April 10, 2008, 8:38 PM (GMT+02:00)

Favorite grill-room at Diamond Exchange

The two men, Ahab Abu Riyal and Anas Salum, from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, were arrested by Israeli security Shin Bet officers last month before they could carry out their mission on behalf of the Lebanese Hizballah. Their Fatah-al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades branch is controlled by Hizballah.

Posing as illegal out-of-work entrants from the West Bank, they were hired as kitchen workers by the Tel Aviv Grill Express fast food outlet at the Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan. Their orders from their Hizballah controllers were to dump slow-acting colorless, tasteless and odorless poison in the food set out for customers. It was to take effect after four hours, time enough to murder a large number of Israeli diners. The substance has not been identified.

The pair also plotted to spirit a suicide bomber into Tel Aviv from Nablus.

One of the two men was detained on March 19, days before the target date for their mission, the second was picked up at the home of an Israeli Arab friend in Jaffa. The poison had not yet been handed them.