More details on the uncovering of Hamas cell

Editor's note: This story has been superceded by today's special report on the suicide bombers's identity, but this story is still important for a full understanding of the issues involved.

Despite the fact that they have discovered the names of four of the five suicide bombers who blew themselves up in West Jerusalem on July 30 and September 4, Israel is still worried that the Hamas infrastructure in the occupied territories is strong enough to initiate another suicide attack against Israelis. While Israeli officials praised their General Security Services for uncovering the identities of the four suicide strikers, they still admitted that what they call "hot alerts" have continued to flow into the security system warning of a potential suicide attack within a very short time, perhaps days.

But in the meantime, the village of Assira Ash-Shamaliya near Nablus, where the four suicide bombers allegedly came from, has still been besieged by Israeli troops and on Wednesday, clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers and local villagers who took to the streets upon hearing the news of the revelation of the Hamas cell in their village. Reports from within the besieged village said that at least 85 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli soldiers, and all for alleged membership or affiliation with Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement which Israel holds responsible for a series of suicide attacks over the past few years.

The first to feel relief from the revelation of the four suicide strikers' identites were perhaps the Palestinians themselves. The Palestinian National Authority, whom Israel had blamed for the attacks saying it did nothing to stop the perpetrators from launching their attacks from within the PNA areas, felt it was the most appropriate time to stage a new campaign against the Israeli government, underlining the fact that the perpetrators had come from a village which is still under Israel's exclusive security control.

According to the Oslo Agreements, the PNA was to be responsible for security only in Area A which falls totally under its control. Security in Areas B and C was left in the hands of Israel, though the Palestinian negotiators, prior to signing the agreements, had insisted that security in Area B be divided with Israel. After the four perpetrators of the last two suicide bomb attacks had fled from a Palestinian prison in Nablus in 1995, Palestinian security forces could not pursue them into the village of Assira Ash-Shamaliya because they were not allowed to do so according to the letter of the agreements.

But Israel has so far refused to admit any responsibility and a new tone was voiced by sernior officials claiming that though the perpetrators of the last two suicide attacks had come from Area B, their operators still reside in the PNA areas from which they still control all operations of Hamas military wing. Israeli sources claimed that Hamas has decided to operate out of Area B in order to avoid causing any embarassment to the PNA and so that it would not be chased by Palestinian security forces.

Israeli deputy defense minister, Silvan Shalom, claimed that those who sent the suicide bombers "are hiding in the autonomous territories, and the PNA had failed by not preventing them from carrying out their plans to perpetrate terror attacks in Jerusalem." Shalom said that Arafat "consciously refrained from confronting Hamas believing that he might have come to some strategic decision that he does not want to fight Hamas on the one hand, when, from his perspective, he does not see himself nearing his goal, which is an independent Palestinian state."

But Dr. Ahmad Tibi, PNA President Yasser Arafat's advisor on Israeli affairs, rejected the claims against the PNA and stressed that the Jerusalem bombers came from territory under the authority of the Israeli security services. Tibi, who has lately been very outspoken in the war of propaganda and misinformation that involved both the PNA and Israel regarding the two suicide bombing attacks said that one “cannot say that Yasser Arafat is not doing a thing. Someone here is trying to evade responsibility. Those people came from area B, from right under the nose of the Israeli Prime Minister.”

Colonel Mohammed Dahlan, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security in the Gaza Strip, confirmed that neither Hamas nor the Islamic Jihad or any other opposition group has a strong infrastructure in the PNA areas. He said that none of those opposition groups is strong enough to launch attacks from within the PNA areas. Dahlan denied Israeli allegations that the operators of Hamas cells still work out of the PNA and said Israel was looking only for excuses to discredit the Paelstinian National Authority. Dahlan's statement came several hours before PNA security forces in Nablus arrested Wednesday some 18 members of Hamas. Palestinian official sources said the arrest had nothing to do with the exposure of the Assira cell and added that those were arrested because the PNA had enough reasons to do so and not as a result of any Israeli requests.

Dr. Nabil Shaath, another PNA senior member, criticized Israel for not supplying the PNA with any official information on the issue. “Instead of us hearing things from Israeli journalists, the time has come for us to hear everything from Netanyahu himself,” Shaath said. “Israel has to remember that we are its only partners in the peace process. Despite this, it did not pass us any information and did not request any security cooperation on this issue."

Israeli officers had claimed that those operating the suicide bombers’ cell are currently hiding in the PNA areas and that the Palestinians know the identities of some of them. Israel demanded that the PNA arrest them immediately out of concern that they will attempt to have other operatives carry out additional attacks in Israel. Israelis officials assess that the PNA wants in return for arresting those operators something back in the diplomatic arena, such as the implementation of the second phase of Israeli troop redeployment in the West Bank, the opening of the safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the opening of the Gaza International Airport.

Israeli security experts had determined the identity of four suicide bombers with the help of the army, the police and the biology department at the Forensics Institute which conducted DNA tests not only on bodies of the suicide bombers but also their potential relatives. Palestinians who had been arrested for various periods of time over the past few months said blood samples were taken from them against their will to be matched with blood of the four suicide bombers. When Israeli troops stormed the village of Assira Ash-Shamaliya, the soldiers began house-to-house searches and took by force in most of the cases blood samples of the relatives for DNA testing.The forcible blood tests conducted on relatives had raised speculations concerning the ethics of taking blood samples for DNA testing but Nitzah Eyal, a lawyer from the International Center for Law, Health and Ethics in Israel said that "national security interests are greater than the interest in preserving medical confidentiality for Hamas detainees, even if we’re talking about DNA testing taken from them by force."

Meanwhile, Israeli army and security officers were amazed at the decision of the prime minister’s office to release an official announcement with details from the investigation into the Jerusalem attacks while the GSS had attempted, almost by force, to prevent the release of any details of the investigation. The GSS feared it would harm progress in the investigation itself and damage the chances of exposing the identities of not only the suicide bombers but also their operators and the network that supported them. The GSS even took out a court order banning the release of any details. The military censor was also instructed to ban any news or information on the subject. But all of a sudden, it was Netanyahu himself who decided to break the censorship rules and release part of the classified information. The Palestinian press in the PNA areas, and mainly in Ramallah, however, had published most of the details earlier since it is not subject to Israeli military censorship.