Common to Dimona and Cairo

According to Hamas' announcement last night, the two terrorists responsible for yesterday morning's attack in Dimona set out from Hebron. At the same time, the original and reasonable assumption that the bombers had moved from Gaza, via Sinai, to the Negev was based on the profusion of intelligence warnings that had multiplied following the breach of the border between Gaza and Egypt. These warnings are still current, and continue to concern the security establishment.

This situation was created by the helplessness of Egypt, which did not hasten to close the breaches, and the permission it gave to Gaza civilians to enter its territory. But it was also caused by carelessness, or at least excessive complacence on the part of Israel, which for years has not bothered to build a real fence along its long border with Egypt. Those who until now have taken advantage of this open border to smuggle refugees, women or drugs used it yesterday to bring across the terrorists who carried out the attack. Anyone, then, who is looking for a target for blame can find it equally in Egypt and Israel.

However, breached border crossings between Egypt and Israel do not in themselves cause terror attacks. After years of imprisonment in a crowded strip of land, without opportunities for earning a living or studying, someone on the Egyptian side - or the Israeli side - should at least have guessed, not to say known, that a thick fence would not contain the frustration and anger that have accumulated. Each time more economic or political pressure has been applied to the Gaza Strip, the pressure on the fence has grown, until it collapsed.

And thus, together with the momentary sense of relief that the breach of the fence created, it provided another opportunity for terror organizations to equip themselves for sabotage, and to carry out attacks in Israel of the kind they have not been able to perpetrate for years.

Nevertheless, it is not superfluous to ask: If the tunnels excavated under the fence during the years of closure enabled easy passage to and from Egypt, why were attacks of this sort not carried out earlier? The answer can apparently be found in the large number of Palestinians who recently crossed the border into Egypt, a breach that did not allow for potential attackers to be monitored more effectively.

Hence it is to be assumed that more terrorists are now in Sinai, and that they threaten not only Israel, but also tourism sites in Egypt. This threat necessitates a joint and immediate Egyptian-Israeli effort.

The two countries, for which the peace treaty between them has constituted a strong basis for regional stability for a generation, must decide together on building a fence along their border. In the meantime, they must coordinate the necessary operational actions at the highest level and share intelligence information.

Insofar as this is necessary, it would not be superfluous to consider deploying additional Egyptian troops and special equipment along the border, even if to some extent this violates the peace treaty, which severely restricts the number of Egyptian military units in Sinai and their equipment.

Times of emergency sometimes demand emergency steps, and the current threat of terror demands more courageous cooperation with Egypt.In the past, Egypt has proved its determination to fight terror even if, like Israel, it has not always succeeded in eliminating it. This is currently another difficult test of Egypt's determination and its commonality of interests with Israel, a commonality that rests on peace agreements between the two countries.