Comment and Opinion
Haaretz: Bus bombing marks slow but sure rise in Palestinian terrorism, By Amir Oren
Sunday’s attack has yet to be fully deciphered. At first glance, it is different from the other attacks of the last few months. The last few attacks were carried out by individuals, generally acting alone, or by two individuals at the most, and were unaffiliated with any organized terrorist group. The explosive device on the bus, according to eyewitnesses, was not very sophisticated. In any case, in order to carry out such an attack, at least a team of individuals is necessary, if not backing from an organized group. This attack required someone to make the bomb, someone to drive the terrorist to his destination, and another to actually plant the bomb itself. Such an operation is more complex than a stabbing on a bus.
On the surface, this attack seems very similar to the bus bombing that took place near IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv in November 2012, during the last day of Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. Following that attack, the Shin Bet arrested the terrorist who planted the bomb in only a few hours: it turned out that it was a Palestinian who had received an Israeli identification card due to family ties with Arab-Israelis, and was working for a Hamas faction from the West Bank.
Attacks originating in the West Bank in recent months can generally be characterized in one of two ways: either they were the initiatives of individuals acting alone, or they were carried out by local cells affiliated with Hamas – and even then, they were not very sophisticated attacks. Most of the local cells do not manage to carry out their plans.
Haaretz reported on Friday that the Shin Bet had thwarted roughly 80 attempted attacks in the West Bank, which had been planned from Gaza by terrorists released as part of the deal that freed kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Most of the plans originating in Gaza are fairly ambitious in nature, but generally have been thwarted by Israeli security forces before they could be carried out.
Read the article in full at Haaretz