As previously reported, Israeli defense forces arrested five Islamic Jihad terrorists hours before they planned to stage a double suicide bombing attack in the suburban Jerusalem neighborhood Ramot on Thursday. Their targets were a coffee house or synagogue and a city bus.



Israel prevented the suicide bombing only days after Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) told ABC television that the days of suicide bombing are over. "We stopped the culture of violence," he told the interviewer, who asked him if suicide bombings are a tactic of the past. "I believe it is over," Abu Mazen responded.



But the Palestinian Authority (PA) actually aided and abetted the gang, according to information released by the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. It quoted a Ynet news report that General Security Services (Shin Bet) informed the PA of the planned suicide bombing, named the terrorists, and repeatedly asked the PA to arrest them. The response not only was negative but PA security officials also asked Israel to remove the terrorists from the wanted list.



Before being arrested on Monday, Islamic Jihad terrorist Ayad Fuajara failed twice to transport the two suicide bombers through IDF roadblocks to their target. He turned around and took the would-be murderers back to their Tulkarm homes.



Had Israel complied to the request of Abu Mazen's security personnel and removed the terrorists from the wanted list, they would have passed with greater ease through the Israeli roadblocks to perpetrate their planned mass-casualty bombings.



At a Monday meeting with his terrorist accomplices, Fuajara received instructions for a third attempt to transport the terrorists to Ramot. The plan was for him to buy a new car in Bethlehem to transport the cell. After he left the meeting with the necessary cash to make the purchase, he was nabbed by the Shin Bet, questioned, confessed, and revealed the entire plot. The other Arabs involved were apprehended on Tuesday and Wednesday.



Muhanad Aby Romy was identified as one of the suicide bomb gang and was arrested again. He had been released from prison by the Sharon government earlier this year after being jailed for buying weapons for Islamic Jihad terrorists. Also arrested was Hamza Hassim Brigia, who was responsible for the terror gang's infrastructure in Bethlehem. He was released from administrative detention in February.



The IDF recently discovered three other suicide belts that terrorists tried to pass through roadblocks.



The Islamic Jihad also was behind the suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv night club this year, in which five Israelis were murdered. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz complained this week that the PA has refused to arrest the terrorists involved in the attack, even after IDF forces arrested several of them. They were caught in the area of Tulkarm, one of the two cities which Israel has surrendered to the PA on the understanding it will provide security for neighboring Jewish communities.



In the face of opposition from Shin Bet officials, the Sharon government released 400 terrorists and prisoners on Thursday. Prime Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said they wanted to build support from the Arab public for PA chairman Abu Mazen.