Is the IDF preparing for Operation Defensive Shield 2 - or are the current activities meant as an alternative? The answer is still not clear, but in the meantime the IDF is continuing its mini-offensives in PLO-controlled areas, operating last night and today to catch terrorists before they set off on their murderous missions. Troops apprehended five wanted suspects in villages outside Kalkilye and Tul Karem, near the Sharon region. In Bethlehem, too, several terrorists were arrested, including the man who organized the suicide attack in Rishon LeTzion last week: Bethlehem Tanzim leader Ahmed Mugrabi. He was arrested along with his brother Ali and Mahmoud Salhana from Dehaishe. The three are responsible for the murder of 13 Israelis. Israeli forces blocked off all entrances to the Church of the Nativity in order to prevent terrorists from taking refuge there.
IDF troops, tanks and other armored vehicles also entered PA-controlled Ramallah today. There, too, they are acting to thwart planned attacks, based on intelligence information gathered from the approximately 2,200 suspects currently in custody. The forces found and destroyed an explosives lab.
On another front, Arabs fired a mortar shell at a Jewish community in Israel’s southern Mediterranean coastal region last night. An army position near Ofrah, north of Jerusalem, was targeted by Arab gunfire; no injuries were reported in either incident... A bomb was discovered and safely detonated on Eshkol Blvd. in northern Jerusalem early this afternoon. An Arab gardener noticed the suspicious package and alerted one of the residents of the building, who in turn called the police.
Ma\'ariv newspaper editorialized yesterday, \"Earlier than we thought or hoped, the terrorist attacks have returned... The achievements of Operation Defensive Shield are dissipating. There is no doubt that the various infrastructures of terror sustained a severe blow, [but] the fact is that what remains is succeeding in carrying out at least one attack a day... The attempted attack on the Pi Gelilot fuel depot proves that the terrorist organizations are raising the ante... A successful terrorist \'mega-attack\' would compel the IDF to launch Operation Defensive Shield II. In the absence of a viable diplomatic option, it would be wise to launch such an operation sooner - before Israel suffers hundreds of casualties - rather than later.\"
IDF troops, tanks and other armored vehicles also entered PA-controlled Ramallah today. There, too, they are acting to thwart planned attacks, based on intelligence information gathered from the approximately 2,200 suspects currently in custody. The forces found and destroyed an explosives lab.
On another front, Arabs fired a mortar shell at a Jewish community in Israel’s southern Mediterranean coastal region last night. An army position near Ofrah, north of Jerusalem, was targeted by Arab gunfire; no injuries were reported in either incident... A bomb was discovered and safely detonated on Eshkol Blvd. in northern Jerusalem early this afternoon. An Arab gardener noticed the suspicious package and alerted one of the residents of the building, who in turn called the police.
Ma\'ariv newspaper editorialized yesterday, \"Earlier than we thought or hoped, the terrorist attacks have returned... The achievements of Operation Defensive Shield are dissipating. There is no doubt that the various infrastructures of terror sustained a severe blow, [but] the fact is that what remains is succeeding in carrying out at least one attack a day... The attempted attack on the Pi Gelilot fuel depot proves that the terrorist organizations are raising the ante... A successful terrorist \'mega-attack\' would compel the IDF to launch Operation Defensive Shield II. In the absence of a viable diplomatic option, it would be wise to launch such an operation sooner - before Israel suffers hundreds of casualties - rather than later.\"