Palestinian Terrorism in 2007

9 Jan 2008

This report summarizes the data and major trends that characterized
Palestinian terror in 2007, broken down by areas, and general, prominent
trends, such as the activities of the Palestinian security apparatus, the
growing strength of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and exploitation of
humanitarian allowances.

Terrorism 2007 report.pdf
www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/75FC2B98-A581-4C89-88AC-7C3C1D1BC097/0/Terrorism2007report.pdf

This past year brought significant changes that affect the entire region.
The most conspicuous was Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip, which altered
the reality in the Palestinian arena by creating de facto two separate
Palestinian entities in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

Despite the changes in the Palestinian arena and Hamas's takeover, we were
witness in 2007 to a continuation of the substantial reduction in the number
of suicide attacks, and as a result, in the number of persons killed. This
reduction resulted primarily from the combined efforts of the Israeli
Security Agency, the Israel Defense Forces, and the Israel Police.

In 2007, there was one suicide attack (in Eilat, on 29 January), in which
three Israeli civilians were killed. The suicide terrorist came from the
Gaza Strip via the "Hai Route" (Gaza > Sinai/Egypt > Israel), and was
dispatched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. In
2006, by comparison, there were six suicide attacks.

The terrorist groups in Judea and Samaria failed to carry out a suicide
attack this year (in 2006, they carried out four such attacks). Also, there
was a drop in attempts to carry out terrorist attacks that were actively
interdicted. In 2007, 29 terrorist attacks were interdicted, compared to 37
in 2006. It is important to note that, of the attacks that were actively
interdicted in 2007, six were suicide attacks planned to take place inside
Israel.

During the past year, the Gaza Strip became the primary "manufacturer" of
terror, based on all relevant parameters: number of attacks, the vast
majority being high-trajectory gunfire from the Gaza Strip (although of a
lesser magnitude than in 2006), number of persons killed in the attacks (the
only suicide attack in 2007 originated in the Strip), and also number of
alerts.

In Judea and Samaria, on the other hand, though no decline in motivation was
discerned, the volume of terror fell, primarily a result of Israeli
preventive action. This year, too, the terrorist infrastructure in Judea and
Samaria sought to obtain operational capabilities with respect to rockets -
primarily under guidance from Gaza. Also prominent this past year was the
"awakening" of the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, with
many of its actions being uncovered and interdicted.