Netanyahu contradicts his chief intelligence officer
Palestine, Politics, 9/23/1997

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu changed his tone Tuesday as he spoke of the perpetrators of the latest suicide bomb attacks in West Jerusalem, saying that they had enjoyed guidance, training and support from their commanders within the Palestinian National Authority areas. Since the attacks, one in July and one last month, Netanyahu had maintained that the perpetrators had come from within the PNA areas and subsequently his government adopted a series of measures that were aimed at punishing the PNA. By Monday evening, Israeli army and General Security Services investigators had concluded that the perpetrators of the two attacks had come from areas in the West Bank still under Israel's full security control.

The concentrated arrest campaign among Hamas members and affiliates in the village of Assirah Ash-Shamaliya near Nablus has led to the uncovering of a Hamas cell that Israel says was responsible for the two suicide attacks. At least 500 Hamas members had been reportedly arrested by since a July 30th bomb attack in Mahaneh Yehuda market in West Jerusalem, in one of the largest intensive manhunts for members and supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement in the West Bank.

Deputy head of the Palestinian Preventive Security in the West Bank, Sameh Kanaan, said in Nablus on Tuesday that among those arrested by Israel in the village of Assira Ash-Shamaliya were a number of Hamas members who had fled Palestinian prisons last year and sought refuge in the village, which is defined as Area B, where the PNA has only civil authority while Israel holds full security responsiblity.

Palestinian sources stressed that the arrests in the past few days by Israel in Area B had been carried out without Palestinian coordination. The sources expressed concern that this wave of arrests could be stretched into Area A, the territory under complete Palestinian control, leading to direct clash between Palestinian and Israeli troops.

Since the attack at the Mahane Yehuda market on July 30, more than 500 Palestinians have been investigated and administrative arrest orders were issued against 300. About 30 Palestinians have been detained for questioning in the villages around Nablus where the investigation has recently been focused.

The village of Assirah had become the center of Israeli army activity following intelligence reports in Israel that said the perpetrators of the two attacks had come from this village. Over the past few days, hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been encircling the village in an effort to track down the squads which sent the suicide strikers to Mahane Yehuda and the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced, while in Austria, that Israel was close to revealing the identity of the suicide bombers and hinted that they had come from the Palestinian territories, but did not go into specific details as to whether they took off from within the PNA areas or from areas that are still under Israeli occupation and hence are under Israel's exclusive security grip.

Sources in the Netanyahu entourage had confirmed that Israel has precise information about the identities of the suicide strikers and information about the places from which they came. Israeli sources said that Israel is not officially disclosing what it knows at this stage because it is waiting for the Palestinians to arrest some of the people involved. But head of the Israeli military intelligence, Major General Moshe Yaalon admitted openly on Monday that the perpetrators had come from Area B, and not from Area A as previously had been suggested by Isreal. Immediately after Yaalon's statement, Netanyahu had to rephrase his wordings and said that the perpetrators of the suicide attacks had training, guidance and logistic support from their superiors who live in the PNA areas. He reiterated his claim that the PNA was not doing enough to fight Hamas and other Islamic fundamentalist groups.

Previous Stories:
  SPECIAL REPORT: Classified information on suicide bombers revealed   (9/12/1997)
  Blast follow-up   (9/5/1997)
  Israelis killed in suicide attack   (7/31/1997)

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