Note: The translations of articles from the Hebrew press are prepared by the Government Press Office as a service to foreign journalists in Israel. They express the views of the authors.
THE STRUGGLE OVER THE TICKING BOMB
(Analysis by Oded Granot, "Ma'ariv", Oct 1, 1998, p. 6A)
In the final days before the three-way Washington summit, planned for the
middle of next month, the race to the ticking bomb is intensifying: Hamas
is making every effort to carry out a major attack, while Israel and the
Palestinian Authority are investing considerable effort in an attempt to
neutralize the bomb.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, the counter-efforts notched two important
successes. In Hebron, the Palestinian Authority uncovered a Hamas
laboratory, including a large cache of explosive materials. In Ramallah,
Zaharan Zaharan -- a major Hamas activist from the "fighting ranks" of the
Izzadin al-Kassam units -- was blown up in his car.
The phenomenon of criminal elements from the Israeli Arab sector, who are
involved in smuggling weapons and war materiel to the territories, is
familiar to the GSS, and therefore the claim that such elements were used
to liquidate Zaharan cannot be rejected outright. At the same time, the
other possibility that this was a "work accident", cannot be rejected
either.
In any case, what is important is that the elimination of a Hamas activist
and the capture of two of his cohorts by the Palestinian Authority, along
with the uncovering of the laboratory in Hebron, will it more difficult
for the organization to carry out the revenge attack for the deaths of the
Awadallah brothers, even though these efforts are continuing without
respite.
At a time when all of the security forces' resources are -- justifiably --
being dedicated to foiling large-scale attacks, there is room to wonder at
the security establishment's unfortunate choice of timing to open an
unnecessary front in the struggle with Arab Israeli extremists over the
expropriation of land in Wadi Ara to add to live fire areas for
training.
Why? Because the addition of a militant Islamic element in the Umm al-Fahm
municipal leadership, very close to the date for local elections, along
with the land issue which is sensitive enough for Israeli Arabs, should
have led the decision-makers to think twice that it might be worthwhile to
continue the behind-the-scenes negotiations instead of providing Sheikh
Salah Raid with an opportunity to ride the wave of violence in order to
show leadership.