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PA security forces thwart Hamas West Bank cell planning attacks on Israelis

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Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces are said to have arrested a Hamas cell in the West Bank city of Hebron, which was planning attacks on Israelis.

According to Avi Issacharoff in the Times of Israel, PA intelligence units began to make arrests several weeks ago and have continued to apprehend suspects since then. The report says that the cell was overseen by Hamas’s so-called “West Bank bureau,” which is based in the Gaza Strip, but comprised of West Bank terrorists who were released and deported as part of the deal to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. One of the bureau heads, Abd el-Rahman Ghanimat was serving five life sentences when he was released. The Hamas cell apparently planned to carry out shooting attacks and kidnappings against Israelis. The report says that Israeli sources confirmed that PA forces had made the arrests.

It was reported last month that high-level intelligence cooperation has been taking place between Israeli and Palestinian officials, as both sides fear the prospect of the West Bank falling into extreme Islamist hands. In January, Majed Faraj, director of the PA’s General Intelligence Service highlighted the importance of security cooperation with Israel in an interview with a US-based publication, Defense News. He claimed that PA security and intelligence forces had prevented 200 attacks against Israelis, confiscated weapons and arrested about 100 Palestinians since October. The near-daily attacks by Palestinians on Israelis during this period have left at least 31 Israelis dead.

However, on at least seven occasions, members of the PA security services have actively participated in the violent attacks on Israelis. Most recently, last month, two Palestinians opened fire with automatic weapons at Israeli border policeman at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. Both were killed in the ensuing gun battle. It was later revealed that one of the terrorists, 20-year-old West Bank resident Omar Ahmed Amru was a policeman in the PA security services.