The Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) announced that is has uncovered a 50-person terror network operating out of the West Bank in cooperation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP). The statement named multiple PFLP leaders who were linked to non-governmental organizations, several of which receive direct funding from the United Nations. Among those named in the report were Samer Arbid and Abdel Razep Farraj of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees; Walid Hanatsheh of the Health Work Committees; Itiraf Hajaj (Rimawi) of the Bisan Center; and Khalida Jarrar, former vice president of Addameer – who according to Jarrar’s indictment, has led the PFLP in the West Bank as of June 2016. Many of these NGOs receive taxpayer funding from Europe and other nations, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Spain, the European Commission and the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Several of the alleged terrorists have work as financial directors, accountants or fundraising directors for many of these organizations According to reports, Arbid is the alleged leader of the PFLP terrorist cell responsible for murdering 17-year-old Rina Shnerb near Dolev in August, and injuring her father and brother. Arbid is considered one of the PFLP’s top officials in Ramallah, and was previously arrested for preparing explosive devices for the terrorist group during the Second Intifada. According to the Shin Bet, Arbid prepared the explosive device and detonated it when he saw the Shnerb family approaching the Dolev spring in September. Arbid was hospitalized in serious condition after collapsing while being interrogated by security forces. A week later, security forces arrested another terrorist named in the report, Hanatsheh, at his home in the village of al-Tireh outside of Ramallah. Hanatsheh, who acts as Finance and Administration Manager for the Health Work Committees, has been a member of the PFLP since the Second Intifada and has been arrested by Israel several times for his membership in the terror group. The Shin Bet said that he served as Arbid’s commander and as head of the PFLP’s military wing. “Evidence suggests that intelligence gathering prior to the attack began several weeks before its realization,” the Shin Bet said, adding that the cell members visited the area of the spring on various occasions to outline the attack before they presented the plan to Arbid and received his approval. The night before the Dolev attack, the cell members made their way north of Ein Bubin Spring armed with guns and explosives. Arbid left with the explosive device while he drove back towards Ramallah to leave his vehicle miles from the scene of the attack. About an hour later, Hanatasheh, who funded the attack, drove Arbid back to where the other cell members were waiting and left. Members of the cell led by Arbid then walked for two hours towards the spring, where they placed the explosive device near the entrance and then went up to a spot overlooking the area. After several hours of waiting, the squad members noticed the Shnerb family approaching and passed the message to Arbid, who pressed the trigger, leading the powerful charge to explode as the family walked by. Following the attack, the cell members escaped to Ramallah and split up. Regarding another arrested cell, Farraj was arrested in October and was indicted on four counts of terrorism in Israeli court, after being released from prison the year before. Farraj had worked as the Administrative Manager at Union of Agricultural Work Committees for several years. According to the reports, his arrest stemmed from the recruitment of PLFP members to the terrorist organization while working for the NGO. He was reportedly made aware of “attacks and attempted attacks” to be performed by PLFP members, and possessed details pertaining to the cell’s weapons and explosives cache. Another named terrorist, Rimawi, known as the Bisan Center’s director as well as the executive director for the Bisan Center for Research & Development, was arrested in September for being a PFLP member who “posed a security threat” to Israeli citizens, while using responsibilities as an NGO director to further the wishes of the PFLP. Finally, Khaleda Jarrar, who was also imprisoned a number of times for her involvement in PFLP activities, was arrested early October at her home in Ramallah by the IDF. She is the head of the terrorist group in the West Bank and is responsible for all the organization’s activities. In the past few years, she has been arrested several times by the IDF on charges of “incitement and involvement in terror.” Jarrar, who is also known as Um Yafa, was sentenced in 2015 to 15 months in prison, but was released in June 2016 after an international campaign on her behalf. She was then rearrested in 2017 and placed under administrative detention for six months, which was renewed a number of times until February 2019, when she was finally released from Israeli prison. She went back to the West Bank and resumed her previous responsibilities as a member of the PFLP. Jarrar’s daughter, Yafa, said her mother was arrested from when “over 70 soldiers raided [their] home” at around 3 a.m. Jarrar was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006 as one of the PFLP’s three members. Her arrest is in the context of an Israeli security crackdown on PFLP officials and members after last August’s terrorist attack in which Schnerb was killed. All terrorists involved in constructing and detonating the explosive device that killed Shnerb near the settlement of Dolev were members of the PFLP. Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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