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The Terrorist Attack on Southern Israel: Under the Authority of Hamas, Using the Tactics of Al-Qaeda
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi - The terrorist attack in southern Israel on Aug. 18 in which eight Israelis were killed was initiated and executed by the Palestinian terrorist organization known as the Popular Resistance Committees, which operates as a terrorist arm of Hamas. The PRC was responsible for the October 2003 bombing attack on a U.S. convoy in Gaza in which three American security personnel were killed. The PRC joined forces with Hamas and Jaish al-Islam (the Army of Islam), which is identified with al-Qaeda, to conduct an attack in June 2006 on Israeli forces inside Israel, just north of Gaza, in which IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. The responsibility for the attack belongs to Hamas, which employs various terrorist wings and provides them with sanctuary in its territory. Hamas hopes to escalate the confrontation with Israel in order to influence the direction of the popular revolts in the Arab world and direct them to the issue of Palestine. The writer, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center, is a former advisor to the Policy Planning Division of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.