerusalem terror cells planned to assassinate Israeli figures and targeted the Ramat Rachel Hotel, this in addition to planning suicide and stabbing attacks.
The terrorists also plotted to shoot down a helicopter carrying a leading Israeli figure as it lands at the Hebrew University.
Shin Bet officials attributed the rise in east Jerusalem terror to lack of enforcement and increased Hamas activity in the capital.
They said Israel could curb the terror threat emanating from east Jerusalem my applying deterrence measures, such as razing terrorists' homes and imposing harsher the sanctions against their families.
Jerusalem District Police Commander, Major-General Aharon Franco, said Wednesday that some 250 arrests of east Jerusalem residents involved in various terror related activities, have been made since the beginning of 2008.
Such activities, he noted, include hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at cars and people, as well as weapons trafficking. The numbers, he added, show a sharp increase in comparison to 2007.