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Operation Bringing Home the Goods
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Operation Bringing Home the Goods
Operation Bringing Home the Goods (Hebrew: מבצע הבאת ביכורים, romanized: Mivtza Hava'at Bikurim) was a raid launched by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on March 14, 2006, on a Palestinian prison in Jericho. The prison held several prisoners wanted by Israel, whose incarceration was monitored by British and American wardens. In early 2006, the newly elected Hamas government announced that it intended to release the prisoners.
On March 14, the monitors left, and the IDF raided the prison. The prisoners put up a fight and, after a ten-hour siege, surrendered and were arrested. A series of riots and kidnapping of foreigners ensued throughout the Palestinian territories.
In 2001, in response to the assassination of its secretary general Abu Ali Mustafa, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), led by Ahmed Sa'adat, assassinated Israeli minister of tourism Rehavam Ze'evi. Fuad Shubaki was suspected by Israel as being the mastermind behind the Karine A affair of 2002. Sa'adat, Shubaki, and four other Palestinians, including the man who shot Ze'evi, were held at the Jericho jail under the supervision of British and American wardens in accordance with a deal worked out between US President, George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, in April 2002. The agreement allowed the prisoners to be transferred from Yasser Arafat's Mukataa in Ramallah, where they were hiding during Operation Defensive Shield of April 2002. The four cell members who actively participated in Ze'evi's assassination were Hamdi Quran, who pulled the trigger, Basel al-Amar, Majdi Rimawi and Ahed Gholami. In a quick military trial in Ramallah, headed by Brigadier-General Ribhi Arafat, they were sentenced to hard labor. Quran was sentenced to 18 years, Asmar to 12, Rimawi to eight and Gholami to one year. Sa'adat was not placed on trial but remained in custody. The prison was situated next to the Palestinian Authority (PA) government building. Israeli rightists opposed the deal, saying it allowed the assassin to escape justice, while Palestinians opposed the jailing of a senior militant leader under Israeli pressure.
In the Palestinian elections of January 2006, Sa'adat was elected to the Palestinian legislature. The newly elected Hamas government announced its intention to release Ze'evi's assassins. Hamas leader Khaled Mashal told Arab-Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab that his organization would positively consider Sa'adat's release, saying "Hamas' objects to the imprisonment of Palestinians in PA jails, especially those under US and British supervision, as is the case in the Jericho prison. Therefore, their release will be our new government's top priority; it is natural that we begin a process for their release to strengthen our position so we will be able to act for the release of those held in Israeli prisons". Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas said, "I see no problem in releasing him [Sa'adat], but the Israel government is threatening to kill him—and then who will be held responsible if he gets killed or hurt? If the PLFP is willing to take responsibility, then I have no objection—I'll release him; then he and the PLFP will suffer the consequences. The minute he leaves prison an Apache will kill him".
Avi Dichter, former Shin Bet head and candidate for the position of Defense Minister for the Kadima party, said "I recommend to the Palestinian Authority not to release these men. I vow these killers will be either in prison or in the grave. There is no other option for them", and that "Israel could have sent an F-16 plane to target the prison, but we don't wish to harm innocent people". On March 8, the US and British consuls general in Jerusalem sent a letter to Abbas on March 8, warning that the monitoring team, consisting of fourteen men, would be pulled out of Jericho if the security situation did not improve for the monitors. Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, instructed the IDF to draw a plan to arrest Sa'adat, and the IDF began planning for the possibility that it would be required to act.
On March 14, the monitors told Palestinian authorities at the prison they were getting their car fixed. Then they headed straight for the Israeli checkpoint on the road out of Jericho. At around 09:00, Israeli soldiers stationed at the checkpoint spotted the monitors leaving the city. Immediately after, special forces, backed up by tanks, converged on the prison in order to force the wanted men out. At around 09:30, some 100 Israeli soldiers were surrounding the prison. By the end of the siege, the IDF had committed a force of approximately 1,000 soldiers from an armored division. Reports from the scene said 50 jeeps, three tanks, and an armored bulldozer pushed into Jericho, and two helicopters were flying overhead. At the time of the raid, there were a total of 200 prisoners and guards in the prison.
A senior IDF officer told reporters on the outskirts of Jericho that "We want to take them out alive, but if they threaten us, we won't hesitate to kill them. We won't agree to any change in Sa'adat's prison status". Some inmates took control of an armory in the prison. Israeli troops encircled the building while bulldozers knocked down nearby walls and helicopters fired missiles in an attempt to turn the prison into a "pressure cooker". The Israelis called on all the Palestinians to come out of the compound. Many came out, including security officials and prisoners, who stripped to their underwear, as the Israelis had ordered. Sa'adat told Al Jazeera television in a telephone interview from the prison that "Our choice is to fight or to die. We will not surrender", and that "We are not going to give up, we are going to face our destiny with courage". However, by nightfall, he ordered his men to put down their weapons and surrender. Shortly after 19:00, Chief of the Israeli Central Command, Major-General Yair Naveh, announced that the wanted men and several other militants in the jail had surrendered. The six, stripped to their underpants, surrendered and were questioned by security officials in the prison compound. The IDF also arrested 67 other Palestinians who were still hiding inside the compound.
Throughout the day, young Palestinians threw stones at Israeli troops who sealed off several blocks around the compound. Along a narrow residential street leading to the compound, teenagers from the nearby Hisham Bin Abdel Malik School threw rocks at IDF jeeps a block away, then scattered through groves of fruit trees amid Israeli gunfire. A university student and a young boy were wounded. PA security officers also clashed with the IDF. Two PA security men were killed during the fighting, and twenty-eight were wounded. The IDF suffered no casualties. A third of the compound was demolished by IDF bulldozers. The Israelis said they evacuated three wounded Palestinians. An IDF spokesman said 182 people had been taken from the prison and were being questioned, including twenty-six wounded. Between thirty and eighty people were left in the compound.
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Operation Bringing Home the Goods
Operation Bringing Home the Goods (Hebrew: מבצע הבאת ביכורים, romanized: Mivtza Hava'at Bikurim) was a raid launched by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on March 14, 2006, on a Palestinian prison in Jericho. The prison held several prisoners wanted by Israel, whose incarceration was monitored by British and American wardens. In early 2006, the newly elected Hamas government announced that it intended to release the prisoners.
On March 14, the monitors left, and the IDF raided the prison. The prisoners put up a fight and, after a ten-hour siege, surrendered and were arrested. A series of riots and kidnapping of foreigners ensued throughout the Palestinian territories.
In 2001, in response to the assassination of its secretary general Abu Ali Mustafa, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), led by Ahmed Sa'adat, assassinated Israeli minister of tourism Rehavam Ze'evi. Fuad Shubaki was suspected by Israel as being the mastermind behind the Karine A affair of 2002. Sa'adat, Shubaki, and four other Palestinians, including the man who shot Ze'evi, were held at the Jericho jail under the supervision of British and American wardens in accordance with a deal worked out between US President, George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, in April 2002. The agreement allowed the prisoners to be transferred from Yasser Arafat's Mukataa in Ramallah, where they were hiding during Operation Defensive Shield of April 2002. The four cell members who actively participated in Ze'evi's assassination were Hamdi Quran, who pulled the trigger, Basel al-Amar, Majdi Rimawi and Ahed Gholami. In a quick military trial in Ramallah, headed by Brigadier-General Ribhi Arafat, they were sentenced to hard labor. Quran was sentenced to 18 years, Asmar to 12, Rimawi to eight and Gholami to one year. Sa'adat was not placed on trial but remained in custody. The prison was situated next to the Palestinian Authority (PA) government building. Israeli rightists opposed the deal, saying it allowed the assassin to escape justice, while Palestinians opposed the jailing of a senior militant leader under Israeli pressure.
In the Palestinian elections of January 2006, Sa'adat was elected to the Palestinian legislature. The newly elected Hamas government announced its intention to release Ze'evi's assassins. Hamas leader Khaled Mashal told Arab-Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab that his organization would positively consider Sa'adat's release, saying "Hamas' objects to the imprisonment of Palestinians in PA jails, especially those under US and British supervision, as is the case in the Jericho prison. Therefore, their release will be our new government's top priority; it is natural that we begin a process for their release to strengthen our position so we will be able to act for the release of those held in Israeli prisons". Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas said, "I see no problem in releasing him [Sa'adat], but the Israel government is threatening to kill him—and then who will be held responsible if he gets killed or hurt? If the PLFP is willing to take responsibility, then I have no objection—I'll release him; then he and the PLFP will suffer the consequences. The minute he leaves prison an Apache will kill him".
Avi Dichter, former Shin Bet head and candidate for the position of Defense Minister for the Kadima party, said "I recommend to the Palestinian Authority not to release these men. I vow these killers will be either in prison or in the grave. There is no other option for them", and that "Israel could have sent an F-16 plane to target the prison, but we don't wish to harm innocent people". On March 8, the US and British consuls general in Jerusalem sent a letter to Abbas on March 8, warning that the monitoring team, consisting of fourteen men, would be pulled out of Jericho if the security situation did not improve for the monitors. Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, instructed the IDF to draw a plan to arrest Sa'adat, and the IDF began planning for the possibility that it would be required to act.
On March 14, the monitors told Palestinian authorities at the prison they were getting their car fixed. Then they headed straight for the Israeli checkpoint on the road out of Jericho. At around 09:00, Israeli soldiers stationed at the checkpoint spotted the monitors leaving the city. Immediately after, special forces, backed up by tanks, converged on the prison in order to force the wanted men out. At around 09:30, some 100 Israeli soldiers were surrounding the prison. By the end of the siege, the IDF had committed a force of approximately 1,000 soldiers from an armored division. Reports from the scene said 50 jeeps, three tanks, and an armored bulldozer pushed into Jericho, and two helicopters were flying overhead. At the time of the raid, there were a total of 200 prisoners and guards in the prison.
A senior IDF officer told reporters on the outskirts of Jericho that "We want to take them out alive, but if they threaten us, we won't hesitate to kill them. We won't agree to any change in Sa'adat's prison status". Some inmates took control of an armory in the prison. Israeli troops encircled the building while bulldozers knocked down nearby walls and helicopters fired missiles in an attempt to turn the prison into a "pressure cooker". The Israelis called on all the Palestinians to come out of the compound. Many came out, including security officials and prisoners, who stripped to their underwear, as the Israelis had ordered. Sa'adat told Al Jazeera television in a telephone interview from the prison that "Our choice is to fight or to die. We will not surrender", and that "We are not going to give up, we are going to face our destiny with courage". However, by nightfall, he ordered his men to put down their weapons and surrender. Shortly after 19:00, Chief of the Israeli Central Command, Major-General Yair Naveh, announced that the wanted men and several other militants in the jail had surrendered. The six, stripped to their underpants, surrendered and were questioned by security officials in the prison compound. The IDF also arrested 67 other Palestinians who were still hiding inside the compound.
Throughout the day, young Palestinians threw stones at Israeli troops who sealed off several blocks around the compound. Along a narrow residential street leading to the compound, teenagers from the nearby Hisham Bin Abdel Malik School threw rocks at IDF jeeps a block away, then scattered through groves of fruit trees amid Israeli gunfire. A university student and a young boy were wounded. PA security officers also clashed with the IDF. Two PA security men were killed during the fighting, and twenty-eight were wounded. The IDF suffered no casualties. A third of the compound was demolished by IDF bulldozers. The Israelis said they evacuated three wounded Palestinians. An IDF spokesman said 182 people had been taken from the prison and were being questioned, including twenty-six wounded. Between thirty and eighty people were left in the compound.