Operation Bringing Home the Goods

Part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Date	March 14, 2006
Location	Jericho, Palestinian Authority
Result	Israeli victory

Belligerents

Israel (IDF)

Palestinian Authority

Commanders and leaders

Yair Naveh

Ahmed Saadat

Strength

1,000 soldiers

200 prisoners and guards

Casualties and losses

None

2 killed
28 wounded
Several captured

Operation Bringing Home the Goods (Hebrew: מבצע הבאת ביכורים‎‎, Mivtza Hava'at Bikurim) was a raid launched by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on March 14, 2006 on a Palestinian prison in Jericho. The prison held several prisoners wanted by Israel, whose incarceration was monitored by British and American wardens. In early 2006, the newly elected Hamas government announced that it intended to release the prisoners.

On March 14, the monitors left, and the IDF raided the prison. The prisoners put up a fight, and after a ten-hour siege, the prisoners surrendered and were arrested. A series of riots and kidnapping of foreigners ensued throughout the Palestinian territories.

In response to the assassination of its Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), led by Ahmed Saadat, assassinated the Israeli Tourism Minister, Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001. Fuad Shubaki was suspected by Israel as being the mastermind behind the Karine A affair of 2002. Saadat, Shubaki, and four other Palestinians, including the man who shot Ze'evi, were held at the Jericho jail under the supervision of British and American wardens in accordance with a deal worked out between US President, George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, in April 2002. The agreement allowed the prisoners to be transferred from Yasser Arafat's Mukataa in Ramallah, where they were hiding during Operation Defensive Shield of April 2002. The four cell members who actively participated in Ze'evi's assassination were Hamdi Quran, who pulled the trigger, Basel al-Amar, Majdi Rimawi and Ahed Gholami. In a quick military trial in Ramallah, headed by Brigadier-General Ribhi Arafat, they were sentenced to hard labor. Quran was sentenced to 18 years, Asmar to 12, Rimawi to eight and Gholami to one year. Saadat was never placed on trial. The prison was situated next to the Palestinian Authority (PA) government building. Israeli rightists opposed the deal, saying it allowed the assassin to escape justice, while Palestinians opposed the jailing of one of a senior militant leader under Israeli pressure.

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Wikipedia