JERUSALEM, Oct 11 (AFP) - A Palestinian mother-of-seven was handed a 35-year prison sentence Monday by an Israeli military tribunal after being convicted of carrying an explosives belt that was to have been used in a suicide attack.
Latifa Abu Drah, who comes from the Balata refugee camp near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, was arrested by the army in December 2003 after having handed over the belt to the would-be bomber whose attack was foiled at the last moment.
At the time of her arrest, military sources said that Abu Drah had been recruited by members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
The attack was due to have been carried out in the city of Rosh Ayin, close to Tel Aviv, but the bomber and an accomplice changed their mind after being apparently rattled by a large Israeli military deployment in the area.
They threw away the belt but all three were arrested shortly afterwards and the device was later recovered.
Abu Drah confessed during interrogation to having carried the belt across roadblocks in exchange for 300 shekels (67 dollars), according to the military sources.