Operation Bringing Home the Goods

The prisoners’ transfer to Jericho followed the 2002 siege of Yasser Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters. Under a U.S.-brokered arrangement, Sa’adat, Fuad Shubaki and four members of the cell involved in Ze’evi’s assassination were moved to Jericho; British and U.S. agents were to monitor the prison and ensure that the Palestinian Authority did not release them.[3] Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal later promised, after Hamas’s January 2006 election victory, that Hamas would free Sa’adat and the other PFLP members held there.[3]

The background to the detention included the assassination of Ze’evi on October 17, 2001. The PFLP claimed responsibility shortly after the killing, and said it was in response to Israel’s killing of PFLP secretary-general Abu Ali Mustafa.[3][4] Shubaki was held at Jericho in connection with his role in the Karine A arms-smuggling affair.[1]

The British and American monitors left the prison on March 14, 2006. U.S. and British officials said they withdrew because of security concerns and the Palestinian Authority’s failure to meet obligations under the monitoring agreement, and said they had warned President Mahmoud Abbas in a March 8 letter. A U.S. official denied coordination with Israel over the raid, describing Israel’s action as subsequent and separate, while acknowledging that Israel had received a copy of the withdrawal letter.[2]

Israeli forces surrounded the prison compound and blocked nearby roads; Yamam counterterrorism officers took positions on the roof. Exchanges of fire followed. Two Palestinians were killed and nine wounded, with no Israeli casualties reported at that point. Israeli forces used bulldozers against parts of the prison and called on the wanted prisoners to surrender. A senior Israeli officer said the forces preferred to capture them alive, but warned that they would die if they did not surrender; about 100 other prisoners had surrendered.[4]

The raid resulted in the arrest of Sa’adat, PFLP members and Shubaki. Contemporary reports distinguish the five principal Ze’evi-related detainees—Sa’adat and four members of the assassination cell—from Shubaki, who was also taken from the prison.[1][8] They do not provide a single, consistent total for everyone arrested in the operation.

Israel said it acted after receiving information that the Palestinian Authority intended to release Sa’adat and his cellmates, and after the foreign monitors had left. The Israel Defense Forces characterized the operation as a response to Palestinian breaches of agreements and commitments concerning the prisoners’ confinement.[4] Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised the raid, saying: “Rehavam Zeevi, Israel has restored your honor with the operation we carried out yesterday.” He said the timing was determined by the U.S. and British decision to withdraw their wardens.[5]

Abbas called the raid an “unforgivable crime” and said the detention of Sa’adat and the others in Israeli custody was illegal. He said the PA had offered to take responsibility for the prisoners and replace the monitors, disputed Israel’s account of Palestinian noncompliance, and alleged that the timing showed the raid had been planned in advance. Abbas also said the monitors had warned they might leave without specifying when, and alleged that Israeli forces arrived with tanks only minutes after they departed.[5]

After the raid, Israeli prosecutors announced plans to indict four PFLP members suspected of involvement in the murder. Sa’adat was not to be charged with the killing because the state considered the evidence insufficient to stand up in court; he was instead to face a military-court trial for alleged security violations.[8] Shubaki was sentenced in 2009 to 20 years for his involvement in the attempted weapons shipment, with the sentence reduced to 17 years in 2015.[1]

Separate sources describe a December 1969 Israeli raid to capture an advanced Soviet-designed P-12 radar from an Egyptian position during the War of Attrition. One account says Israeli Air Force photo interpreters spotted the camouflaged station in routine photographs and that the equipment was to be seized for evaluation rather than destroyed by bombing. It recounts that a sergeant proposed the seizure to a lieutenant, the plan moved up the chain of command for approval, and a paratroop general was directed to prepare it. The study characterizes the operation as a “48-hour turnaround” involving “only three levels of command.”[6]

A separate account locates that radar at Ras Gharib, near the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, and says Israeli paratroopers brought it back. It presents captured Soviet-designed equipment, including the P-12, as part of Israel’s intelligence contribution to the United States during the Cold War: Israel’s battlefield experience against Soviet-armed Arab armies gave the United States access to captured systems and insight into Soviet weapons and military doctrine.[7]

Neither account identifies the 1969 radar seizure as “Operation Bringing Home the Goods” or provides that title as an alias.[6][7] The March 2006 Jericho raid is explicitly identified by that name in later reporting.[1] Accordingly, the title is verified for the 2006 raid, while the cited sources do not verify a connection to the 1969 seizure.[1][6]