Terrorist Ring in Jerusalem Uncovered by Security Forces

Security forces this week scored one of their most impressive achievements in recent years when they uncovered a large terrorist ring that has been active for at least five years in the Jerusalem area.

In a meticulous investigation, police and agents of the Shin Bet internal security service uncovered the ring, which reportedly was operated by the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist group led by Dr. George Habash.

More than 40 suspects have been detained, suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails, setting cars on fire and attacking Arabs who allegedly collaborated with Israeli authorities.

The terrorists, all residents of East Jerusalem, are believed to be linked to a number of yet unresolved terrorist attacks.

Some of the groups’ members were among those released from Israeli jails in the controversial 1985 prisoner exchange, in which 1,150 terrorists were released from Israeli prisons in exchange for three Israeli soldiers being held captive by terrorist groups in Lebanon.

Altogether, the cell is linked to 50 terrorists attacks in the past five years, among them firebomb attacks on the British and American consulates in East Jerusalem.

Police described the cell as “professional, way beyond other terrorists who operated in the area in the past few years.”

Many of its members were trained in Arab countries. They operated on a near-perfect system of individual cells, in which members of one cell were not aware of the identities or activities of those in other cells.

Members of the cells reportedly received their instructions in radio broadcasts and written messages from abroad.

The cell members were described as educated and young — between the ages of 16 and 25.

Their arrest has had an immediate effect on the level of violence in the Jerusalem area, which has since dropped by two-thirds, according to Yosef Yehudai, Jerusalem police commander.