Jerusalem Post ^ | Jan. 26, 2004 | Margot Dudkevich
Hidden inside a computer screen, explosives that were to be used for a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv were retrieved by Israeli security forces operating along the Green Line, near the Israeli settlement of Elkana.
Acting on intelligence information received from a Palestinian terrorist captured last week in Nablus, Israeli security forces operating near Kafr A-Zawiya on Sunday retrieved the bag rigged with explosives, hidden inside a computer screen.
Ahmed Ibrahim Ashker,18, a Tanzim fugitive arrested by security forces on January 21, was to have perpetrated the attack which was planned by head of the Fatah Tanzim in the Balata refugee camp, near Nablus, Hisham Abu Hamdan, 22.
Ashker told investigators he was recruited two months ago by one of Hamdan's cell members and the day before his arrest he set out for Tel Aviv accompanied by other cell members who were to assist him in crossing into Israel.
Ashker revealed the route taken by the cell members, who after leaving Nablus traveled via the villages Azoun and Talat and reached Biddya, located near Elkana. The security fence has yet to be constructed in this part of the Green Line.
As the group prepared to leave Biddya, they spotted security forces deployed in the area and hid the bag rigged with explosives before fleeing.
Meanwhile, Hamas has offered Israel a 10-year truce if the Jewish state returns to the June 1967 lines and a Palestinian state is established with its capital in Jerusalem.
Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi told Reuters on Sunday that the organization had come to the conclusion it was "difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we accept a phased liberation.
"We accept a state in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. We propose a 10-year truce in return for [Israel's] withdrawal and the establishment of a state," he said from his hideout in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Rantissi added he did not expect Israel to respond favorably to the new suggestion, "when it has rejected the Palestinian Authority's offer for less land than what we are proposing".
On Monday, in the Gaza Strip, shots were fired at an Israeli vehicle traveling near the Kissufim crossing, the entrance to the Gush Katif settlement bloc.
In the West Bank in Jabel Shimali in Nablus, security forces arrested a Tanzim fugitive. South east of Jenin security forces arrested six Palestinian terror suspects.