(JTA) — A Jordanian court sentenced a Palestinian man to several years of hard labor for plotting to commit terrorist acts against Israelis, and three others for smuggling arms into the West Bank.
The terrorist, a resident of Jordan who was not named in a Jordan Times report about the sentencing Wednesday by the State Security Court in Amman, attempted to enter Jerusalem from Hebron, where he was arrested and charged with plotting to carry out a terrorist act, the report said.
Jordan, whose population is mostly of Palestinian origin, rarely prosecutes Palestinians for planning assaults on Israelis.
He raised the suspicion of passers-by by asking people in Hebron on how to best enter Jerusalem, according to court documents cited by the Petra news agency. The report did not say how the man ended up standing trial in Jordan, which does not control the West Bank.
In a separate case, the same Jordanian court on Wednesday sentenced three Palestinians to three years with hard labor for attempting to smuggle weapons to the West Bank.
One of the defendants, who is from the West Bank city of Nablus and visits Jordan regularly, planned with the other two defendants, who work in Irbid, Jordan, to smuggle weapons to use them in illegal acts.
The number of terrorist attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and from Gaza increased by 25 percent last month over January, to 149 incidents from 118, the Israel Security Agency said in its monthly report on February. One victim was killed in the attacks and nine were wounded.
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