Terrorists planned West Bank attacks
Three Islamic Jihad members were involved in bomb and shooting terror attacks on Israeli civilians; Army and security sources say there is growing threat of Qassam and mortar fire attacks from West Bank
Army sources say that the three Islamic Jihad terrorists killed overnight in the north West Bank in armed exchanges with the IDF were planning to fire Qassam rockets or mortars at north West Bank settlements.
The dead Palestinian gunmen were named as Jamil Abu Saada, 25, Said al-Ashker, 23, who is considered to have been close to Islamic Jihad chiefs, and Raad Ajaj, 31, wanted since 2003.
Ajaj began his terror activities in an Islamic Jihad cell, and in recent years was considered a cell commander. The villages from which the terrorists came, Sayada, Atil, and Ailar, were launching pads for bomb attacks against the Stage night club in Tel Aviv, the car bomb attack in Netanya, and an attack on the settlement of Shavei Shomron.
The three terrorists were armed with Kalashnikovs, pistols, and M16 automatic rifles.
Sources in the army said the three men were also involved in carrying out shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers in the Tul Karem area in the West Bank, as well as kidnapping Palestinians who were suspected of cooperating with Israeli security forces.
The three men were beginning to accumulate knowledge on the development of rockets, and had planned on firing rockets and mortars on north West Bank settlements.
In recent weeks, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades members have claimed that they fired rockets at IDF positions in the north West Bank region.
The IDF has, in the meantime, uncovered rocket factories in Jenin and Tul Karem.
Rocket information being transferred
At the same time, Palestinian terror factions in Gaza have announced that they have transferred information on assembling and firing rockets to their West Bank counterparts.
The IDF and the Shabak security service have been closely tracking the growing threat of Qassam rocket and mortar attacks in the West Bank, following the disengagement.
Shabak chief Yuval Diskin, addressing the threat while talking to reporters, said that there are places in the West Bank which are seeing concerted efforts by terror groups to develop rockets and mortars that can reach Israeli territory.
Diskin added that Israel viewed such attempts to develop rockets as 'time bombs', and that the intelligence community viewed the West Bank as the next central front in the war on terrorism, following the IDF's exit from the Gaza Strip.
Documents prepared by a Gaza based Hamas affiliated research center, al-Mistakbal, and released by Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), spell out three possible scenarios which could unfold in the future:
1. A calming of the confrontation
2. A limited conflict in the West Bank
3. A renewal of general violence ("the third intifada")
The most likely scenario, according to the document, is a limited, West Bank based confrontation, which could erupt after a period of calm.
The analysis repeatedly states that the Qassam rockets will be the central strategic weapon for Hamas in the short term future. The 'researcher' does not rule out the continued use of suicide bombing, but says that, "after the building of the fence, these have become more difficult."
Conclusions at the end of the analysis state that the Hamas (and other terror groups) will not disarm, and will not end their armed conflict against Israel, despite expected pressure by the Palestinian Authority for them to do so. The author of the document says that armed operations will be renewed, "albeit after a period of calm."
Efrat Weiss, Ali Waked and Roee Nahmias contributed to this report
