Since Rosh Hashonoh the security services and the army have
arrested dozens of wanted Palestinians. Over Rosh Hashonoh
they reportedly arrested 20 and in the next two days at least
the same amount again.
The murderous criminal activities of Palestinians in the West
Bank and Gaza has decreased. Though attacks continue in
significant numbers in both areas, they are less effective
than they have been in the past, bli ayin hora.
Israeli spokesmen say that this is due to the effectiveness
of Israeli efforts in fighting terror and not to efforts made
by the Palestinian security services.
The Palestinians retain control of Beit Lechem, but so far
the IDF has not made any further pullbacks. No permanent
arrangements are in place in Gaza either. The current plan
for moving ahead with the Palestinians is called "Gaza and
Bethlehem First," and it was supposed to include further
pullbacks as the Palestinians assume responsibility for
assuring law and order. Bethlehem has been quiet, but Israeli
officials says that the Palestinian security officers are not
doing much to control terror. Israel has said repeatedly that
it does not want to assume political control of those areas
of the West Bank that it handed over to the Palestinian
Authority.
On Tuesday Yasser Arafat addressed the Palestine Council
meeting in Ramallah (with a video hookup for member of the
Council whom Israel would not allow to travel from Gaza
because of their involvement in terror) but even the New
York Times said that he offered nothing more than a
rehash of previous speeches. In particular he did not call
for a halt to suicide bombings nor condemn them, although
this had been included in a draft given to the press before
the speech. He repeated his condemnation of terror against
Israeli "civilians" but Palestinian definitions of Israeli
civilians generally exclude anyone who has ever served in the
IDF or may serve in the future. Thus, all children are not
civilians and most Israeli adults.
The Prime Minister's office said that since Arafat is
"irrelevant" so is anything that he says.
The Shin Bet seized a shipment of arms that was on its way to
the Palestinian Authority through Ashdod about two months
ago. The arms included guns, ammunition and night vision
equipment. The shipment was listed as a donation of toys by
an Islamic charity. The toys disguising the arms included
cigarette lighters with pictures of al-Qaida leader Osama bin
Laden and the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
According to some reports, when lit it appears that the twin
towers are burning.
According to reports, Palestinian security services were on
full alert on Wednesday September 11, the anniversary of the
attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania,
to prevent street celebration of those attacks. Palestinian
journalists received reports that such celebrations were
planned but PA officials were concerned that media reports of
such celebrations would hard the Palestinian image to the
world. In Jenin, municipal workers removed posters of bin
Laden.
Those arrested on Tuesday were said by the Palestinians to
have included a senior Fatah figure who was found unarmed in
the Nablus Casbah. Earlier in the day the IDF also arrested a
central Hamas figure near Hebron. He is alleged to be
connected with planting explosives. They also made several
arrests during a raid in the town of Beit Hanoun in the
northern Gaza Strip conducted by IDF soldiers and some 60
armored vehicles.
Security services warned against the possibility of attacks
across Israel as Tanzim, Hamas and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have increased efforts to
carry our bombings. A senior security officer said that some
bombings were recently prevented by the Shin Bet during
operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
