- RAMALLAH: The Israeli internal intelligence agency Shin Bet has revealed that it arrested from East Jerusalem two Palestinians suspected of plotting to fire rockets at a major sports stadium in Jerusalem on behalf of Hamas.
The Shin Bet also arrested three Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem on suspicion of taking part in the sale and purchase of these weapons. The five were arrested in November and the gag order was lifted Sunday.
The Israeli Radio said that the Jerusalem District Court indicted Mousa Hamada and Basim Al-Omari on Sunday on charges of aiding a terrorist network, illegal possession of weapons and conspiracy to commit a crime. The three other suspects were indicted for arms dealing and other offenses.
The Shin Bet said that Hamada of East Jerusalem's neighborhood of Sour Baher and Omari of Beit Safafa neighborhood began planning the activity after the Israeli operation in Gaza in late 2008. One of their plans was to fire a missile on Teddy Stadium during a Premier League soccer match, the Shin Bet said.
According to the Shin Bet investigation, the two visited a hill overlooking the stadium in order to find a suitable place for the attack and collected information about the area. However, their plan did not materialize, the investigation said.
The Shin Bet said the two, who were also involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, had already collected a number of pistols and were working to procure additional weapons and explosives to create the device. Mousa's cousins, Mahmoud and Amer Hamada, were involved in the weapons' purchase and in attempts to hide them.
The guns were bought from Bilal Bahtan, who lives in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. All the suspects were arrested, questioned and they confessed to their involvement in purchasing the weapons.



