Israel increases security in expectation of suicide attacks
Palestine-Israel, Local, 4/1/1998

Israeli army and police went on alert to avert any likely suicide bombing attacks after the Palestinian government officially announced Wednesday that a leading Hamas member was killed in a mysterious car blast last Monday in the city of Ramallah, West Bank. The feeling in Israel after the announcement was that the countdown for the upcoming attack has started in what will probably be portrayed as revenge for Sharif's murder.

The Palestinian government said that three bullet holes were found in Sharif's body, two in the chest and one in the leg. Palestinian Preventive Security Chief in the West Bank, Colonel Jibril Rajoub, said that postmortem examination of Sharif's body showed he was shot dead at least three hours before a Fiat Uno car that was stolen from Israel exploded in the Beitounya area of Ramallah.

Hamas leaders rushed to threaten that the assassination of their man No. 1 after Ayyash "will not pass unpunished." Hamas sources noted that a similar incident which took place back in 1995, when Hamas No. 1 military leader Yihya Ayyash was killed by Israeli agents, had led to a number of suicide bombing attacks in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ashkelon. Those attacks had wrecked Israel and led to the grave defeat of the former Labor Party leader Shimon Peres in the 1996 general election. Ayyash, who was also known as the engineer for his expertise in building explosive devices and detonators, was blown up to death when plastic explosives that were planted inside his cellular phone were detonated, apparently by Israeli secret service agents.

At the time, Israel neither admitted it was involved in Ayyash's assassination. Nor did it deny any such involvement, leaving room for press coverage to portray the Israeli secret service as a super security guardian in the country, mainly after their failure, which led a few months earlier to the tragic assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Today, Israel is very careful not to leave room for this kind of accusations. It knows that even without any indirect hint indicating its involvement, the motive is already there for Hamas members to renew their suicide bombing attacks in retaliation for Sharif's death.

The Israeli army took excessive security measures and soldiers manning roadblocks on entrances from the West Bank into Israel were put on top alert. A drive through the Israeli army roadblock on the northern entrance to Jerusalem from Ramallah lasted for some 25 minutes while in normal days it would not take more than seven to ten minutes. The soldiers literally questioned every driver and checked the identity cards of every passenger in the cars that passed in front of them. Another would open car trunks and check if any suspicious objects were found in them.

Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu denied any involvement by Israel in the killing of Sharif and said his government had nothing to do with the incident. Israel threw shadows of doubt on the Palestinian postmortem report that Sharif was shot before the blast. "Even if he was shot before the car blast, there is always the possibility that he might have been shot by Palestinian elements," said a senior source in Netanyahu's office.

Israeli sources blamed the Palestinian government for what they called Palestinian attempts to ride over the case and rid them of responsibility for any future suicide attack which Hamas might carry out in retaliation for the Sharif assassination. "He was one of the most abominable among the terrorists who were active in the Judea and Samaria (West Bank). We assess it was a work accident and we have nothing to do with the blast," Israeli defense minister Yitzhak Mordechai told IBA television on Wednesday night.

Israel had wanted Sharif, code-named Engineer 2, since August 1995 when a bus blast in West Jerusalem's Ramat Eshkol neighborhood killed and wounded some 50 Israelis. Since that day, Israeli sources said, Sharif became in charge of Hamas cells and was allegedly behind sending suicide bombers to carry out attacks in Jerusalem.

The engineer No. 2 was 32 years old. At his house in Beit Hanina, a mourning hall was set early in the morning, right after the family knew of their son's death in the car blast in Ramallah two days earlier. Family members said they were convinced that the Israeli Shin Bet, Hebrew acronym for General Security Services, were responsible and said that Shin Bet agents were the ones who killed him. They said that Israeli Shin Bet agents came to their house on Tuesday night and showed them photos of their son. Israel did not deny that its agents were at the house of the Sharif family but claimed they were there only after the Palestinian authorities told them that Sharif was the one who was killed in the car blast. The parents arrived at the Ramallah hospital where they identified the body of their son. "Ayyash was the engineer No. One. Israel killed him but more than one hundred of his alike came to replace him. Now our son is killed and we guess thousands will replace him," said Mohyiddin's brother.

Palestinian National Security Forces commander, Brigadier General Haj Ismail released a statement confirming it was Sharif whose body was identified. He said the Palestinian government views with utmost seriousness the "very dangerous crime that would destabilize the PNA and the security of the areas under its control."

"If the information is true it means that the Israelis are still involved in assassination campaigns and illegal acts within the PNA areas and this in itself shows that state terror continues to be the policy of the government of Israel," said a senior Palestinian source in Ramallah.

But officially the Palestinian government has not come out with the final statement, apparently waiting for the complete report on the investigation that Brigadier General Tewfiq Tirawi is due to present to the Palestinian government within a few days. Tirawi, head of the Palestinian General Security Services in the West Bank, was assigned in charge of the investigation that the Palestinian government opened to solve the mystery that surrounded the car blast incident.

Israeli security sources said Sharif was behind the suicide bus bombing in Ramat Eshkol neighborhood in West Jerusalem early in 1995 and that he was supposed to be the suicide bomber but changed his mind in the last minute and sent someone else. Since then, those sources said, he became responsible for a series of suicide bombings that were carried out by the Izziddin Al Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement. Those attacks took place in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, on the southern Mediterranean coast.

Adel Awadallah is another Hamas fugitive whom Israel claims was Sharif's first hand aide and was involved in a series of suicide attacks in West Jerusalem in July and August last year. Awadallah is believed to be hiding somewhere in the West Bank and is likely to obtain the title of Engineer No. 3. Two more leading members of Hamas are still wanted by Israel for alleged involved in the suicide bombings of last year and Israel claims that they are at large inside the Palestinian areas. The two are Mohammed Deif, whom Israel claims is living in the Gaza Strip and Mohammed Abu Hanoud in the West Bank.

Previous Stories:
  Mystery of explosion victim revealed: Hamas top official   (4/1/1998)
  Hamas and Arafat and the King   (10/7/1997)
  SPECIAL REPORT part 2: The release of Hamas's spiritual leader, Sheikh Yassin   (10/1/1997)

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