One that got through

The young woman was stopped at the guard post at the busy French Hill
intersection yesterday morning in north Jerusalem. The two soldiers were
suspicious of her, a religious Arab student. She saw that she was not going
to get through to the crowd at the bus stop beyond, so she pressed the
button igniting her bomb, killing herself of course and the two Israeli
soldiers. Both of them happened to be Ethiopian immigrants, Menashe Komemi
and Mamoya Tahio, both from large families, one of which had lost a brother
in fighting in Nablus last year. This was the first suicide bombing in
Jerusalem for 7 months.
The father of the young woman, Zayneb abu Salem, 18, collapsed when told
what she had done. Her family was distraught, not knowing of her recruitment
by friends into the Fatah al Al Aksa Martyr's Brigade in Nablus. She was
apparently determined to kill Jews to avenge the death of a favorite cousin
who was killed in fighting last year. In order to deter future suicide
attempts her family house and that of her "handler" were demolished.
The terrorist groups are now recruiting impressionable young women and
minors, since they are much more able to infiltrate through the checkpoints
and roadblocks, because the young Israel soldiers are less suspicious of
them. The question is how Zayneb managed to pass thru several checkpoints
en route from Nablus to Jerusalem with a bag containing 3-5 kg of
explosives.
Last week two young women cousins gave themselves up at the busy Hawara
checkpoint, after their families were contacted by a Shin Bet representative
in Nablus and told what they were planning to do. Apparently their Hamas
"handler" was killed in a gun battle the previous day. Somehow the evidence
led to them. Their families in both cases were against their being martyrs
for the cause, and called them. They were told to give themselves up and
they
did. After being captured they led the IDF to the suicide bombs that they
had hidden. They will go to jail, but they are alive, and so are the many
people they planned to kill in a double suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
The focus of the terrorist groups is now on Jerusalem and Beersheva,
particularly where the Security Fence has not been built. In the once
vulnerable
center of the country, the Sharon region from Hadera to Tel Aviv, there
have been no bombings for many months and the toll is down by 90% since
last year. I never agreed with those who said that there is "no military
solution to this problem," that is too facile. Of course there is, and the
IDF have developed one. There are only a limited number of terrorists who
are able to be the brains behind the scene, these are the ones that must be
targeted. Israel was reluctant at first to target the top leaders, but as
the toll of bodies mounted this policy changed, and now there are few
terrorist leaders who have been in their positions for more than a year. At
the local level, when a terrorist leader is killed, tradition has it (in the
very feudal Palestinian society) that his next older brother inherits his
place (it is usually not a question of who is the most dedicated or better
fighter). So it is known who is the next in line to be targeted. This can
go on only for so long until the leadership is decimated. Add to this the
military incursions where gunmen are killed and captured, and information is
obtained, and you have an effective counter-insurgency program.
To overcome their limitations the Palestinian terrorist organizations are
now scraping the bottom of the barrel, using young women and children. Such
is our enemy.