Terror Killings Down 84% Due to Fence

December 27, 2004

A Shin Bet (Israeli internal security organization) report released in September, which summed up the first four years since the outbreak of violence in September 2000, revealed that since the fence’s completion, terrorist organizations operating in Samaria succeeded in perpetrating 6 suicide bomb attacks inside Israel in which 30 Israelis were killed; previously, 73 suicide bomb attacks had killed 293 Israelis in this area. A total of 1,017 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in terror attacks in the past four years. The report notes that the questioning of senior terror leaders incarcerated in Israeli prisons, such as Marwan Barghouti, Nasser Aweis, Ahmed Barghouti, and Nasser Abu Hmeid, revealed that in many instances Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasser Arafat authorized the funding of Tanzim activities and was fully aware that it was to be used in preparation for attacks against Israelis. In many cases, weapons used in terror attacks against Israeli citizens were taken from PA weapons storehouses and distributed to activists in the field.

Over the past four years, the report claims, “many hundreds” of members of the Palestinian security forces have been involved in terror attacks, transporting suicide bombers to launch attacks and smuggling weapons and bombs to activists in different areas. The trend was first noticed in the beginning of 2002, but there has been a noticeable increase in the involvement of Palestinian security officials since last year. The majority are affiliated with the Fatah Tanzim and received instructions from Hizbullah operatives abroad.

For example, Palestinian security officials were involved in the suicide bomb attack at the Ashdod seaport in February 2004 in which 10 Israelis were killed. The report also notes that a growing number of Israeli Arabs and residents from east Jerusalem are involved in terrorist activities.

Excerpted from an article
by Margot Dudkevitch, Jerusalem Post

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