Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
- Posts
- 30,949
The Soviet Commandos used the same tactics to get their embassy people released in Beirut. It seems to be a universal language we should try.
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - From his West Bank hide-out, Palestinian Ali Ajouri dispatched the pair of suicide bombers who slipped into a poor Tel Aviv neighborhood last month and killed two Israelis and three foreign workers.
Israel's response was predictably swift, and it introduced a new dimension: Ajouri's extended family, regardless of whether they abetted his militancy, has faced punitive measures that Israel says are meant to deter attacks by making potential bombers worry about their relatives.
Two days after the July 17 suicide bombing planned by Ajouri, Israeli soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. and ordered all 25 family members out of their three-story cinderblock home while still in their nightclothes. Explosives were placed inside, and a thunderous blast brought down the structure and damaged four adjacent homes in the crowded Askar refugee camp in Nablus.
Three of Ajouri's siblings are now in Israeli custody for allegedly assisting him, including his sister Intisar, 34, accused of sewing the bomb belts worn by the attackers. Intisar and brother Kifah, 29, are appearing daily in an Israeli military court and face expulsion to the Gaza Strip - another new Israeli tactic.
This week, Israeli soldiers tracked down Ajouri himself and a fellow militant as they attempted to move between two villages near Jenin, north of Nablus. A barrage of gunfire from helicopters and armored vehicles killed both men in an open field early Tuesday.
"We are still living, but it is no different from death," said Ajouri's 63-year-old mother, Rashida, who sat weeping on the floor in a room filled with nearly 50 women paying condolences Wednesday.
She said her children were not involved in violence. But Israel said Ali Ajouri orchestrated the Tel Aviv bombing, and his colleagues in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades confirmed he headed a local cell that organized the attack.
Despite its overwhelming military strength, Israel is searching for ways to stop Palestinians who strap crude, homemade bombs to their waists and blow themselves up in crowds of Israeli civilians.
Israel has arrested thousands of Palestinians. The army occupies seven of the eight cities and towns in the West Bank. Israel has carried out dozens of "targeted killings," with security forces saying last month they had killed or arrested almost every senior Palestinian militant.
Yet the bombers keep coming. Seventy-five have struck in less than two years, killing more than 250 Israelis. An additional 140 Palestinians were captured before launching attacks, Israel said this week.
Israel is now taking aim at the families of bombers by blowing up their homes and threatening to deport relatives to Gaza, away from their well-rooted lives in the West Bank.
Mordechai Kedar, a researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, said Israel is using a "combination of tools - house demolitions, exile, arrests and eliminations, according to the need."
Israeli troops blew up four homes of militants Thursday, bringing to 18 the number demolished since the practice began last month.
Israel initially threatened to deport entire families to Gaza, but Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein ruled the government could expel only those involved with bombings.
Kedar, the analyst, agreed it's difficult to deter someone who's prepared to kill himself. But he said if bombers "understand they are causing more damage (to their families) than it's worth, then that will perhaps deter them."
The only tangible result to date is that militant groups have stopped announcing the names of attackers and releasing their homemade videos, making it a bit more difficult for Israel to track down the families.
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - From his West Bank hide-out, Palestinian Ali Ajouri dispatched the pair of suicide bombers who slipped into a poor Tel Aviv neighborhood last month and killed two Israelis and three foreign workers.
Israel's response was predictably swift, and it introduced a new dimension: Ajouri's extended family, regardless of whether they abetted his militancy, has faced punitive measures that Israel says are meant to deter attacks by making potential bombers worry about their relatives.
Two days after the July 17 suicide bombing planned by Ajouri, Israeli soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. and ordered all 25 family members out of their three-story cinderblock home while still in their nightclothes. Explosives were placed inside, and a thunderous blast brought down the structure and damaged four adjacent homes in the crowded Askar refugee camp in Nablus.
Three of Ajouri's siblings are now in Israeli custody for allegedly assisting him, including his sister Intisar, 34, accused of sewing the bomb belts worn by the attackers. Intisar and brother Kifah, 29, are appearing daily in an Israeli military court and face expulsion to the Gaza Strip - another new Israeli tactic.
This week, Israeli soldiers tracked down Ajouri himself and a fellow militant as they attempted to move between two villages near Jenin, north of Nablus. A barrage of gunfire from helicopters and armored vehicles killed both men in an open field early Tuesday.
"We are still living, but it is no different from death," said Ajouri's 63-year-old mother, Rashida, who sat weeping on the floor in a room filled with nearly 50 women paying condolences Wednesday.
She said her children were not involved in violence. But Israel said Ali Ajouri orchestrated the Tel Aviv bombing, and his colleagues in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades confirmed he headed a local cell that organized the attack.
Despite its overwhelming military strength, Israel is searching for ways to stop Palestinians who strap crude, homemade bombs to their waists and blow themselves up in crowds of Israeli civilians.
Israel has arrested thousands of Palestinians. The army occupies seven of the eight cities and towns in the West Bank. Israel has carried out dozens of "targeted killings," with security forces saying last month they had killed or arrested almost every senior Palestinian militant.
Yet the bombers keep coming. Seventy-five have struck in less than two years, killing more than 250 Israelis. An additional 140 Palestinians were captured before launching attacks, Israel said this week.
Israel is now taking aim at the families of bombers by blowing up their homes and threatening to deport relatives to Gaza, away from their well-rooted lives in the West Bank.
Mordechai Kedar, a researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, said Israel is using a "combination of tools - house demolitions, exile, arrests and eliminations, according to the need."
Israeli troops blew up four homes of militants Thursday, bringing to 18 the number demolished since the practice began last month.
Israel initially threatened to deport entire families to Gaza, but Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein ruled the government could expel only those involved with bombings.
Kedar, the analyst, agreed it's difficult to deter someone who's prepared to kill himself. But he said if bombers "understand they are causing more damage (to their families) than it's worth, then that will perhaps deter them."
The only tangible result to date is that militant groups have stopped announcing the names of attackers and releasing their homemade videos, making it a bit more difficult for Israel to track down the families.
