Thirteen dead in two weeks, on the eve of the month of Ramadan, which this year coincides with Passover: now fear of clashes between Arabs and Jews is returning to the cities. And some in the government are calling for preemptive operations in the West Bank along the lines of what Ariel Sharon did twenty years ago
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
JERUSALEM Jenin’s badly plastered cubes during the second intifada were seen by Israeli intelligence as a fortress of terror in the West Bank. From here came the kamikaze filled with TNT, here the army fought one of the bloodiest battles, from here the attacker from Bnei Brak illegally entered work, the third attack in a row in two weeks, a total of thirteen dead.
Raed Hazem also came from Jenin: on Thursday he fired 12 shots into the crowd of bars on Via Dizengoff, he killed two friends who were going out together in the evening preparing the weekend, the wounded are eight. He knew how to use weapons explains the police he did not miss his goals.
They chased him all night, he fled from the north of the city to a mosque in the direction of Jaffa, south along the beaches on the Mediterranean he was killed by the special forces who intervened immediately.
The first three attackers (a Bedouin in Beer Sheva, two residents of Umm El Fahem in Hadera) were Arab Israelis, representing 20 percent of the population. By Umm el Fahem Mansour Abbas, a dentist who led his Arab party into the coalition led by Naftali Bennett. He condemned the attacks (a heinous and terrorist crime) and what Esawi Frej regional affairs minister, also an Arab radical leftist sees the wave of violence as an attack on democracy.
Fear of clashes between Arabs and Jews, Israeli citizens against Israeli citizens, will return to the cities, as it did in May last year during the 11day war with Hamas. Those from Gaza praised the heroic missions without claiming them.
From the villages inside the Green Line, after Thursday night’s attack, intelligence must focus on Jenin explains Amos Harel, military analyst for Haaretz newspaper where the army has already been conducting raids in recent months to dismantle extremist cells: Palestinian forces Avoid entering these refugee camps.
President Abu Mazen condemned the attacks; now Benny Gantz, the Israeli defense minister, is asking him to intervene against groups that challenge even his power.
What emerges on the eve of Ramadan Harel continues is the risk that these decentralized operations (individual attackers with small cell support) will continue. The aim is to sow panic in the big cities.
The holiest month for Muslims coincides with the Passover holiday, which is the highest alert level.
Twenty years ago on March 29, Ariel Sharon ordered the Defensive Shield: the massive deployment of soldiers to attack extremist groups in the Palestinian territories. It became the largest military operation in the West Bank since the Six Day conflict. Now, from the right, ministers like Yoaz Hendel are goading the prime minister (right) and demanding a similar intervention that includes ArabIsraeli cities. We are at war.
April 8, 2022 (change April 8, 2022 | 15:42)
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