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12 Iyar 5762 - April 24, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
Operation Defensive Shield Ends -- A Summary
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

The IDF wound up Operation Defensive Shield this week as troops completed their withdrawal from Nablus and parts of Ramallah. Twenty-nine soldiers and border policemen were killed and 127 wounded in the offensive, launched on March 28, to crack down on terror, destroy terrorist infrastructure, confiscate weapons, and arrest fugitives.

It came in response to the terrorist attacks that had claimed scores of lives, over 100 in March alone, and following the suicide bombing at Netanya's Park Hotel on Seder night in which 29 were killed and scores wounded. The IDF entered Nablus, Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarm, Bethlehem, and Kalkilya.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 216 Palestinians were killed and 416 wounded, but said final figures are expected to run much higher. As of press time, the IDF remained in Bethlehem, with troops deployed around the Nativity Church where Palestinian gunmen, including fugitives, have been holed up since the beginning of the operation.

In Ramallah, troops also continue to surround the Mukata complex, where Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has been confined to his office for a number of weeks. Otherwise the Israeli army has withdrawn from the city.

The PA has refused Israel's request that it hand over the murderers of tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi and Fuad Shubaki, who was in charge of financing the Karine A weapons ship.

Troops have taken up new positions surrounding the Palestinian cities and towns they entered and have imposed tight blockades in an attempt to prevent terrorists from leaving. Soldiers were also deployed along the Green Line to prevent infiltrations into Israel.

Security officials estimate that despite the successes of the operation, a renewal of terrorist attacks is forthcoming.

Other officers said that while there was a marked decrease in terrorist attacks during the operation, the terrorist infrastructure had not been obliterated and all of the terrorist organizations are intent on resuming attacks. Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin vowed to continue the struggle until the end of the occupation.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters Israel has completed "this stage of Operation Defensive Shield," but the broader battle is not yet over. "We have achieved profound results but the struggle against terrorism will continue, using different means," he said.

During the operation, Israel arrested 4,258 suspected terrorists, 1,800 of whom remain in custody, 396 of them considered fugitives. They also confiscated vast quantities of weapons and explosives. Many of these appeared on lists that Israel had given the PA months earlier.

PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said Israel's announcement that it had concluded its operation in West Bank towns is nothing more then a public relations stunt.

A Palestinian youth fled the church in Bethlehem and told security officials there were 50 youths being held hostage by the gunmen, who threatened to kill them if they attempted to flee. According to IDF officers at least two of the boys inside the church are 10 years old.

The army said PA officials inside the church have received direct orders from Arafat to refuse any humanitarian assistance offered by Israel.

Operation hits Terror Net Hard

The arrest of Halad Ibrahim Tafesh, the head of the military wing of Hamas in Bethlehem, who was captured a few days ago by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet, wound up a successful week for the security and intelligence forces.

The heads of Hamas terrorist operations in Nablus (Husam Badran), in Ramallah (Jamal Tawil) and Bethlehem were arrested, as well as Marwan Barghouti, acting commander of the Fatah's Tanzim military wing in the West Bank, and his brother-in-law Ahmad, a Tanzim operations officer in Ramallah. These wanted men preferred arrest to dying in battle.

It was also a week when the number of Israelis injured or killed in terror attacks was one of the lowest in months, although there is not necessarily a direct connection between the low casualty figure and the arrests.

Intelligence sources speak of having diminished terrorist capabilities by some 90 percent in Jenin, by 80 percent in Nablus and Ramallah, and by 60 percent in Tul Karm and Qalqilyah. In Bethlehem, the effect of the military operation will depend to a great extent on the outcome of the siege on the Church there. In Hebron, damage to the terrorist infrastructure was minimal and in the Gaza Strip it may not have been harmed at all.

It appears that Hamas has been the organization hardest hit. In addition to the Hamas leaders mentioned above as having been captured, the head of the Hamas' military wing in Jenin, Kayis Adwan, and the head of its military operations south of Hebron, Akam al-Atrash, were killed in IDF operations.

As for Islamic Jihad, most of its operational infrastructure in the northern Shomron region, based mostly out of the Jenin refugee camp, was destroyed.

Three of the leaders of the network who dispatched a total of some 20 suicide bombers to carry out attacks in Israel (including two bus attacks in Wadi Ara) have been taken out of action. In addition, three other middle-level activists were killed and two others arrested. Dozens of field operatives in the organization were arrested.

The Tanzim, in addition to the arrest of Marwan Barghouti and his brother-in-law, has also been affected by the arrest of the head of the Al-Aqsa Brigade in the Shomron area, and Tanzim leaders in Jenin.

More than 100 major terror activists were killed or arrested by Israel before the military operation. Of the 500 Palestinians on the "most wanted" list which Israel submitted to the PA and the CIA last year, about half are no longer active.

The salient character of Defensive Shield has been the army's ability to arrest terror leaders instead of killing them in targeted assassinations.

Shin Bet officials prefer the arrests because of the valuable information that can be extracted from the captives under interrogation.

Despite the high number of wanted terrorists captured, a fairly large number have remained out of the Israeli dragnet, particularly in Hebron, in Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Strip continues to be a hotbed of terror activity. "The Strip is still the center for most terror know-how," said one senior officer. "Everything is developed there and later streams to the West Bank -- large explosives, mortars, and Kassam rockets."

Because of the difficulty of penetrating into Israel from the Gaza Strip, most of the terror activity from there is concentrated on isolated Jewish settlements in the Strip.

Capture of Barghouti is Israeli Coup

Leader of the Fatah Party's Tanzim militia, Barghouti, 42, had become a symbol and a coordinating force of the Palestinian intifada against Israel.

With Palestinian groups already threatening retaliation, however, other observers suggested that Israel's seizure of Barghouti and a subsequent trial would only strengthen his standing among Palestinians and bring more grief to Israel.

Some senior Israeli security officials reportedly believe that instead of being put on trial, Barghouti should be expelled.

About one thing there was no debate: The capture of Barghouti in his Ramallah apartment hideout was a coup for Israeli intelligence and security forces.

For months, even as it targeted other Palestinians who were organizing terrorist attacks, Israel declined to go after Barghouti because of his tremendous popular support.

The Israeli army described Barghouti as head of the Tanzim militia and founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, a terrorist group that has carried out some of the most brutal attacks of recent months, killing scores of Israelis and wounding hundreds.

The head of Israeli army intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze'evi, said Barghouti was known to have directed, encouraged and financed terrorist activities, including the dispatch of suicide bombers.

Israeli security officials linked Barghouti to numerous attacks in which more than a dozen Israelis were killed, including a shooting attack at a Bat Mitzvah celebration in Hadera, a shooting spree on Jerusalem's Jaffa Road and a shooting at a Tel Aviv restaurant.

Israeli officials want to examine Barghouti's relationship with Arafat to determine how much Arafat knew about Tanzim terrorist attacks and how involved in them he was.

Documents confiscated during the anti-terror campaign show that funds Barghouti received, including allocations authorized by Arafat, were used to finance attacks by West Bank terror cells, the army says.

Once considered a possible moderate successor to Arafat, Barghouti's views became more extreme in the intifada.

In the early 1980s Barghouti was arrested for terrorist activities and spent six years in Israeli jail, where he learned Hebrew. He was released in 1987 and deported to Jordan

 

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