Background: What Haaretz's Arafat interviewers declined to mention about
Bethlehem

Aaron Lerner 19 June 2004

On the surface this interview by Oslophiles Landau and Eldar appears to be a
serious interview asking hard questions. That's, unfortunately, on the
surface. Because, unfortunately, the purpose of the exercise may be more to
serve a political agenda as it to get at the truth about Arafat's thoughts.

Consider this line:

"As an example of his ability to takes decisions and take security control
of an area, Arafat cited the case of Bethlehem. After the siege there of the
Church of the Nativity, he recalled, the PA had faithfully implemented the
agreement that ended the siege, deporting activists to Gaza and to various
European countries and making sure they stayed there. Order in Bethlehem
itself, moreover, was fully restored and maintained by PA security forces.
It was entirely unjustified, therefore, he added, the Israel Defense Forces
to retake control of the town in recent weeks...

Jewish state? `Definitely' By David Landau and Akiva Eldar Haaretz 18 June
2004
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/440479.html

Why did Landau and Eldar decline to share the information below with their
Haaretz readers? Is it because they embrace the view "All the news that
fits (our agenda) we print"?

Bethlehem - Information attributed to security sources
Israel Government Press Office - 22 February 2004

Seven months after the transfer of security control over the area of
Bethlehem, Palestinian security agencies have yet to stem terrorist
activities emanating from the area.

"Five-hundred security personal armed with light weapons, with their
vehicles, returned to Bethlehem.The assignment is to safeguard public order
and prevent firing and other Palestinian activity." (El-Arabia TV, July 2,
2003)

Terrorist attacks and attempts to carry out terrorist attacks which emanated
from the area of Bethlehem.

· On July 1, 2003, Bethlehem was turned over to Palestinian control.
In the more then four months since, little has been done. The suicide
bombing attack, which took place this morning, February 22, 2004, in
Jerusalem, in which 8 Israelis were murdered ,amongst them an Israeli
soldier, is more evidence of the absence of any real preventive effort made
by Palestinian security agencies.

Lately, numerous terrorist attacks have emanated from the area of Bethlehem,
including:
· The murderous suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem on January 29,
2004, in which 11 Israelis were murdered and over 40 injured.
· A shooting attack on November 18, 2003, at the IDF checkpoint on
the Tunnels Road, killing two IDF soldiers. Several additional shooting
attacks, which took place in the area, and resulted in no injuries.
· On Oct. 24, 2003, a Fatah terrorist cell originating in Bethlehem
opened fire at an IDF post in the Tunnels Checkpoint. Samir Amir, an officer
of Palestinian military intelligence who participated in the attack, was
arrested by Israeli security forces on November 9, 2003.

Since transfer of Bethlehem to Palestinian control, many other incidents
have been recorded. The most notable have been the following:

· On July 18, 25-year old Saher Salam of Sawahara (northeast of
Bethlehem) an operative of Palestinian Special Police and a member of the
Popular Front was arrested by Israeli Security Forces. He was caught at the
Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in Jerusalem carrying a pistol and a knife. His
investigation revealed that he intended to kidnap his Jewish employer, as
well as the fact that he had been involved in previous terrorist attacks
while serving in the Palestinian Special Police. He left his Bethlehem home
over a month ago, following the assumption of Palestinian control, in order
to implement the kidnapping. In his investigation he further confessed that
while serving in the Palestinian Special Police he acted with the PFLP and
participated in various shooting incidents, planned the assassination of the
mayor of Jerusalem, carried out an attack at an Israeli civilian driver,
fired mortar shells at Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, planted mines in an
attempt to attack IDF forces, planned the infiltration of a car-bomb into
Jerusalem and expressed readiness to carry out an attack in which he would
open fire at civilian targets in Jerusalem.

· On August 2, Israeli security forces detained 18-year old Rabhi
Barqat an Islamic Jihad terrorist, resident of the Hindizy neighborhood in
Bethlehem who planned to carry out a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
Information about his intentions was conveyed to Bethlehem Palestinian
security apparatus which detained the terrorist and released after a very
short period of time, without further action.

· On August 27, 39-year old Ali Sarhat of the Jabel neighborhood in
Bethlehem, carried out a stabbing attack against a Border Police soldier at
Rachel's Tomb.

· In addition, the Bethlehem area was the site of two stone-throwing
attacks causing the injuries of two Israeli civilians. Recently Israeli
Security Forces arrested a Bethlehem Hamas terrorist cell which was in the
planning phase of terrorist attacks.

Detentions

It appears that many arrests carried out by the Palestinians were aimed more
at demonstrating their seriousness to Israel and the U.S. rather than to
serve as real preventive action. Indeed, many of the detainees are set free
within a short period of time and in the wake of superficial preventive
action.

*Samir Amir - Islamic Jihad terrorist, who was arrested, released and
arrested again to prevent being detained by the IDF, only to be released for
the second time. It should be noticed that the Samir is simultaneously an
Islamic Jihad terrorist and a member of Palestinian Preventive Security.

*Ismail Dargam - the Palestinians were asked to detain him, given his
intention to carry out a suicide bombing. Dargam was summoned for
interrogation by the Palestinians and released.

*Jamal Hamamra - the Palestinians were asked to detain him, given his
leadership of a Hizbulla terrorist cell guided from Lebanon, which had
planned to carry out terrorist acts against Israeli targets. Twice, Hamamra
was arrested and released shortly then after. Today he is under arrest for
the third time, enjoying comfortable conditions, and is not subject to
interrogation. Besides his terrorist activity, Hamamra is an officer of
Palestinian Preventive Security.

*Rabia Rabia - the Palestinians were asked to arrest him as a member of the
Hamamre terrorist cell. His investigation revealed his involvement in
terrorism, yet he was released. Rabia is an officer of Palestinian
Preventive Security.

*Naim Abu Hania - a member of the Popular Front of Bethlehem, who was
arrested by Palestinian security for planning the kidnapping of Israelis,
and was released shortly thereafter.

*Ali Tzalahat - member of Fatah who guided terrorist attacks from Bethlehem,
was arrested by Palestinian security, transferred to Jericho, escaped and
was not arrested again even though he returned to Bethlehem. Tahat is a
member of Palestinian National Security Organization.

Furthermore, on many occasions the handling of a specific terrorist is
entrusted with a specific security official due to family kinship with, or
for being a neighbor of the said terrorist, even though it has been
demonstrated that such proximity undermines the effectiveness of the
security measures. Moreover, the Palestinians ignore evidence that assigning
officials to positions outside their residential area enhances their
effectiveness. It appears that there is no intention to assign officials to
cases in a way that facilitates their effectiveness.

Consequently Bethlehem has emerged as a safe heaven for those who seek to
escape Israeli security forces and take shelter with the Palestinian
security agencies.

New recruits:

In order to provide immunity from Israel, as well as to empower individuals
to carry arms, the Bethlehem Security Agencies recruit activists and members
of the various terrorist organizations to their ranks. Similarly, the arrest
of such individuals by Israel for militant activities did not stand in the
way of them returning to duty with the Palestinian Security Agencies once
released from detention.

Hand over and detonation of explosives:

Since IDF forces pulled out of Bethlehem a number of reports regarding the
discovery of explosive devices, explosive belts and weaponry in Bethlehem
were received. Despite the Israeli request that Israel would examine the
findings, the explosives were handled by the Palestinians themselves. Many
of the findings were photographed for propaganda purposes. Such an example
is an incident that occurred Aug. 14, in which the Palestinian security
services staged the discovery of two explosive belts in Bethlehem, when the
explosion had been caused by a phony device. The staging meant to prove that
the Palestinians thwart attacks in Bethlehem, prior to a meeting between Mr.
Dahlan and Israel's Minister of Defense.

Today, there are very visible organized preventive activites carried out by
the Palestinian security services in Bethlehem. However, the Palestinian
general intelligence and the Preventative intelligence are limiting the
preventative activity that is many times used for propaganda. In fact, there
are no arrests of terrorist operatives that pose a threat to the region and
no weapons were taken from the terrorist organizations. Any activity made
against the terror infrastructure is characterized by fear and does not
offer a genuine change.

The Palestinians focus on arresting those who had committed attacks and do
not operate in order to thwart future attacks. In addition, Bethlehem has
become a safe haven for wanted operatives that are not being dealt by the
Palestinian services. The main problem lies in the fact that there has been
no genuine direction to dismantle the terrorist infrastructures in the city.
These infrastructures use the relative calm and the fact the Israel does not
operate in Bethlehem to re-establish and gain power.

The following is a comparison between the number of suicide attacks
originated from Bethlehem while the city was under Palestinian security
responsibility and while it was under Israeli security responsibility. This
comparison clearly shows that the all suicide attacks originated from
Bethlehem were carried out while the city was under Palestinian security
responsibility.

Area under Palestinian security control September 2000 - Defensive Shield
(April 2002)
Many suicide attacks from Bethlehem resulting in hundreds of Israeli deaths
and casualties.

Area under Israeli security control September 2000 - Defensive Shield (April
2002)- 15/05/02
Zero suicide attacks

Area under Palestinian security control 15/05/02-26/05/0222/05/03
suicide attack carried out by a Fatah terrorist from Bethlehem in Rishon
Le-Zion. Two Israelis killed, 36 injured.

Area under Israeli security control27/05/02- End of may 02
Israeli security forces arrested a cell that intended to carry out suicide
attacks with car bombs. The members of the cell are all members of the
Palestinian general intelligence in Bethlehem.
Zero suicide attacks

Area under Palestinian security control Beginning of June
2002-19/06/0218/06/02
suicide attack carried out by a Hamas terrorist from Bethlehem in a bus at
the Pat Junction in Jerusalem, 19 Israelis killed, 50 injured.

Area under Israeli security control 19/06/02 - 20/08/0230/07/02
suicide attack carried out by a Fatah terrorist from Bethlehem in a fallafel
store In the Nevi'im st. in Jerusalem. Five Israelis injured.

Area under Palestinian security control 20/08/02- 22/11/0221/11/02
suicide attack carried out by a Hamas terrorist from Bethlehem in a bus at
the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood In Jersalem, 11 Israelis killed, 45
injured.

Area under Israeli security control 22/11/02- 01/01/03
Israeli security forces dismantled a Hamas infrastructure that was preparing
suicide attacks in Israel.
Zero suicide attacks.

Area under Palestinian security control 01/07/03 - today
Re-establishment of terrorist infrastructures in Bethlehem, the PA shows no
will to operate against the infrastructures that constantly prepare attacks.