Major blast averted
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 12/3/1997

"We are still investigating if the explosives we found at the start of the week were meant to be used in a massive suicide attack on Israelis.. we think that a major explosion has been averted," said a senior Palestinian security officer Wednesday commenting on the arrest by Palestinian security services of a Nablus resident. Zahran Abu Asbeh, a 24-old activist in George Habash's Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was arrested in his home village of Rafat near Nablus with a possession of roughly one hundred kilograms of explosives.

Both Major General Amin Al Hindi, head of the Palestinian Security Services and his deputy, Brig. General Tewfiq Tirawi said Zahran had admitted he planned to use the explosives in a suicide attack somewhere in Israel.

Palestinians believe Zahran wanted to avenge the killing of his brother, Badran, who blew himself up last 21 November in what was believed an accident as he was operating on an explosive device in his home in the village of Rafat. Badran's father was arrested by Israel some four years ago, apparently in an attempt to extract some information from him about his son.

Unlike Zahran who is now in Palestinian custody, Badran was a member of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and was very close to Yihya Ayyash, the Hamas activist who was killed by Israeli secret service in a mobile phone blast next to his head early last year.

Zahran is a second-year student in political science at the Najah University in Nablus. He was arrested in the student dormitories. Until 1989, he belonged to Nayef Hawatmeh's Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and following a disagreement, he transferred to the Popular Front in 1991. During his questioning, he explained that he and his brother twice tried to build bombs, one of which succeeded. Israeli security forces arrested 12 Hamas members in the village of Ibeidiyyeh in the Bethlehem area.

Meanwhile, Tirawi announced that he has no objections to open Palestinian prisons to visitors from human right groups who want to meet detainees in Palestinian custody. Tirawi said all detention centers run by the Palestinian security services will be open to human right inspectors.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli Investigation continues in Old City shooting   (11/21/1997)
  One last chance for Israel says Hamas   (11/3/1997)
  Yassin: main differences are over Oslo agreement   (10/25/1997)

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