tourists at Ben-Gurion airport
tourists at Ben-Gurion airportFlash 90

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) ordered Wednesday night a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) barred from leaving the country, amid fears he is planning to aid foreign terror cells.

The PFLP, one of the oldest terror groups within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), has a long history of violent attacks against Israelis, including the 2001 assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi. The faction is now a party within the Palestinian Authority parliament.

According to intelligence information acquired by the Israeli security establishment a senior member of the PFLP, Abed Khalil al-Latif Jat, a resident of eastern Jerusalem, had planned to travel to an undisclosed Arab country for the purpose of aiding overseas terror cells.

In response the Interior Ministry requested a restraining order barring the PFLP leader from exiting the country.

“This is a senior official within the PFLP, who has connections with overseas members of the terror group,” Deri said. “Recently there have been concerns he has been planning to leave the country in the near future for the purposes of the PFLP, thus he has been banned from travelling.”