3 Palestinians jailed for plan to stab Israelis

Three Palestinians from the northern West Bank city of Jenin were sentenced to jail Sunday for plotting to carry out a terror attack last year in the northern Israeli city of Afula.

The three, two of whom were minors, were sentenced at Nazareth District Court after they were earlier convicted of illegally possessing a knife, obstruction of justice, and illegally entering Israel.

The two minors received prison terms of two years and three months, while the adult was jailed for two and a half years.

According to the indictment, the three were inspired to carry out a stabbing attack soon after the start of a Palestinian terror wave approximately a year ago. Since October 2015, at least 34 Israelis and over 200 Palestinians have been killed in a spate of attacks. The majority of the Palestinians killed were attackers or were involved in clashes with IDF troops.

View of Israel’s largest Arab city, Umm al-Fahm, where the attackers stayed prior to attempting to carry out a stabbing attack (Matanya Tausig/Flash90)

The three illegally entered Israel from the West Bank a week before they were arrested last December, and resided in the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel. After seeing televised reports of clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian woman in Jerusalem, they decided to carry out a stabbing attack.

After one of the minors purchased knives to use in the attack, the three took a bus from Umm al-Fahm to Afula. They disembarked at Afula city hall and tried to find a suitable target to attack. Their behavior aroused the suspicion of two passersby, who alerted police. The police soon tracked down and detained the three suspects after seeing them trying to get rid of the knives they intended to use in the stabbing.