(Jerusalem Post) Arieh O'Sullivan - The Aksa intifada is over. The statistics speak for themselves. The level of terror has been reduced drastically in the past few months to what appears to be on a par with that before September 2000. From the IDF's perspective, the relative calm is not connected to Arafat's death, but is rather the direct result of the aggressive action against terrorists. The army said it has arrested six suicide bombers since Arafat died a month ago, showing that motivation is still there. In the past two months, security forces have arrested nearly 300 wanted fugitives. Families have also turned in 20 suspected suicide bombers since September. There are roughly 40 terrorist cells operating throughout the territories, mostly inside the large Arab cities. There is no longer any organizational discipline among terrorist groups. IDF intelligence holds that nationalist terror is on the decline and global terrorism is taking its place, as seen in the involvement of Hizballah in about 75% of all Palestinian West Bank terrorist cells.
2004-12-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive