Palestinian security officer nabbed by PA for planning terror attack

A member of the Palestinian security services in the West Bank is arrested by the PA for planning to carry out a shooting attack against Israeli motorists south of Jerusalem.

According to a Channel 12 report, the officer started behaving strangely, then disappeared from his Bethlehem home four weeks ago, along with his firearm.

Suspecting that he may be planning a terror attack, the Palestinian Authority’s security services launched a search for the man, locating him that night hiding in a cemetery in Beit Jala, north of Bethlehem.

Palestinian sources tell Channel 12’s Ohad Hemo that the man confessed to planning a shooting attack against Israeli motorists on the “tunnels road,” Route 90, headed south of Jerusalem to the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

The news of the arrest comes out today, just hours after the Jerusalem District Court issues a landmark ruling that places responsibility for at least 17 terror attacks during the Second Intifada on the Palestinian Authority, and amid a growing chorus of criticism of the PA for paying stipends to terrorists and their families.