New Israeli Defense Minister Sees Intifada Up Close
New Israeli Defense Minister Sees Intifada Up Close
There has been no let-up in the intifada, as a Palestinian sniper shot at Israel’s newly-installed Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer while he was observing Palestinian areas from the rooftop of an Israeli military command center in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
ARMY RADIO said the sniper fired two shots as Ben-Eliezer was coming down from the roof. Security men and soldiers shielded the minister with their bodies, since he was not wearing a bulletproof vest. Ben-Eliezer was accompanied on the briefing tour by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz and other senior commanders.
Ben-Eliezer, a former general, took office on Wednesday along with the rest of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s broad coalition government. In another targeting of a leading Israeli figure several months ago, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau was nearly shot during a Palestinian ambush on his bus as it left a Jewish community in Samaria.
Israeli military figures are reportedly set to warn Sharon that the Palestinians plan to escalate the intifada in the weeks ahead of the scheduled Arab League summit in late March in hopes it will spur stronger pan-Arab actions against Israel.
Friday’s HA’ARETZ claims IDF sources have indicated the army’s General Staff will tell Sharon and Ben-Eliezer next week that the government should show restraint in the next few weeks, even in the face of continued Palestinian terror, so as not to play into the hands of PLO chief Yasser Arafat. According to the left-leaning Hebrew daily, IDF sources believe Arafat hopes an increase in attacks will provoke Sharon into harsh retaliatory moves, thereby refocusing attention on Sharon’s negative image in the Arab world just as the summit convenes in Amman.
In other recent incidents, Palestinians fired two mortar shells that landed inside the fenced community of Netzarim in central Gaza on Thursday night. No casualties were reported, but the IDF ordered the community’s residents to remain in shelters as soldiers searched the area. It is the fifth time in recent months that Palestinians have shelled the community. The army declared that the shelling proves that the Palestinian Authority is still initiating terror attacks from its territory, therefore violating the security agreements it has signed with Israel.
In Judea/Samaria on Thursday night, two bombs exploded on the road leading to Eilon Moreh, and a couple and their child narrowly escaped injury after Palestinians shot at their vehicle near Alei Zahav.
Meanwhile, Palestinians reported the deployment of additional IDF tanks Thursday morning in the Ramallah area, especially around the village Surda, which has been the scene of escalated violence in recent days, including shooting attacks and bombs detonated near IDF soldiers. Israeli army sources said the tanks were deployed, in addition to trenches and blocked roads in the area, due to the increase in violence, in an attempt to bring about a halt to the shooting attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.
In the face of increased threats of terrorism following Sharon’s assumption of office, senior security sources yesterday called on the public not to allow the threats to interfere with their routine and Purim celebrations. Security forces maintained a high state of alert Thursday and Friday as thousands of police, soldiers, and border policemen were deployed in busy areas such as bus stations, malls, and markets, with roadblocks set up at the entrances to cities and towns.
A 45-year-old Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli policeman on Friday near the Lion’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. He sustained a minor hand wound in the attack. After other police managed to apprehend the assailant, store owners in the vicinity began scuffling and throwing objects at the police.
A Palestinian man was wounded in Judea this morning in what was possibly a gunfire attack by Israeli civilians. The man said that he was with a group of Palestinians when he was suddenly shot at from the Magen David Farm, south of Hebron. The IDF found 20 bullet shells at the site and has detained three Israeli residents of the area for police interrogation. According to an Israeli at the scene, the Palestinian man approached the Magen David farm and didn’t respond to calls by guards to stop. Those Israelis present felt that the Palestinian presented a danger to the residents of the farm, he claimed.
Besides the shooting attack on Ben-Eliezer in Gaza today, Palestinian gunmen fired on an IDF Base next to the Morag settlement.
In other intifada news, the military wing of Hamas has now claimed that both terrorists involved in the recent series of bombings in Netanya, Tel Aviv and the taxi-van blast near Umm el-Fahm came from their ranks. The Netanya terrorist was named earlier, while a report in the Palestinian newspaper AL AYYAM cited senior Hamas sources as saying the taxi bomber was Zaid Ursan Zaid el Kilani, from the village of Siris south of Jenin.
Finally, new Minister of Internal Security Uzi Landau (Likud) said yesterday he plans to deal firmly with lawbreakers and terrorism to restore a feeling of security to all Israelis. The first weeks in office will be dedicated to learning about the ministry’s infrastructure and operations, he told THE JERUSALEM POST. But he said that while he is conscious of Israel’s image abroad, “we will act just like the British act in Northern Ireland, and just like the Americans acted against the Taliban and riots in Los Angeles. What happens in the rest of the world will happen here,” he said.
Used with Permission from International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.