The Salem Israeli Military Court in the northern part of the occupied West Bank sentenced four Palestinians, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to 4-8 years imprisonment after convicting them of planning to assassinate an Israeli military judge. The judge in question was the one who sentenced PFLP secretary-general, Ahmad Saadat, on December 12 2006, to 30-year imprisonment for allegedly planning the assassinating of Israeli Tourism Minister, Rehavam Ze’evi, who was assassinated on October 17, 2001.
Saadat is still in solitary confinement at the Be’er Shiva Israeli prison.
The four PLFP members are students at the al-Najah University in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Fawzi Qaoura, 24, from Bal’a village near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, was sentenced to five years, Ali Eshtayya, 22, from Salem village near Nablus, was sentenced to five years, Hindawi Qawareeq, 22, from Awarta village near Nablus, was sentenced to four years, and Eyas Joury, 23, from Nablus, was sentenced to eight years.
Representing the detainees, attorney, Shaker al-Ayyoushi, said that he will file an appeal against the ruling.
The Israeli Radio reported that one of the four convicted PFLP members contacted a member of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah party asking him to finance the purchase of a weapon that would be used to assassinate the judge.
