Ten Palestinian members of an alleged Ramallah-area terror cell were arrested in September by the Shin Bet in coordination with the IDF and the Israeli Police, the army announced on Tuesday.
Two of the suspects were allegedly planning to kidnap an Israeli citizen or soldier. According to suspicions, the kidnapped Israeli was to be held as collateral and released in exchange for Ahmad Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Saadat was arrested by Israel in 2006 for his part in the murder of then-tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi in Jerusalem in 2001.
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Twenty-six-year-old Ashraf Abu Aram of Ramallah was charged with establishing the terror cell, while Muhammad Zeitun, also 26, was charged with being a member of the ring.
The two suspects allegedly mulled two possible courses of action for their attack. The first plan involved firing on an IDF unit and subsequently kidnapping of one of its members. The second involved seizing an Israeli hitchhiker in the northern West Bank.
The hostage would then be transferred to the village of Akab near Ramallah until the cell could secure the release of Saadat.
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