Arabs 'held for plotting Jerusalem stadium attack'

2 January 2011 - 13H30

The ?largest flag in the world?, recognized by Guinness World Records, is unfurled at the Teddy Football Stadium in Jerusalem in 2009. Israeli police and agents of the Shin Bet security service have arrested five Palestinians suspected of plotting a rocket attack on the Jerusalem football stadium, the agency has said.

AFP - Israeli police and agents of the Shin Bet security service have arrested five Palestinians suspected of plotting a rocket attack on a Jerusalem football stadium, the agency said on Sunday.

A Shin Bet statement said that two of the men, Mussa Hamada and Bassem Omari, had for several years been active in the militant Islamic movement Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in Jerusalem.

It said three other local men were arrested for selling the two men pistols.

The statement said the arrests were made last November and that the suspects had hatched a plan to attack Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium during a football game after Israel's December 2008-January 2009 "Operation Cast Lead" offensive in Gaza.

"From their Shin Bet interrogation it transpires that after Operation Cast Lead the two began to plan a terror operation in Jerusalem, as part of which they examined the possibility of firing a missile at Teddy Stadium while a game was in progress," the statement said.