Israeli officials announced on Monday that Palestinian terrorists had planned a bomb attack against the country?s tallest buildings, the twin Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv.
Israeli soldiers prevented the attack with a raid three weeks ago on a West Bank Palestinian town, said a senior military official addressing a closed door session of the Knesset?s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.
Although the officer did not name the target of the planned bombing, a well-placed Israeli source told the Associated Press that it was the Azrieli Towers.
Working from a plan remarkably similar to one used by Muslim fundamentalists who attempted to bring down New York?s World Trade Center in 1993, the terrorists in this case were to detonate a truck filled with explosives in the towers? underground parking lot.
One of the men involved in the planning was seized by IDF troops in a raid on the West Bank town of Kalkilya, said an anonymous military source. The source acknowledged that no explosives were found in the course of that raid.
The 50-story Azrieli Towers, the tallest in the Middle East, opened in 1999 with the express purpose of symbolizing Israel in a globalized, high-tech world.
The buildings quickly became a Tel Aviv landmark.
Last year the towers? management garnered media attention throughout Israel with its decision to show the national colors in a unique manner: 24,000 blue and white lights formed a huge electronic Israeli flag across the 97,000 square-foot facade.
Topping the electronic flag was a message that flashed from morning to night: Zeh B?yadaim Shelanu (It?s In Our Hands).