In a joint IDF and ISA arrest operation overnight at the Bal’a village near Tulkarm, Omar Jabar, head of the Hamas terror organization in Tulkarm area, was arrested. Jabar has been sought since 2002 for his direct responsibility in carrying out the suicide attack at the “Park Hotel” in Netanya in Pesach, March 27th 2002, in which 30 Israeli civilians were R”L killed and 143 were injured.

“The implementation of this kind of operation during the Purim holiday is not symbolic; it only shows that the IDF and ISA do not rest nor relax for a moment when it comes to the defense of Israel’s security,” said Lieutenant Colonel Nir Bar-On.  “The combat soldiers will continue to carry out operations so that Israeli civilians will be able to celebrate their holidays in peace and security.”

Omar Jabar has been sought since 2002 for his direct responsibility in carrying out the suicide attack during Pesach in the “Park Hotel” in Netanya on March of the same year.  Jabar was responsible for recruiting the contact that dispatched the suicide bomber, introducing him to the head of the Hamas in Tulkarm at the time, Abed Sayad. Sayad admitted in his investigation that the connection with Jabar had already begun in 1994, when the two were imprisoned together.

Since 2002, Jabar was directly involved in recruiting militants to Hamas secrete terror cells and in the past year was involved in their combat training.
 
In recent years, whilst hiding in the Tulkarm area villages, Jabar used his own family members to transfer encrypted messages to Hamas terror operatives, in order to lead the Hamas terror organization in Tulkarm, finance his and other militants’ terrorist activity and purchase weapons.

Following clashes between Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip in January 2007, Jabar worked to establish and finance a Hamas operational cell in Tulkarm. He purchased weapons and recruited terror operatives, intended for the establishment of a Hamas cell similar to operational cells active in Gaza.

(YWN Israel / IDF)