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Slightly Different Terror
Ehud Ya'ari

The perpetrators of the current wave of attacks are trying to cover up the decreased intensity with increased murderousness, aspiring to fulfill the dream of a megastrike

The suicide bombers are back,now that the dust has slowly settled following Israel�s Operation Defensive Shield. But make no mistake: The current wave of attacks is different from the last in many important respects.It doesn�t have the same momentum or the same dimensions as the suicide bombing campaign prior to Israel having broken the backbone of the Tanzim leadership and the Hamas networks. This terrorism is being perpetrated by the second or third echelon operators of these organizations, the remnants of the damaged infrastructures. They are mostly youngsters with limited experience, people who cropped up during the past 19 months of the intifada. And they are trying to cover up the decreased intensity with increased murderousness, aspiring to realize the dream of a megastrike resulting in a number of Israeli casualties way beyond the scale of anything we have known.

That was the point of the failed attempt to blow up the gas and petroleum reserves at the Pi Glilot storage facility near Tel Aviv in late May; and of the attempt to plough a car loaded with explosives into a nightclub in South Tel Aviv; or the horrific plot that was foiled to "bring down" the Azrieli office and shopping center that towers over the army and Defense Ministry headquarters, located across the street from it in central Tel Aviv.

Moreover, the suicide bombers� terrorism is now working within new parameters. First and foremost, these are no longer actions that are wholeheartedly embraced by the Palestinian consensus. In one survey recently conducted by a research institute run by Dr. Nabil Kukali of Bethlehem, almost 60 percent of those asked expressed their opposition to the continuation of suicide attacks inside Israel. In the Palestinian press, articles against this tactic are vying for space, to the point where Hamas felt forced to publish a long manifesto arguing the necessity of sticking to the method, if only to prove that Operation Defensive Shield was a failure.

Central personalities within the PA security apparatuses, such as Jibril Rajoub, Amin al-Hindi and Samir Mashharawi, are taking an open stance against suicide attacks (without doing much to prevent them). Fatah published a statement distancing itself from the suicide operations in Rishon Lezion, after the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for them. And the Brigades responded with a provocative assertion that nobody has a monopoly on membership in Arafat�s organization. In other words, an open controversy has broken out over the question of suicide attacks within the ranks of the Tanzim, the engine of the Arafat terror machine.

In the background, remember, is the beginning of a renewed debate in parts of the Arab world on this question. Lately, for example, several of the more popular talk shows on the satellite channels of Abu Dhabi, the London-based Syrian opposition ANN and the like have been dedicated to examining the religious aspects and the usefulness of suicide attacks. So instead of automatic applause for the attacks, there is now a readiness to allow expressions of doubtfulness and dissent.

A few of the Saudi papers have stopped using the term "martyrdom operations," replacing it with "suicide bombings" -- a most significant change, since suicide is forbidden in Islam as opposed to giving up one�s life in the context of holy war. And Jordan�s Foreign Minister Marwan al-Mu�ashar has stated that "no Arab state supports suicide bombings."

Now is the moment for Israel to consider a change in policy vis-�-vis the suicide bomber phenomenon, and first of all, to make use of the piles of information gathered during interrogations of would-be suicide attackers who were caught before they could carry out their deeds. Israel should simply flood the Palestinian public with the shocking stories of how the bombers were recruited and expose the figures behind the system: the recruitment of young girls persuaded to put on explosive belts, or of terminally ill Palestinians who were assured a "pension" for their families by their suicide.

It is essential to break the aura that surrounds these attacks, and to strengthen the rapidly increasing skepticism that the Palestinian public is displaying toward them. These would-be bombers should be continually exposed to the media, not handed out by the security establishment as rare gestures of generosity to one media outfit or another. The names of the recruiters and their pictures should be widely published. In short, it is time to launch a media campaign to accompany the intelligence campaign.