There is a substantial need for a physical obstacle along the border with Egypt, sources in the Israel Defense Forces said several hours after the Eilat terror attack,
which claimed the lives of three people.
A senior IDF officer said Monday evening that building such an obstacle, such as a fence along the Israel-Egypt border, was necessary in order to meet the challenges posed by terror organizations in the area.
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"We must remember that what happened today was not a record incident and that graver incident could take place. There is no physical, artificial or mental obstacle along the border," he added.
The establishment of a new unit aimed at stopping infiltrators in the Eilat area will be completed in about a month. The unit will be in charge of operating the forces along the Israel-Egypt border.
A large number of forces are already operating in the area, many of them near the resort city of Eilat.
"The border is very long, about 180 kilometers (about 112 miles), and this is a very active spot in criminal terms," the officer explained. "We knew that terror would copy the criminal aspect, as part of the attempts to carry out terror attacks in Israel
due to the difficulty to leave the Gaza Strip."
According to the officer, the army uncovered 11 terror infrastructures along the border in 2006. He noted, however, that it was a very difficult area to locate hostile elements, due to ground obstacles. The terror organizations are also assisted by groups of criminals, who are very professional, and the IDF is facing a very complicated challenge.
The senior officer explained that the physical obstacle issue included a fence and other measures, including intelligence. He added that it was a national project, which was extremely essential in spite of its high cost.
"The threats in this area are as critical as any other threat Israel is facing on other fronts, and therefore this must be treated in the same way," the senior officer said.
Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said earlier that "there is now a problem to secure the entire fence and there are other priorities. Therefore, there is no plan to build a new fence."
Referring to the suicide bomber, the senior officer said that he had crossed the border into Israel in the morning and may have walked from the border to the city of Eilat, where he was picked up by a private car. The officer added that the estimation was that he did not receive any assistance while crossing the border, but said that the issue was still being checked.
_a.jpg "Photo: Yaron Brener")
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