On March 10, 2003, Isalam Jibril, a Red Crescent ambulance
driver, was charged with using ambulances to transport
weapons to terrorists of the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
in Nablus and Ramallah. According to international law and
minimal standards of human decency, this is a serious
violation. Transport of such dangerous materials endangered
the passengers in the ambulance and caused hardship and
suffering for countless other genuinely sick people who will
travel in ambulances that must be inspected for weapons to
prevent such incidents.
The IDF spokesman said that among the weapons that the
accused transported were guns and explosive belts which were
intended for use in terror attacks. In order to disguise the
contents of the ambulance, which included a volatile
explosive belt, Jibril asked a doctor and his brother's wife
and children to accompany him and masquerade as sick people.
Then he drove to a checkpoint outside Ramallah where IDF
forces stopped him.
The accused pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him
and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison and an
additional suspended sentence.
According to the indictment, the accused was an ambulance
driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent at the end of August
2001 when he held a number of telephone conversations with
Nadal Zahar also known as "Abu-Antar," a senior terrorist in
the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the military wing of Fatah-
Tanzim. Abu-Antar asked the accused to transport "material"
to Nablus and Ramallah, which the accused immediately
understood meant weapons for terrorist attacks.
Soon, Abu-Antar visited the home of the accused in Balata and
asked if he was prepared to transport guns to Ramallah. The
accused agreed and one night a few weeks latter, Abu-Antar
brought over a black sack containing a revolver. The accused
was instructed to pass the revolver on to Mahmoud Yusuf Adris
Al-Surqan, head of Sheikh Ziad Hospital in Ramallah and a
resident of El-Bireh.
Upon delivery, the accused was asked by Adris to carry back a
letter and a large package which contained the dates and
details of terror attacks carried out by members of the Al-
Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade. The letter contained the phrase, "Send
grass for the lamb." The accused testified that he
immediately understood that this was a code from Adris
requesting weapons or ammunition from Abu-Antar.
Explosive Belt Hidden in an Ambulance
On March 26, 2002, the accused spoke to Abu-Antar on the
phone and he agreed to use his ambulance to transport an
explosive belt to Ramallah. Abu-Antar arrived at the home of
the accused in Balata with Muhammud Titi, another terrorist
in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade and another man who waited
with a car. When the accused said he was not working that
evening, Abu-Antar offered to pay him for his services.
During the night, the accused hid a package containing the
explosive belt under the stairs in his living room. In the
early hours of the morning, the accused opened the package
and discovered that it was a bomb attached to ten plastic
bottles. In order to transfer the explosive belt without
detection, he called his work manager and asked to transport
his allegedly sick sister-in-law and her son from Nablus to
the hospital in Ramallah, promising that he would reimburse
any expenses when he returned.
The accused placed the explosive belt under the stretcher in
the ambulance and a battery on the ambulance monitor.
Afterwards he picked up Dr. Assan, a dentist who had been
asked to accompany the accused on his trip to Ramallah. The
accused also picked up his sister-in-law and her children.
Together they drove towards Ramallah in the ambulance with
the explosive belt. The accused succeeded in crossing the
Hawarah checkpoint but was stopped at the IDF checkpoint next
to the Rama Bridge, where the explosive belt was discovered
and safely detonated by IDF forces.
