Shin Bet: Palestinian groups working to improve ballistic capabilities
Israel Security Service chief says some 31 tons of explosives smuggled into Gaza from Egypt in last year.
By Gideon AlonSpeaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin warned on Tuesday that Hamas was sending hundreds of men to Iran for prolonged periods of advanced training.
Diskin informed the committee that 31 tons of explosive material have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip in the last year by terror groups. According to Diskin, the figure constitutes a sixfold increase in the amount smuggled in recent years.
He explained that the Palestinians were taking advantage of the relative calm and restraint demonstrated by the Israel Defense Forces to bolster their arms and improve the range of their rocket fire.
According to Diskin, the Palestinian terror groups are in the process of attempting to increase their rocket range to 15 and even 20 kilometers, so as to enable them to strike at Kiryat Gat and Ashkelon, and other national infrastructure targets in the Negev. Diskin noted that the Islamic Jihad has already succeeded in launching a Grad rocket at the range of 16.3 kilometers last July. These efforts, according to Diskin, include smuggling attempts of longer-range rockets.
Terror groups in the West Bank were also in the process of improving their ballistic capabilities, said Diskin. He named both the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to the Fatah political party, and the Islamic Jihad as competing organizations, both aspiring to be the first to launch rockets deep into Israel. Diskin added that he did not believe the terror groups in the West Bank would succeed in establishing the infrastructure necessary for producing rockets and launching them.
Among the technical advances employed by the Palestinians that Diskin listed, are improved roadside bombs, some capable of penetrating the plating of armored military vehicles. He added such capabilities had previously been restricted to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
In his review, Diskin named the Sinai as the main route through which explosives and weapons were smuggled into the Gaza Strip. He noted that the efforts of Egyptian security forces to foil such smuggling attempts had been largely ineffective until recent weeks. He added that some improvement can be observed recently in their capabilities, and expressed the hope that this reflected a change in the Egyptian policy on smuggling.
Referring to the routine military tactics of the terror organizations, Diskin informed the committee that they were in the process of constructing an underground complex of stations, "possibly because they have come to realize that they would feel safer underground."
Diskin added that he anticipated greater difficulty for the IDF in its operations in the Gaza Strip, owing not only to underground fortification but also to the ever-increasing population density in the area.
Diskin assessed that the Palestinian national unity government being formed by rival factions Fatah and Hamas would indeed be declared in the near future, "despite tensions."
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The murderers who are shooting Kassmas into Israel from Gaza are not the least bit interested in any kind of deal. Instead, they are motivated by killing as many Israelis as possible. This is about as self-evident as the laws of arithmetic.
Once they build up & attack forcing Israel into a full scale war against them (instead of the pin-point style counter actions in use until now) it will be as devastating as it was in Lebanon. (Separate from the argument of who won or lost.) Israel may lose the media war, but she'll have no choice (for self-protection of her citizens) and it will be terrible for Palestinians. I'm scared for them & have been for a while. I hope they come together to pressure their government to avoid this outcome.
how long is israel going to keep the pressure cooker, that is palestinian desperation, under control? it has to burst sometime. before israels patron (the u.s.of a) completely loses its authority, it must, in its own best intrest, cut a reasonable deal with the palis. for that to happen israel has to forget about adding to its 67 borders.
Do we all remember when the intifadeh was the throwing of rocks at buses? Proponents of Oslo assured us that the Palestinian "police" would have firearms for police and public safety maintenance. The presence of bombs, missles and the like makes a farce of the Israeli left claims of peaceful intentions or integrity of our enemies. Their intentions are clear--it is us who refuse to fathom the thought that the stated plans of Iran and others toward Israel really reflect their collective wishes.
Inflicting suffering on civilian population to achieve political ends: this is terror.
assume that it is not, is all the more reason to focus on two things: 1)Israel must continue to insist that the leadership of the Arabs of Eretz Israel, presently the Hamas government and its messenger, Mahmud Abbas, adhere to the three points demanded by the international community of, acctenptance of all signed agreements, recognition of Israel's right to exist, and ceasation of all acts of terror, violence and the preparation for both. 2)In view of at least 70 years of not missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity for peace and statehood, Israel must begin to consider again the idea of pursuing an accomodation with Jordan and Egypt, instead of the PLO and the PA, regarding the disputed territories, and doing so based on UN resolutions 242 and 338. Continuing to deal with the conflict the way we have up to now may turn out to be a prescription to at least 70 additional years of bloodshed and misery. Is it not high time to think outside the box?
And that will get worse because of that documentary film regarding 250 Egyptians unarms solders which going to give more support from Egyptians army to Palestinians terrorisms, Israel must take control of Gaza and Sinai borders as soon as possible
after being pumped up on Jihad and martyrdom. Nothing new. When the casualties mount the Pals will have their proganda victory. Needless to say any Pal.lies will be taken at face value by the supine media and published with great dramatic embellishment.
Israel must make the Palestinians understand that they haven't seen nothing yet. That if the Gazans will allow Hamas and Co. to cause real damage to Israel, their life will become unbearable.