Eiland: Outside influences are destructive to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Photo: Tzvika Tishler
Official: Attack worth 20,000 dollars
Major-General (Res.) Eiland says Palestinian terrorists tempted by payouts from abroad
Privatization of terror: Palestinian terrorists are often tempted by large payouts from foreign elements interested in ongoing terror attacks, Major-General Giora Eiland (Res.) charged during a conference at Tel Aviv University Thursday.
"When a Palestinian receives USD 20,000 dollars for a successful attack, this is a strong enough motive to recruit dozens of people," Eiland said.
Eiland continued: "One can come up with intelligent political programs, but the level of terrorism is, in many way, the deciding factor on what takes place here, and it influences not only maneuvers, but also the mood, and the legitimacy for taking steps."
Eiland pointed to other players in the Middle Eastern arena who have an interest in escalating the confrontation.
"In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there are not only Israelis and Palestinians but also other players, such as Iran for example. The Islamic Jihad is entirely an Iranian organization which runs on Iranian financial and ideological support, and it is free from Palestinian pressure such as elections. Therefore it feels comfortable to operate. But it is not the only one operating here," he said.
Eiland said that "in the last three years, most of the terror attacks aimed at Israelis in Judea or Samaria, or which have been launched from Judea and Samaria, have been carried out by Hizbullah, due to the establishment of a special organization – a kind of a Hizbullah department, which is financed and led by Iran. It is headed by a former Israeli-Arab, and it is recurting Israeli Arabs or Palestinians on a private basis."
"If you like, you can call this the privatization of terrorism. When a Palestinian source receives tens of thousands of dollars for a successful attack, even this motive is powerful enough to attract dozens of people. In the Israeli Palestinian game, unfortunately, there are additional players and their game is not especially positive. If one could theoretically disengage this conflict from the region's influence, the situation could be much better," said Eiland.
