JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two Arab residents of East Jerusalem were indicted for planning to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
The men, aged 21 and 19, wo confessed to being members of Hamas, live in the Isawiya neighborhood and carry Israeli identity cards.
They confessed to planning an attack on border police personnel at a temporary checkpoint in Isawiya using a tractor, and to abduct one or more of the soldiers and use them to bargain for the release of Hamas prisoners from Israeli prisons.
During a search of the men’s home, police found an electric stunning device, a pellet gun, clubs, knives, masks and gloves. The men, who are related, also had contacted an arms dealer to obtain guns for the attack.
The men are accused as well of setting fire to a polling station in their neighborhood elementary school during municipal elections last month.
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