IDF soldiers tracked down and killed the mastermind of a plot to carry out a terrorist attack through the use of poison, after surrounding his house in the Balata neighborhood of Shechem Thursday morning. The terror attack planned by Ka’abi involved slipping a slow-acting poison powder, virtually undetectable, into the food of diners at the “Grill Express” restaurant in Ramat Gan, where he had managed to recruit two Arab kitchen workers as new operatives. The poison would have taken at least four hours to work, thus maximizing the number of people who could be hurt and killed before the attack might come to light. A suicide bombing attack, possibly simultaneous, was also in the works when the plot was discovered and stopped by Israeli intelligence agents. Hani Ka’abi headed a terrorist cell belonging to the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades organization, linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction. Hosni Tzalag, Ka’abi’s deputy was arrested during the operation by the elite IDF undercover Duvdevan unit. The soldiers recovered two rifles, a number of ammunition magazines and several bulletproof vests at Ka’abi’s home. A third terrorist was also taken into custody as well. Balata Remains a Terrorist Stronghold in Fatah-land US-trained Palestinian Authority police officers deployed in Shechem came under attack by unidentified terrorists this week when the city’s governor tried to visit the Balata. Police hastily withdrew the city’s administrator, Jamal Muhaisen out of the neighborhood, but were unable to save his car, which local Arabs torched and burned to the ground. Last year, Israel agreed to allow the PA to deploy several hundred police officers who received advanced military training by US Army officers at a Jericho training base. The Bush administration is banking on the PA force being able to prove to Israel that it can maintain law and order in Shechem – known in Judea and Samaria as “terrorist central” – and control terrorism. The PA is required to halt all terrorism against Israel emanating from its territories as part of its obligations under the American Roadmap plan.
