Separation fence. Not hermetically sealed
Photo: Dan Balilti
Suicide bomber
Photo: Channel 2
Netanya attack: Security fence fails, again
Defense establishment officials estimate suicide bomber came to Netanya directly from northern West Bank; say 'territories cannot be hermetically sealed'
The defense establishment has launched an investigation into the Netanya terror attack and
is trying to locate the suicide bomber's point of departure.
According to estimations, the bomber, Lutfi Amin abu-Salem, departed from one of the villages in the northern West Bank.
These estimations have once again raised the issue of the separation fence and the supervision of the passage from the territories into Israel.
The IDF has been conducting comprehensive detention operations against terror infrastructures in the northern West Bank.
It is unclear how the suicide bomber managed to arrive in Netanya with the explosive device, but one of the possibilities examined is that he used one of the agricultural crossings in the separation fence.
There are a number of agricultural crossings in the fence, and in addition there are crossings in which IDF soldiers conduct security checks randomly and according to intelligence information.
In the second type of crossings, not all cars are thoroughly checked, but mainly those carrying Israeli citizens.
Another possibility is that the bomber infiltrated Israel through breaches in the fence in the Jerusalem area. A number of infiltration attempts by terrorists have already been thwarted in the area.
'Not every terror attack can be stopped'
In the past few months, the IDF and the Shin Bet have foiled a number of terror attack attempts by detaining wanted Palestinians before they managed to enter Israel. However, following the Netanya bombing Monday, IDF officials admitted that the territories could not be hermetically sealed in order to reach a situation of no terror attacks.
"We are continuing our detention operations and have been operating for a long time now against terror infrastructures, mainly in the northern West Bank and mainly against the Islamic Jihad," IDF sources said Monday.
"We have also detained and hit a number of senior wanted terrorists, but we cannot always reach all of them and stop every terror attack that has already taken shape," they said.
In the past few weeks the security check level has been raised along the border fence gates, but IDF officials have clarified that not every vehicle could be disassembled to little pieces in order to search for an explosive belt.
The IDF is expected to hold consultations in its headquarters following the Netanya bombing. The intensive detention operations in the northern West Bank are expected to continue and may even be extended to target Islamic Jihad members in the Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz held a security consultation Monday in order to examine additional possibilities for operation, including a larger military operation in the northern West Bank.
