Er zijn recentelijk vanuit Oost-Jeruzalem 3 aanvallen gepleegd op Joden in West-Jeruzalem. Veel meer aanslagen werden voorkomen door verdachten tijdig op te pakken, maar bij dergelijke, schijnbaar spontane eenmans-acties falen de inlichtingendiensten. Daarom wil men opnieuw overgaan tot het slopen van de huizen van daders als afschrikwekkende maatregel, daar hun familie of andere medebewoners de dupe zouden worden van hun acties. Dit is zeer omstreden, immers de huisgenoten zijn niet noodzakelijk op de hoogte van de plannen van de terroristen of in staat om die te verhinderen. Verder is nauwelijks te meten of deze afschrikking ook effect heeft.
Wouter
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Last update - 07:28 23/07/2008
Israel keen to crack down on East Jerusalem
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004690.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004690.html
Responding to the sharp rise in terrorist attacks in the capital, carried out by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities are keen to expedite procedures that would authorize the resumption of punitive measures, such as the razing of terrorists' homes.
For the second time in three weeks, a Palestinian terrorist went on a rampage with a bulldozer in central Jerusalem. Twenty four Israeli civilians were injured, one seriously, before the driver was shot and killed by a Border Police officer and a civilian. The attack occured close to 2 P.M., near the King David Hotel, where Barack Obama, the presumptive U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, stayed Tuesday night.
Security sources expressed concern Tuesday at the sharp rise in the number of attacks in the capital, and the role of East Jerusalem's Arab residents in them. Since the start of the year there have been five major attacks in Jerusalem, claiming the lives of 12 Israelis.
During the first half of the year, the Shin Bet security service arrested 71 Palestinians from East Jerusalem suspected of being involved in attacks, compared to 37 such arrests during the entire year of 2007.
During the first half of the year, the Shin Bet security service arrested 71 Palestinians from East Jerusalem suspected of being involved in attacks, compared to 37 such arrests during the entire year of 2007.
In the first seven years of the second intifada (which began in September 2000), some 270 East Jerusalem residents were arrested for similar suspicions.
The same security sources said that the last three attacks in West Jerusalem (at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva and the two bulldozer attacks) constitute a new challenge for Israel, and stressed that at present there is no means to counter them.
The combination of a lone terrorist, who decides to attack without having an organizational structure behind him, and the freedom of movement an Israeli identity card guarantees East Jerusalem Arabs, constitutes a weak point in Israel's defenses, making it difficult to prevent similar attacks in the future.
The security sources further said that in the near future, efforts will be made to accelerate those administrative processes that will result in the razing of the homes of the two bulldozer terrorists from East Jerusalem.
Israel ceased destroying the homes of terrorists in 2005. However, as a result of the recent attacks in the capital, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak called for resuming the punitive acts.
In spite of their declarations, the matter ran into bureaucratic obstacles. One way of bypassing them is for the head of Home Front Command, Yair Golan, to issue an order to destroy the home of the Mercaz Harav terrorist.
If the order is approved and survives the Supreme Court appeal of the terrorists' families, the homes of the two bulldozer terrorists will also be razed.
A security source claimed last night that one of the reasons for the delay in destroying the homes is that the Shin Bet has yet to officially rule that the attacks were terror-related. However, the Shin Bet has refuted this claim, calling it "baseless."
In recent talks among security officials, additional steps for deterring East Jerusalem terrorists were discussed. Past ideas were revived, including that of expelling the families of terrorists involved in serious attacks inside the city, and revoking the Israeli identity cards of their immediate relatives.
Such measures would require legislative changes, and legal experts expressed doubts whether such proposals would be approved by the Supreme Court.
Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin is in favor of resuming the policy. Speaking at the Knesset prior to Tuesday's attack, he said that Israel faces a "problem of deterrence" in East Jerusalem because it lacks any effective punitive tool, like razing homes.
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