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Sun, April 17, 2011 | IDFSpokesPerson | Jerusalem Post

The PFLP terrorists who are arrested in the Fogel Family massacre

Two PFLP Terrorists Arrested in Fogel Family Massacre

Two Palestinian terrorists from Awarta affiliated with PFLP^[1] — Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — entered the Fogel family residence and stabbed Ehud and Ruth Fogel and three of their children to death. The suspects admitted to crime but showed no remorse.

According to a Jerusalem Post report on Sunday, two Palestinian youths from the village of Awarta were arrested in recent days for the brutal slaying of five members of the Fogel family in their Itamar home last month, the IDF and Shin Bet said on Sunday following the lifting of a media ban on the investigation.

The suspects have been named as Hakim Maazan Niad Awad, an 18-year-old high school student, and Amjad Mahmud Fauzi Awad, 19, both from the West Bank village of Awarta, located 2 kilometers south of the settlement of Itamar.

The suspects have confessed to the stabbings and reenacted their acts, security forces said on Sunday. According to Army Radio, they did not express remorse for their crimes.

They are affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group, and received significant assistance from family members and friends after the attack, security forces added.

The story of the events preceding and during the brutal killing show how cold blooded and cruel these young terrorists have accomplished their act.

From the Jerusalem Post report:

The suspects planned the stabbings days ahead of time. On the night of March 11, after unsuccessful attempts to obtain firearms from a local PFLP representative in their village, the two set out towards Itamar on foot armed with knives, a wirecutter, and masks to cover their faces.

After a kilometer, they cut a wire fence around Itamar, climbed over a forest and a hilltop, and reached a row of homes.

The suspects at first entered a home adjacent to the Fogel residence, but found that nobody was home. They stole an M-16 rifle from the home, ammunition, and body armor, before walking on.

“They saw children sleeping in the home, and entered the Fogel family residence,” the IDF said.

Immediately after entering the home, the youths set their knives on two young brothers sleeping in their beds, 4-year-old Elad and 11-year-old Yoav.

They then entered the parents’ bedroom, where they launched a knife attack on Ehud and Ruth Fogel. The parents fought back, attempting to fend off the attackers, but died of their stab wounds during the struggle.

The two then left the house. One of the suspects returned and stabbed the three-month-old baby Hadas to death in her crib.

According to Israel Radio, Amjad said that he was unaware that there were two other children in the house, and that if he knew, he would have stabbed them as well.

After completing the slaughter, the suspects walked back to the village, and told Hakim’s uncle, PFLP member Salah Adin Awad, what they had done.

Salah hid their firearms, and instructed them to burn their cloths, which were covered in blood.

The youths then resumed their daily life, while Salah sent the weapons to a friend in Ramallah, named Jad Avid, who hid the guns in his home.

— Jerusalem Post, Sunday, April 17, 2011

Briefing by Commander of the Shomron Regional Brigade on Arrest of the Fogel Family Murderers

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgEsMIJRbw

From the IDF Spokesperson:

A month after members of the Fogel family (parents Udi, 36 and Ruth, 35, and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4 and Hadas, 3 months) were brutally murdered at their home in Itamar while they were sleeping, the Commander of IDF forces overseeing the Shomron Regional Brigade to which Itamar belongs to, announces that the IDF has caught two of the killers in the nearby Palestinian village of Awarta.

Col. Nimrod Aloni also states that the motivation of terror groups in the West Bank to execute attacks against Israeli civilians is still high.

IDF Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich:

“The murders of five family members including a 3 month baby constitute a crossing of all red lines. The IDF has invested in numerous operational and intelligence efforts, and has worked closely with other security forces in order to find those responsible for this vicious murder.”

The IDF will continue its efforts to ensure the safety of Israeli civilians and will bring the perpetrators of terrorist attacks to justice.

— IDFSpokesPerson, Sunday, April 17, 2011

Shin Bet said the attack was a premeditated terror attack carried out by suspects who have affiliations with the PFLP and “they received much support from family members and friends in their environment,” the Shin Bet added. Israel’s Security Agency (Shin Bet), which led the investigation, said that the intelligence operation between the army, police and Shin Bet led to the arrests. Several suspected accomplices are also under arrest. Dozens of suspects in Awarta has been arrested and questioned in recent weeks.

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz on Sunday told Army Radio,

“To those Palestinians who said ‘it can’t be one of us’ [who committed the crime], well it turned out to be one of you.”

Note:

[1] The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a secular, nationalist Palestinian political and paramilitary organization, founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the largest being Fatah. The PFLP has generally taken a hard line on Palestinian national aspirations, opposing the more moderate stance of Fatah. It has been described as a terrorist organization by the United States government and the European Union. It opposed the Oslo Accords and was for a long time opposed to the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but in 1999 came to an agreement with the PLO leadership regarding negotiations with the Israeli government. The military wing of the PFLP is called the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades. (Source: Jerusalem Post and Wikipedia)