I am disturbed by conflicting reports of responsibility and a nagging sense of something much more sinister than is currently being reported for the Netanya shopping mall bombing. Initially, Palestinian State Radio in Gaza originally announced that Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade was responsible for Netanya mall bombing only to recant hours later and abdicate responsibility to Islamic Jihad via an announcement on Hezbollah television in Lebanon. Islamic Jihad’s current leader is reported to be Ramadan Shallah whose last known address was Damascus, Syria.
While Islamic Jihad has reported ties of friendship with Hezbollah, Hezbollah’s best friend among the Palestinian terror groups is Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. While it is not unusual for groups to falsely claim responsibility for carnage my antenna was further aggravated by this convoluted report that I found this morning at the Jerusalem Post:
Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide attack in Netanya, on Tuesday lashed out at the Palestinian Authority for condemning the bombing and arresting a number of its operatives in the West Bank. PA security forces were only partially successful in attempting to clamp down on Jihad activists for violating the unofficial truce with Israel, meeting fierce resistance in Jenin. Islamic Jihad denied that it has offices in Syria, saying its activities were solely restricted to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A senior Jihad official in Gaza City expressed "astonishment" at statements issued by PA officials in which they condemned the Netanya attack. Referring to Israeli and US charges that the Islamic Jihad leadership was operating from Syria, the official claimed that the organization's secretary-general, Ramadan Shalah, had left Syria several months ago, but refused to elaborate.
Another Jihad official in the West Bank accused the PA of succumbing to Israeli and American pressure. "The Palestinian Authority is serving the interests of Israel," he charged. "This is a very dangerous development and we will have to respond." Hours after the attack, PA security forces tried unsuccessfully to detain a Jihad terrorist in Jenin. The man, who was not identified, was shot in the shoulder during the attempt to detain him. Eyewitnesses said scores of Fatah and Islamic Jihad gunmen, backed by many civilians, foiled the attempt to apprehend the terrorist and take him to a prison in Jericho.
Local members of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's armed wing, voiced support for the suicide attack, pledging to use force to thwart any attempt by the PA to detain Islamic Jihad officials. The group's commander, Zakariya Zubeidi, was among those who welcomed the attack, saying it was "a natural response to Israeli violations of the truce." Another attempt to detain Jihad activists in the Balata and Askar refugee camps near Nablus also failed after dozens of gunmen drove back the PA security forces after pelting them with stones.
However, in the early hours of Tuesday the PA security forces managed to take into custody three Jihad members from Nablus. They were identified as Ayman Abed Rabbo, Daoud Makkawi and Zuhdi Tabileh. PA security officials said the three were not involved in the Netanya attack and that they had been detained as part of a crackdown on supporters of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank for violating the unofficial truce with Israel.
How one violates an unofficial truce I don’t fully comprehend, but be that as it may, Islamic Jihad never signed on to the alleged period of calm that was brokered by PA Chairman Abbas in February 2005 which makes it the perfect umbrella organization to hide behind if one wishes to carry out attacks clandestinely and duplicitously. Perhaps there is a far more nefarious reason for Islamic Jihad not signing on to the period of calm rather than the commonly supposed innate philosophical differences.
The level of support from Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade for Islamic Jihad has now reached an unprecedented level and I remain highly suspicious as to the reasons why Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade is now so willing to go to bat for this relationship.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs which keeps a listing of all major terror attacks from November 2, 2000 to February 2005. Of the roughly 79 major attacks listed, Hamas has claimed responsibility for 28 attacks including 4 joint attacks with Al Aqsa; and 1 joint attack respectively with both Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade took responsibility for approximately 20 attacks. Six of those attacks were joint ventures; 3 with Hamas and 3 with Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad officially took responsibility for 12 of those attacks. Four out of 12 attacks were joint ventures; 1 with Hamas and 3 with Al Aqsa. I was actually astonished by the number of major attacks against Israelis that no terrorist organization has officially claimed responsibility for.
Since the alleged period of calm in February 2005 there have been 4 major terror attacks all apparently initiated by operatives of Islamic Jihad which just happens to be one of the smallest terrorist organizations operating out of the disputed territories. It has the least support by the Palestinian populace and has acess to very limited funding. Furthermore, Islamic Jihad has had the singularly distinction of being the current special target of the IDF since last February. I have a high regard for Shin Bet (Internal Israeli Intelligence force) and the IDF. I cannot see how Islamic Jihad can continue to have that much operational capacity; let alone the ability to carry out 4 major attacks in the last 10 months which represents almost half the number of attacks Islamic Jihad was able to carry out from the period of November 2000-February 2005 when it was not being the special target of the Shin Bet and the IDF.
In the last 10 months the IDF has apprehended a number of suicide bombers before they were able to carry out their missions. Most of the potential suicide bombers were young people reported to have been recruited by Tanzim which is the "militant youth wing" of the political party Fatah. Tanzim is one of those special "militant" groups created during Arafat’s tenure of the Palestinian Authority along with Force 17 and Al Aqsa. One of Tanzim’s special functions is to recruit operatives for Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. It was my understanding that Tulkram was an alleged stronghold for Al-Aqsa/Tanzim supporters. The Netanya shopping mall bomber was originally from a village outside north east of Tulkram.
Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade were vying for the most active terror groups in Israel prior to February 2005 period of calm. Islamic Jihad never signed on to the alleged period of calm but considering that both Hamas and Al Aqsa signed on and continued to be involved in low level terror attacks, and in fact, the IDF has apprehended a number of Tanzim recruited/Al Aqsa operatives who have been fully kitted out to carry out suicide bombings in Israel during this alleged period of calm. The infamous wannabe suicide bomber, Wafa Ibrahim, who had chosen to target an Israel hospital to blow up countless innocents in June 2005 when she was apprehended at a border crossing was recruited by Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade and not Islamic Jihad. Furthermore Al Aqsa has a history of recruiting the young, desperate and/ or mentally challenged to carry out its carnage which fits the profile of the Netanya shopping mall bomber.
It may on not appear to be important which group of murderous thugs that chose genocide as an tool of political expression but it is. By focusing the political, public and security forces attention on a smaller group and letting the larger group consolidate their power base unchecked does not bode well for either security or peace in the future. It should never be forgotten that Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade is the militant wing of an entrenched political party (Fatah) in the disputed territories and receives its funding directly from Fatah and Fatah is the political party which is perceived to be the Palestinian peace partner for Israel.
It very well maybe that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the recruitment and carnage that resulted at the shopping mall at Netanya but I am suggesting that there is cause to doubt and be suspicious of what we are being told.
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