Israel to launch offensive against Islamic Jihad following bombing

By Rafael D. Frankel

TEL AVIV—The Israeli Army readied itself for an offensive and imposed a near total closure of the West Bank and Gaza strip Tuesday in response to Monday’s suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad that killed five people in the seaside city of Netanya.

Palestinians were barred entrance into Israel for nearly all reasons and the only crossing which remained open was the goods-only terminal at Karni, between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

After a late Monday night security cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the army also arrested the father and three brothers of the suicide bomber over night along with at least ten other Palestinians suspected of belonging to Islamic Jihad.

Whenever the army begins its imminent offensive, which will focus on Islamic Jihad cells, it will also have permission to use assassinations (Israel calls them "targeted killings") and probably house demolitions as well, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said.

"We decided to operate in a much broader, much deeper and more intensive manner against the Islamic Jihad infrastructure, and I hope that we will be able to prevent such attacks in the future," Mofaz told Army Radio after the security meeting.

Though the army will likely retake areas where Islamic Jihad cells are active, Government Spokesman Ra’anan Gissin said the action is not expected to reach the scale of Operation Defensive Shield launched in 2002. In that operation, Israel retook control of most West Bank cities and killed dozens of Palestinian militants

"But we are going to use what is at our disposal to bring this to an end," Gissin said. "We will pay house calls. Either they will be brought to justice, or we will bring justice to them."

U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones told reporters here Tuesday that Israel had a right to defend its citizens. "We have called repeatedly on the Palestinian Authority to take actions against these terror groups, in particular Islamic Jihad," he said. "We are doing everything we can to persuade the Palestinian Authority to shoulder its responsibility as a partner for peace."

With pressure mounting on the Palestinian Authority to reign in militants, PA security forces also arrested three suspected Islamic Jihad members in the northern West Bank.

Though he has harshly criticized violent acts against Israel as counter-productive to the Palestinian cause, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has shied away from confrontation with militant groups, seeking instead to negotiate cease-fires and bring them into the Palestinian political process.

Israeli officials, however, were not impressed with the arrests, with Gissin saying the PA cannot employ "a revolving door policy" towards jailing terrorists.

Islamic Jihad has been responsible for all four suicide attacks which killed Israelis this year, and the latest bombing was met with disbelief by the family of the bomber.

Before the army arrested her sons and husband, suicide bomber Lotfi Amine Abu Saada’s mother, Amina, said "those who sent him have fooled him," the Associated Press reported. "My son is a poor soul. He doesn't know anything about this, he was never jailed and he never participated in demonstrations."

His father, Amin, claimed his son was illiterate while his uncle, Mufid Rashed, said Monday was the first time Abu Saada missed work.

"I am not convinced, I don't believe this. My son can't even get to the city alone, how can he get to Netanya? He doesn't read or write," the AP reported the father saying.

©2005 Rafael D. Frankel and The New York Daily News