"A dangerous liquidation" from Yideot Aharonot on November. 25

[bryan at indymedia.org.il]

Hey all, 
Tanya Reinhart forwarded a very interesting article yesterday after 
corresponding with her on the last days events. 
Here is what she wrote to me:
    "I will also forward a piece by Fishman which was forwarded to me a 
    week or so ago. He is this mainstream reporter of Yediot, very well 
    briefed in army matters, who up until now was very excited about it all, 
    but the assacination of Hannoud broke him. He is saying just what you 
    explained right here, but as it is from the main-stream it is more 
    meaningful. 
    
    It is indeed unbelievable how absolutely nobody in the mainstream media 
    in Europe (let alone the CNN) is mentioning the Hannoud 
    assassination. It seems so obvious that Israel wanted this teror attack.
    Perfect timing, now that the US is thrilled with its victory in Afghanistan 
    and doesn't feel they care about any Arab coalition etc." 
    ------------------------------------------
Here is the Article with a preface from Adam Keller (works with Gush Shalom):

[Yediot Aharonot, Israel's biggest mass-circulation paper of Sunday, Nov. 25, 
carried an commentary sharply critical of Friday's assassination of Mahmud Abu 
Hunud, senior Hamas leader, by Israeli helicopter gunships last Friday. The 
article is particularly striking for several reasons: the paper hitherto approved of 
the government's policy of assassinating Palestinians deemed to be terrorists 
("liquidations", "interceptions" and "targeted killings" were among the 
euphemisms employed) and on numerous occasions in the past year news and 
commentaries were published with an often crude anti-Palestinian slant; today's 
critical commentary was given a very conspicuous place, in a box on the paper's 
front page; and it was written by Yediot's security commentator, Alex Fishman, 
who is far from dovish, who is known to have close contacts in the army and the 
security services, and whose present criticism is expressed in the military and 
security establishment's own terminology and way of thinking. The publication 
of such an article in such a way might indicate a growing dissension and rift 
within that establishment. Adam Keller] 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

A dangerous liquidation 
By Alex Fishman 
Yediot Aharonot, Nov. 25, 2001 

After raising our hats to the Shabak and the IDF for the liquidation of Mahmud 
Abu Hunud, the so-called "No. 1 wanted Hamas terrorist" - interesting, those 
who are liquidated are always "No. 1", does Hamas have no No. 2 or No.3? - we 
again find ourselves preparing with dread for a new mass terrorist attack within 
the Green Line [Israel's pre-'67 border]. Whoever gave a green light to this act of 
liquidation knew full well that he is thereby shattering in one blow the 
gentleman's agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority; under that 
agreement, Hamas was to avoid in the near future suicide bombings inside the 
Green Line, of the kind perpetrated at the Dolphinarium [discotheque in Tel-
Aviv A.K]. Such an agreement did exist, even if neither the PA nor Hamas 
would admit it in public. It is a fact that, while the security services did 
accumulate repeated warnings of planned Hamas terrorist attacks within the 
Green Line, these did not materialize. That cannot be attributed solely to the 
Shabak's impressive success in intercepting the suicide bombers and their 
controllers. Rather, the respective leaderships of the PA and Hamas came to the 
understanding that it would be better not to play into Israel's hands by mass 
attacks on its population centres. This understanding was, however, shattered by 
the assassination the day before yesterday - and whoever decided upon the 
liquidation of Abu Hunud knew in advance that that would be the price. The 
subject was extensively discussed both by Israel's military echelon and its 
political one, before it was decided to carry out the liquidation. 

Now, the security bodies assume that Hamas will embark on a concerted effort 
to carry out suicide bombings, and preparations are made accordingly. Even 
before the expected major terrorist attack takes place inside the Green Line, we 
could already see the breaching of the "fire barriers" which were established 
after the army's withdrawal from the West Bank cities, as Hamas responded [to 
the killing of Abu Hunud] with a widespread series of attacks. 

There is little doubt that Abu-Hunud was an arch-murderer whose liquidation 
would damage, at least temporarily, Hamas' operational capabilities in the 
Samaria Sector [northern part of the West Bank]. 
Nor is it to be doubted that any such liquidation constitutes an impressive Israeli 
operational achievement. But does this string of operational successes serve any 
political aim, any strategy leading anywhere? Do 20 liquidations or 50 ones 
make any substantial difference, either in the campaign against terrorism or on 
the political arena? Do these liquidations - successful as 
they may be - detract even a little from the motivation of the terrorist 
organizations? In the fast-widening "pockets of despair", to be found all over the 
[occupied] territories, there is an inexhaustible supply of potential 
suicide bombers. While in the past Israel's Military Intelligence tried to keep up 
a current numerical estimate of the arsenal of potential suiciders, nowadays 
the terrorist organizations have no problem to get as many as they want, and can 
even afford to pick and choose among the potential recruits. 

The coming act of retribution which is now "in the air" has gotten complete 
legitimacy - both in the Palestinian society at large and in the Palestinian 
Authority - because of the death of the five children killed by an IDF 
explosive charge at Khan Yunes. It was a tragic accident, and it is inconceivable 
that anybody in the IDF would have dared to lay an explosive charge with the 
conscious knowledge that it may hurt children. Still, the case 
of this explosive charge is a horrifying side-effect of the method of targeted 
killings, a method which had become Israel's central instrument of fighting 
terrorism. 

The string of successes has made this method into a daily routine. The political 
echelon is constantly pushing the military one to produce more and more 
activities of this kind. For example, the number of "special operations" 
in the Gaza Strip - i.e., secret penetrations into the 
[Palestinian-controlled] "A" area for the purpose of prevention, arrests, 
ambushes and liquidations - has arisen by 400% in the past three months. When 
this kind of activity becomes a routine, one might lose sensitivity and caution. 
That is how an explosive charge can find its way to a place where children are 
also to be found.