A terrorist attack of a new kind - at a crowded junior high school - was thwarted yesterday, thanks to intensive police work and intelligence gathering.
The story started on Tuesday, with the receipt of intelligence warnings regarding terrorist intentions in northern Israel. The information was received thanks to the arrest of 30 terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria - specifically, several of 17 Islamic Jihad terrorists from Jenin. The warnings became more intense yesterday, pinpointing an attack north of Beit She'an in the northern Jordan Valley. Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler reports that this information proved to be untrue, but was helpful in any event. Large police forces, including helicopters, were gathered in the area, and the central Nachal I'ron (Wadi Ara) highway near Megiddo was closed off for 90 minutes.
Shortly afterwards, around 11 AM, more information arrived that the terrorists were hiding in an Arab village somewhere between Jenin and Beit She'an. Special police forces arrived in the area, and were gradually directed to a mosque in Bardala, just north of the Jordan Valley community of Shadmot Mecholah. The forces ordered everyone out of the mosque, and began interrogating each one - until it was realized that the two sought-after terrorists were still inside. "We called for them to come out," one of the force later said, "and they came without resisting." The would-be murderers' explosive vest, containing over 10 kilograms of explosives, was found near the stairwell of the mosque.
Upon interrogation, the terrorists confessed to having planned to commit the heinous crime at a school in the western Galilee town of Yokne'am - as close as possible to a crowd of young students. The terrorist worked last year at a construction site adjacent to the school, and so knew the area well. Police sources said that had such a major attack actually been perpetrated, it would have been a "major escalation" in the terrorist war.
The partition wall/fence is also a factor in the near-attack. Some say that the fence made it difficult for the terrorists to cross the Green Line into pre-1967 Israel, while others said that they simply found a spot where there is no fence to cross over. The terrorists assumed that once over the Line, they would be able to travel relatively freely - even as far as the 60 kilometers between Bardela and Yokne'am.
Over 40 additional terrorist warnings are still in effect, and the police are deployed on special alert in various areas throughout the country.
The story started on Tuesday, with the receipt of intelligence warnings regarding terrorist intentions in northern Israel. The information was received thanks to the arrest of 30 terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria - specifically, several of 17 Islamic Jihad terrorists from Jenin. The warnings became more intense yesterday, pinpointing an attack north of Beit She'an in the northern Jordan Valley. Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler reports that this information proved to be untrue, but was helpful in any event. Large police forces, including helicopters, were gathered in the area, and the central Nachal I'ron (Wadi Ara) highway near Megiddo was closed off for 90 minutes.
Shortly afterwards, around 11 AM, more information arrived that the terrorists were hiding in an Arab village somewhere between Jenin and Beit She'an. Special police forces arrived in the area, and were gradually directed to a mosque in Bardala, just north of the Jordan Valley community of Shadmot Mecholah. The forces ordered everyone out of the mosque, and began interrogating each one - until it was realized that the two sought-after terrorists were still inside. "We called for them to come out," one of the force later said, "and they came without resisting." The would-be murderers' explosive vest, containing over 10 kilograms of explosives, was found near the stairwell of the mosque.
Upon interrogation, the terrorists confessed to having planned to commit the heinous crime at a school in the western Galilee town of Yokne'am - as close as possible to a crowd of young students. The terrorist worked last year at a construction site adjacent to the school, and so knew the area well. Police sources said that had such a major attack actually been perpetrated, it would have been a "major escalation" in the terrorist war.
The partition wall/fence is also a factor in the near-attack. Some say that the fence made it difficult for the terrorists to cross the Green Line into pre-1967 Israel, while others said that they simply found a spot where there is no fence to cross over. The terrorists assumed that once over the Line, they would be able to travel relatively freely - even as far as the 60 kilometers between Bardela and Yokne'am.
Over 40 additional terrorist warnings are still in effect, and the police are deployed on special alert in various areas throughout the country.