The Palestinian Authority’s security services in recent days busted an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell that had planned to attack IDF soldiers in Judea and Samaria, Kol Yisrael radio reported on Tuesday.
According to the radio station, the terrorists were apprehended in the village of Tubas, located 21 kilometers (13 miles) northeast of Shechem (Nablus).
A Palestinian source cited in the report said the terror squad consisted of six people and was in possession of a gas cylinder containing explosives, intended to serve as a roadside bomb.
As well, members of the cell were in possession of weapons, hand grenades and other makeshift explosives, according to Kol Yisrael radio.
The PA security forces have in the past cracked down on both the Islamic Jihad as well as on Hamas.
But they have also been directly involved in terrorist attacks against Israelis: PA security forces in 2011 murdered the nephew of a Likud minister at Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus), and just last month allowed the holy site to be burned and desecrated, several days before beating Jewish worshipers.
Even before the Second Intifada, PA security forces back in September 1996 shot 15 Israelis to death, and recruited terrorists to its ranks. The PA has recently been actively inciting the ongoing attacks, making the prospect of relying on it to end the terror questionable at best.
Due to the PA security forces’ involvement in terrorism, there was an outcry recently when it was reported the IDF had issued a recommendation to the political echelon that the PA security forces be given armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition so as to let them enter terror hotbeds that they are more familiar with than the IDF.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu later clarified that Israel is not planning to approve arms for the PA security forces or any other “gesture” to the PA.