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.
WHO IS BLOWING UP BUSES IN DAMASCUS?
(Commentary by Ze'ev Schiff, "Ha'aretz", Jan 14, 1997, p. B1)
The Syrian government's false charge, that Israel is responsible for the severe act of terrorism by bombing a passenger bus in Damascus, worries Israel. True, it is possible to dismiss the falsehood by asserting that it is Syrian nonsense, but the concern is that the Syrians are planning some mischief. Therefore, Israel turned to the Egyptians and the Americans with a request to inform the Damascus authorities, on its behalf, that we have nothing to do with the savage act of terrorism against Syrian civilians. The messages were delivered to their destination, but Damascus stuck to its position. In addition to the accusations, there are also threats from Damascus that Syria will exact payment from Israel, which is supposed to suffer from terrorist attacks.
What is worrisome and serious in and of itself, is the fact that it is fairly clear that the Syrians know the truth. They are searching for the guilty parties elsewhere, and the best evidence of this are the mass arrests that Syrian intelligence is conducting among the Turkmen population. This is something that cannot be hidden. If they accuse Israel of the attack, why are they detaining so many Turkmen and subjecting them to harsh interrogations? Everything is apparently connected to the murderous struggle being waged between the Kurdish PKK whose commander, Ojilan, lives in Damascus and from there issues the orders to carry out raids on Turkish villages across the border into Turkey. In these raids, Turkish civilians are brutally murdered men, women and children.
All of this has been going on for a long time, and Turkish intelligence apparently decided to respond. At first, there were warning actions against Syrians in Lebanon, actions without casualties. The Syrians already knew then that these were in retaliation for PKK attacks. Syrian intelligence did not remain silent and it too carried out a terrorist bombing in Turkey, again, a warning action without casualties. The next more serious stage, in retaliation for attacks by the PKK, whose headquarters are in Damascus, was apparently the bus bombing. The result is that a country which supports terrorism, and permits attacks by terrorist organizations from its territory, is itself being forced to contend with terrorism.
It is difficult for the Damascus authorities to explain this complication to the Syrian population. Therefore, they chose the easy propaganda excuse: Israel is to blame. However, it is possible that this is more than a search for a scapegoat for propaganda purposes; that it is an attempt to exploit an opportunity in advance of terrorist and violent moves against Israel. The Americans also suspect this and therefore, they were quick to come out against the unsubstantiated Syrian accusation against Israel.
Speaking of terrorism, Damascus is suspected of involvement in the explosion in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on 25 June last year, in which 19 Americans were killed. A Saudi Shi'ite suspect, Jaffar Shawikat, who was detained by the Syrians, suddenly "committed suicide" in jail when the Saudis announced that they intended to question him. The Americans also suspect that someone in the Syrian jail helped him make his "exit" before he could expose his ties. And when the bus explosion occurred in Damascus, the Syrians used this to steer attention away from the investigation in Dhahran, to Israel.
The claim is that Israel also blows up buses in acts of terrorism. Syria is not the only one suspected of being a terrorist state. The Israelis, according to this claim, are in the same terrorism boat, and therefore Israel deserves to have its buses blown up, as has already happened a number of times. The timing, too, is not bad. If the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are encountering serious difficulties, it is clear that a severe terrorist act in Israel by an organization such as Islamic Jihad could put an end to them. This is a good option for Damascus when it suits Syrian needs.
The timing also coincides with the possibility that the Americans will again try to renew the negotiations between Israel and Syria. The Syrians
true to form usually accompany a political move with violence. This can be done in southern Lebanon through Hizballah or other organizations under Syrian influence, or through terrorist organizations like Islamic Jihad which are looking for an opportunity to act inside Israel via suicide terrorism. That is what worries Israel. The concern is that Damascus is planning a new escalation with Israel.