The four people killed recently along the Israel-Egypt border appear to have little in common: two Egyptian policemen, a Bedouin drug smuggler and a Sudanese refugee. However, the circumstances of their deaths share a very obvious factor: They are the direct result of the Israel Defense Forces' new border policy.

Six months ago, the IDF decided to increase its presence significantly along the 230-kilometer-long border, from the Gaza Strip in the north to Eilat in the south. It has stationed lookouts and staged ambushes along the border, and has invested considerable intelligence resources in the area. This deployment becomes dangerous mainly because the rules of engagement are not appropriate for a border between countries at peace, where widespread civilian commerce has been active for years - even if part of it is criminal.

"The rules of engagement are the same for all those who try to cross the border, resist arrest or try to escape," an officer there explained last week. "We have no way of knowing offhand who is a terrorist, who is a smuggler, who is a Turkish foreign worker and who is a refugee from Sudan."

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Senior officers in the Southern Command explained a new policy was needed mainly due to "serious threats" to Israel's security, which are developing "with gathering momentum," especially since the IDF completed its withdrawal from Gaza. "Palestinian terrorists," said a senior officer, "go from Gaza to Sinai in order to infiltrate Israel and carry in weapons."

Since January this year, the officer says, the IDF and the Border Police have captured more than 80 Gazans trying to enter Israel from Sinai. "No one has been caught yet with an explosive belt ready for use," said the officer, "but more than 80 people admitted to ties with terror organizations. Some of them were supposed to receive explosive belts in Israel, others were supposed to get weapons to abduct soldiers or civilians, and others planned to bring knowledge and guidance on forming terror squads to the West Bank."

Another officer who serves in the area said he has no doubt "the next kidnapped soldier will be abducted in this area." However, none of the four killed, in three separate incidents, were Palestinian, Gazan or tied to terror organizations.

Backpack full of drugs

The first incident took place on May 30, south of Ketziot Prison. Soldiers noticed six backpackers crossing the border and opened fire on them. One was killed, while his five companions fled back to Egypt. An examination revealed the dead man was an Egyptian Bedouin, and that his backpack contained drugs.

Three days later, in the early morning of June 2, a much more serious incident took place in the same area: Three Egyptian police officers, who were running after a group of drug smugglers, accidentally crossed the border and ran into an Israeli ambush. IDF sources say the Egyptians thought they had run into smugglers and opened fire on the Israeli soldiers. Two of the three policemen were killed in the exchange of fire.

The final incident occured June 3, north of Eilat, when the IDF received information about a Palestinian squad planning to infiltrate Israel from Sinai. A military force deployed there arrested 13 people crossing the border, but only four were Palestinian. The other nine were Sudanese refugees who had fled their country, encountered hostility in Egypt and were seeking asylum in Israel.

According to the IDF, the 13 were asked to get into a military vehicle, but one of them, a Sudanese citizen, tried to escape and ran back toward the border. The soldiers claim they called in Arabic for him to stop, according to procedure, but when he did not respond, they fired at his legs. The bullets hit his upper body and killed him.

Every movement monitored

From a high hill, about halfway between Kerem Shalom and Eilat, one can see evidence of the reinforced IDF deployment there. On a terrace overlooking the border, a wide canvas, once part of a large tent, blows in the wind; under it are scattered several broken benches. The tent and the benches were abandoned several months ago. This used to be a military post, where soldiers used binoculars to scan for smugglers. They did not meet with much success.

On the same hill, several dozen meters from the deserted tent, a huge tower now stands, surrounded by a security fence. From the top of the 30-meter-tall tower, an "intelligence and observation device" scans the region.

"These devices," explains Lieutenant Michal Schneiderman, "scan several kilometers on both sides of the border, day and night." The images are transferred live to a nearby operations room. In the old, crowded room, soldiers monitor the images. In this way, every figure, every vehicle and every animal in the area is easily tracked.

Schneiderman is an intelligence officer who commands a company of about 60 soldiers responsible for gathering information about the Egyptian border. The company was set up half a year ago. Its soldiers monitor the flickering screens and man vehicles equipped with reconnaissance devices. Each night they are stationed at different posts along the border, from where they monitor both sides. "When an infiltration is detected," says Schneiderman, "they become full-fledged combat soldiers and head out to tackle the situation."

Schneiderman makes frequent use of the expression "combat soldiers," although she knows her soldiers are not usually faced with armed opposition, but rather with civilians - traffickers in women and their victims; drug smugglers; migrant workers; and asylum seekers. She also knows that in some cases the soldiers face Israeli citizens. Military jargon has a special expression for the Israelis who cooperate with the border smugglers - the "receivers." Most of the receivers are Bedouin, but when the goods being smuggled are women or foreign workers, the receivers are occasionally Jewish.

"We have no way to distinguish between the various infiltrators," says Schneiderman. "From the moment we learned terrorist elements were active in the area, every border crossing became a terrorist infiltration requiring the same rules of engagement. Until we catch them, we do not know who they are. We have captured groups consisting of four prostitutes and three Gazans." She admits that not one armed Palestinian has been caught at the border. "But it doesn't matter that much," she says, "because they can get the weapons from their receivers."

The Military Advocate General's Office has also joined the effort: With its approval, the army routinely confiscates ("detains") Israeli civilian vehicles suspected of being used by receivers. At the 80th division's parking lot, near Eilat, approximately 50 confiscated cars are parked. The soldiers occasionally capture camels, too, which are used by the drug smugglers. The Military Advocate General's Office has authorized a veterinarian to be called to put the camels to sleep.

Change of approach

All this reflects a profound change in the approach of both the government and the military command, which ignored the Egyptian border for 25 years. The thousands of Eastern European women who were smuggled across to staff the Israeli sex industry, as well as the thousands of tons of narcotics that passed through to supply illegal sales, did not cause the authorities great concern.

The change of attitude occurred only when Palestinians began using this route as well, after the Gaza disengagement. Brigadier General Imad Faris, commander of the 80th division, thinks eventually there will be no option other than a fence. Sources in the Southern Command say a fence is necessary not only to block terrorists, but to stop arms smuggling. There are two main routes for this: One starts in Sudan, crosses Egypt and splits in Sinai - one stream enters the Gaza Strip via Rafah, and the other crosses into Israel and the West Bank. The second route starts in Iraq, passes into Jordan and crosses the Red Sea from Aqaba to Sinai. Nevertheless, these routes do not seem to pose real danger yet: According to data received from the IDF Spokesman, this year a total of 24 Kalashnikovs, four pistols and two grenades have been captured at the border.

"The Gaza Strip has become a big pressure cooker, and the terrorist organizations are searching for ways to enter Israel," a senior Southern Command officer said last week. "The criminal infrastructure in Sinai serves them extraordinarily well, and lately we have come across an increasing number of mixed groups trying to cross the border. Four Gaza terrorists come with three Sudanese refugees, four Turkish migrant workers and five women from East Europe."

The senior officer says the IDF "is doing all it can to distinguish between terrorists and others," and that "a Sudanese asylum seeker is treated differently than a Gazan terrorist." But the officer says, like Schneiderman, that one cannot always tell them apart.

"When we don't know who the infiltrators are," admits the officer, "we have to treat them as if they were terrorists."

Waiting for the patrol

"In most cases there is no difficulty in distinguishing between the two groups," says attorney Anat Ben-David, from the Refugee Rights Program at the Tel Aviv University law faculty. "Most of the Sudanese refugees who cross the border sit on the road and wait for the army patrol, and when it approaches they wave a shirt so the soldiers know they are not dangerous." Ben-David thinks the army must make every effort to make its soldiers aware that many people attempting to cross the border are actually "victims in need of help."

"Instead of telling the soldiers that they should treat everyone like terrorists," she says, "the army must explain that there are also men and women forced on their journey, and that a progressive country cannot welcome them with drawn arms. The soldiers must also bear in mind the plight of the refugees."

After the Sudanese asylum seeker was shot dead, activists from the Refugee Rights Program and Physicians for Human Rights demanded that the military advocate general set different rules of engagement for the different kinds of infiltrators. The military advocate general has not yet responded to the demand, but two weeks ago, the IDF invited Ben-David to address soldiers serving on the Israel-Egypt border. The lecture has been scheduled for after the holidays.