Gideon Alon - Haaretz 14 febbraio 2002
The erection of physical barriers around Jerusalem and between Israel and the West Bank is essential to reduce the number of terror attacks, Shin Bet security service chief Avi Dichter told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday.
Just in the last six months, he said, 52 suicide terrorists have tried to commit attacks inside Israel, of which only seven failed completely. Most of these have come from the West Bank, whose border with Israel is completely porous.
In contrast, he noted, there is a fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, with the result that terrorist cells in Gaza have often chosen to commit their attacks there because of the difficulties entailed in crossing the fence. This, he said, proves that a physical barrier can indeed cut down on the number of terror attacks. "I don't see any method other than a physical barrier that can prevent attacks," he added.
However, he said, the Shin Bet has no opinion as to what kind of physical barriers should be erected.
Dichter said that one worrisome recent development on the terrorism front is that the age of the suicide terrorists has been dropping. The two who blew themselves up prematurely near Mei Ami this weekend, for instance, were high school students - yet they were carrying a bomb more powerful than the one used in the Dolphinarium attack.
Another worrying development, he said, is the growing involvement of Israeli Arabs in attacks. The Shin Bet has uncovered 25 Israeli Arab cells engaged in either committing or abetting attacks, including five in Umm al-Fahm - which he termed "the terror capital of Israel." Of these cells, nine were run by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization, eight by Hamas, three by Hezbollah and three by Islamic Jihad. The other two were not affiliated with any organization.
Dichter stressed that these cells did not merely provide marginal assistance, such as transportation; they were actively involved in every stage of an attack, including recruitment, planning, preparation and execution.
Residents of East Jerusalem, he said, have also been actively involved in terror attacks in the capital. East Jerusalem residents have supplied logistical support for virtually every such attack, he said, and in four cases, they have also been the perpetrators.
However, he added, the origin of most attacks on the capital is Ramallah.
Dichter also charged that Arafat has smuggled wanted terrorists between Gaza and the West Bank in both his personal helicopter and a helicopter placed at his disposal by Jordan - neither of which Israel ever searched, out of respect for the chairman. The smuggled terrorists included Fuad Shubaki, whom Israel considers the organizer of the recent effort to smuggle arms into the PA aboard the Karine A. Jordan, Dichter added, was unaware of the use Arafat was making of its helicopter.
Dichter said the PA has been actively involved for the last several months in trying to obtain more and better weapons, in violation of its agreements with Israel, and has also done virtually nothing to foil terror attacks. However, he added, there are also places in the territories where the PA's control is simply nonexistent, such as the refugee camps around Nablus - a city which he said is the PA's "terror capital," though Jenin is in close competition for the title.
He said Israel currently has nine active warnings about terror attacks, and has foiled seven attacks just in the first 10 days of February.
Dichter also revealed that the suicide terrorist captured on a bus to Ma'aleh Adumim last week had actually been heading for Jerusalem, but accidentally got on the wrong bus. The terrorist tried to blow himself up when he was caught, but the explosives failed to go off, Dichter said.
Regarding the Kassam-2 rockets, Dichter said these began as a joint venture by Hamas and the PA's Preventive Security Service in Gaza. In Nablus, they are made jointly by Hamas and the Tanzim militias, he said.
Asked about Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg's plan to address the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah, Dichter said the Shin Bet has never discussed Burg's visit specifically, but in general, it opposes visits by public figures to Palestinian territory (Area A). "In our opinion, entry into Area A entails a genuine risk," he said. "One must not be blinded by the fact that until now, all such visits have ended without injury."