THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI FIGHT: ARAB LANDS NOW SPECTATORS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120038-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: October 3, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
,DeclassiTed.inuP.art; Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120038-6
PAGE A- NEW YORK TIMES
3 October 1985
?
The Palestinian-Israeli Fight:
Arab Lands-Now Spectators
By THOMAS
The Israeli air strike Tuesday
agains% the P.L.O. headquarters in
Tunis underscored the degree to which
the Arab-Israel conflict has been trans-
I formed in the last year. It has gone
;from a conflict primarily between Is-
rael and the surrounding Arab coon-
tries to a struggle almost exclusively
lbetween Israel and the Palestinians,
with the Arab countries as spectators.
Although the scene of the latest clash
was Tunis, Israeli statements and ac-
tions suggest that the real motivation
stems from events that have been tak-
ing place inside Israel and the occupied
West Bank and Gaza Strip.
There, during the last 12 months, the
level and ferocity of Palestinian at-
tacks against Israelis have intensified,
going from stone-throwing and tire-
burning incidents to abductions and
stabbings committed by individual
I Arabs against individual Jews
IS Israelis Slain
in ',he last year, 16 Israeli men anti
women have been killed ? most with
kitchen knives or pistols -- in such at-
tacks ii israel and the occupied territo-
ries. as well as in nearby Cyprus. At
least 12 others have been wounded.
This wave of violence is new, Israeli
military experts and West Bank Arabs
' say, in that while a substantial amount
of it appears to have been directed by
neP.L.O., the majority of the attacks.
Iby Palestinians against Israelis inside
Israel and the occupied territories have ?
I been locally generated by individual
Arabs who use crude homemade weep-.
ons and display an audacity never be-
fore seen in the West Bank.
Examples are the recent stabbing d in
? broad daylight of two heavily armed Is-
raeli soldiers in Hebron and the shoot-
ing at point-blank range of Israeli sol-
diers in Rarnallah and El Bireh earlier
in the year.
Israeli Retaliation,
In many ways, the Israeli raid on the
P.L.O. office near Tunis appears to be
a retaliation for this new, And to Israeli
authorities, extremely frustrating
series of PaleStinian attacks.
"Why should we delude ourselves re-
garding what's happening betiVeen us
and the Arabs who are under Our con-
trol?" Zeev Schiff, the widely re-
The writer of this article is the
Jerusalem correspondent of The
New York Times, now visiting the
United States. The article is based on
his reporting in the Middle East.
I.. FRIEDMAN ?
spected military editor of the newspa-
per Haaretz, wrote, "The events which
are occurring are the buds of a civil
war, another round of war between two
' populations grasping the same plot of
land."
'Th. Coals Are Glowhig'
"Ironically," Mr. Schiff continued,
"it is the local and individual initiative
of several of the murderers, stabbers
and shooters which proves that the
coals are glowing right here and are
not always imported from Amman or
Beirut, Damascus or Algeria."
While Arab officials in the West Bank
publicly condemn these acts of violence
against Israelis, in the privacy of their
homes some Palestinians are quietly
cheering the attackers on. In inter-
views, several West Bank residents
said that when the two Israeli soldiers
were stabbed in Hebron, phrases such
as "God preserve the belly of the
mother who produced the stabbers"
and "God protect the hand that stabbed
them" were whispered in many an
Arab house.
In a way, said Meroil Benvenisti, a
former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem
who is the leading Israeli expert on
land use in the West Bank, the Arab-
Israeli conflict seems to be s
back to its pre-1948 'roots.,
The conflict first went through a pan-
Arab phase and then a P.L.O. phase,
both of which were characterized by
local Palestinians looking to outside
forces to bear the brunt of the fight. But
now a new attitude seems to be devel-
oping among Palestinians of the occu-
pied territories that the only way to
maintain their hold there is to take the
initiative themselves. This feeling
seems to have become particularly
acute,since die decline of the P.L.O. as
a. military force ,capable of putting
pressure on Israel.
"This is a grass-roots reaction," Mr.
Benvenisti said, "and Israelis will have
to address themselves to something
real now ? not, an enemy across the
border but one within, which is just
where the conflict started 100 years
ago."
Palestinians, Israeli experts on
Palestinian history and the Arab-
Israeli conflict, and military officials
who deal with the West Bank say this
transformation is a result of develop-
ments both historical and recent. They
include the rise of a new, more militant,
generation of Palestinians in the West
Bank, the influence on it of the war in
Lebanon, the actions of the Israeli set-
tiers, the transfer of some P.L.O.
of-
fices to Amman, Jordan, and tke?im-
pact of the release of SOO Palestinian
term
as part of a prisoner exchange.
The experts nearly always begini
their explanations with the new genera-1
den of Palestinians that is now turning!
18,19 and 20 years old in the West Bank. I
These Palestinians have known no
other life than that of Israeli occupa-
tion, and they refuse to accept the do-
cility of their elders.
Changing Viewpoint
"The old generation of leaders, the
contemporaries of King Hussein and
Yasir Arafat, are gradually (bring out
and being replaced by young leaders
who have grown I and developed
under Israeli rule,". " a! recent analysis
In the rightist newspaper &Lady said.
It contintisd, "A local resident re
searching his Ph.D. thesis conducted a
study of what was termed 'changes in
viewpoints regarding the occupation
regime,' from which it emerged that if
the parents' generation loathed Israel
as a gate, the children hate Israelis
both as Jews and as people."
Among the old leadership, the news-
paper added, it was customary to corn- !
pare the way the Israeli administration!
rules. to what the heavy-handed Jorda-
nian administration did in the territo-
ries, and "so to make do with the leseer
of two evils."
But the new generation cannot draw
that comparison. "For them," the
paper added, "there is but one real,
hostile regime which they encounter
day in and day out, and which they are
forced to confront at every road junc-
tion, every movie theater entrance and
every bridge over the Jordan River."
The regime referred to is Israel.
Nervousness About the Future
Members of this young generation
have become increasingly nervous
about their future on the land, accord-
ing to many Palestinians as well as the
Israeli experts.
Mona Rishmawi, a 27-year-old Pales-
tinian lawyer in Ramallah, explained
"When young people here add up the
pressures coming from the settlers, the'
stories now emerging about how hun-
dreds of Arabs were swindled out of
their land, the rise of Kahane and the
double system of justice here, which al-
lows Jewish terrorists' to getlight sen-
tences when they do violence to Arabs
and Arabs to get heavy sentences when.
they do violence to-Jews, then you can
seethe logic of why some of them go
out and commit some of these acts."
"You know," Miss Rishmawi added,
"When I was growing up I constantly
heard my mother's story abaft how she !
was driven out of her house in Jaffa. !
We heard it over and over, and it be- I
came kind of a family legend, but I
never really thought it would apply to
me here in the West Be k. But now I
!think many young people are beginning
to realize that their parents' stories
may end up being their stories as well
? that we will be kicked out too be-
cause some fanatic holding a Bible in
his hand says that this is his land and
we have to get out."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120038-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120038-6
44.
Lees Peer of Israelis
Not only do the younger Palestinians
carry a dharper sense of grievance
than their parents. They are also less
afraid of the Israelis than are their
elders.
"The generation that grew up in the
territories before 1907 witnessed Israel
crush three Arab armies at once," said
Amnon Cohen, an expert on Palestin-
ian history at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
"They were shocked by this and they
took the might of the Israeli Army for
granted. The young generation do not,
suffer from this shock. They grew up
with the Israeli Army of the 1973 war
and Lebanon."
A 30-year-old Palestinian activist
who lives in Jerusalem and recently
completed a prison term for planting
bombs against Israelis said, "People'
are not afraid of the Israeli soldiers
like before. Before we used to call them
'supermen,' but not anymore, not after
what we saw happen in Lebanon."
In three recent incidents, Israeli
troops shot and killed one Arab and
wounded six others who had refused to
halt and produce identificatioh.
Example of Lebanese Shiftes
The ability of the Lebanese Shiite,' to
drive the Israeli Army out of most of
Lebanon appears to have had an impor-
tant psychological impact on West
Bank youths and to have contributed,
In part, to the new wave of violence.
One Palestinian journalist ex-
plained: "Every night on Syrian, Jor-
danian and Israeli television
people received news df succeesgu:it
tacks ag,ainst Israeli soldiers. They
saw the Lebanese get the Israelis out
by makingtheir lives hell and inflicting
casualties. Many think, why not do the
same here? They can't get explosives
here, so they go into the kitchen and get
a knife instead."
Another factor encouraging this
trend, the experts say, was the release
last May ?A of 000 convicted Palestinian
terrorists to their homes in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip as part of an ex-
change of 1,150 prisoners for 3 Israeli
soldiers.
Israeli military officials say they be-
lieve that the 000 prisoners freed to the
occupied territories, who included
some of the best-known Palestinian
killers of Israelis in the last 20 years,
are not themselves engaging in subver-
sive activities. They are all being very
closely watched. However, the &Jittery
officials said, the freed prisoners serve
as important role models.
Trading"' Leaders Underlined
In the last. 18 years, Israel has sys-
tematically destroyed the traditional.
Arab leadenship in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip through expulsions or dis-
missals from posts. Only one mayor of '
a major Arab town, Elias Freij of Beth-
lehem, remains in his job, with virtu-
ally all othersuch towns under the ad-
ministration of military governors. In
the absence of strong, authentic and
moderate local leaders, the young gen-
eration has been looking to the released
prisoner,* for Inspiration. When the
prisoners were released, Palestinians
say, there were celebrations that went
on for days in villages all over the West
Bank.
One former prisoner, who served,
more than a decade in an bruin prison
for planting a bomb that killed and in-
jured Israelis, spoke in an interview
last week about the reception he and
his fellow prisoners received.
"Wherever I walk, people want to
come up and shake my hand or try to
kiss my hand," the former prisoner
said. "I don't let them kiss my hand.
That is not right. But I do shake a lot of
hands." .
'Now It's Your Turn' ,
One of the most senior Israeli mili-
tary officers in the West Bank said in
an interview that he was walking
through the market in the Old City of
Jerusalem two weeks ago when he saw
a former prisoner, being mobbed by
young people and shopkeepers wher-
ever he walked, like a Pied Piper.
"I was shocked," the Israeli officer
said. "This man had a lot of Israeli ,
blood on his hands. I am sure that he is
net going to do anything again, but lam
ale? sure that he is telling young peo-
ple, 'Look, I did my job for the armed
struggle, and now it's your tuft."
Another factor that has subtly facili.
tired the recent violence the
rae s mte I igence-gathering capabil-
ities m me West Bank and Gaza Strip
as a result of the Lebanon ear. ?
The day-to-clay gatberinn of intelli-
The New York Thnee/Oct. 3, an
Attacks on Israeli soldiers have
been made in recent months in He-
bron, Ramallah and El Bireh.
in the West Bank was alwa
out a ents o e
the security agency t is srae
equivalent of the F.B.I. However, when
the Israeli Army invaded Lebanon, the
Shin Beth, with its experienced case
officers and members fluent in Arabic,
had to transfer much of its resourc to
he ? wit e occu tion there. Man of
a en s wor sou e
Some Agents Died
According to Israeli military
sources, abOut 20 Shin Beth agents
were killedthe invasion of Leba-
ion and in dthe urirsillcide car-bombing of
to Israeli intelligence headquarters in
on Nov. 4 1983. That is more than
other losses sustained by the Shin
.Beth since it was established in Israld's
sarly.siaaa.ALA.Lation.
"The main tool for figningterrorism
"a senior Israeli officer
tories but
shifted
because of
new generation of Israelis
coming into the army these days was
uuui 41111U ICWRIF 1111111 IeWer qi mew
can really meek fluent Arabic the way
an intelligence officer must and the
wa the . -? tion before theta which
.. .. . . a 'in countries. ? *d.
In ? - - needs infrastructure and
we ly have to go through a process
of r fflIdng In the territories."
in add1t1, the nature of the violence
In the territories is changing, making it
more difficult to detect in advance, the
militaryofficer noted. At most, he said,
only 59 percent of the recent violence
has been directed from the outside.
Taking Initiative .
The rest, he said, was undertaken by
individuals who are no longer willing to
wait for the P.L.O. to win the fight for
them. They act on their own or in self-
conUtined small groups that are very
hard to penetrate.
The Shia Beth was set up to crack
terrorist cells and detect infiltrator,
dispatched or controlled from abroack
Very few of those responsible for the
recent violence have been caught.
Those who have been arrested, such as
the two youths accused of stabbing an
Israeli truck driver in Gaza three
weeks ago, have been found to have
acted on their own initiative.
Still, the P.L.O. presence in Amman
has undoubtedly contributed some-
thing to the recent spate of attacks, the
Israeli military officials said. Even
though the Jordanians try to make cer-
tain that the P.L.O. does not engage in
any cross-border violence, the pres-
ence there of dozens of P.L.O. security
officials makes it much easier for them
to make contact with the thousands of
Palestinians who go to Amman and
back every month by way of the Al-
. _ .._
Pointing to Arafat
"Two years ago a young man from
the West Bank would have had to go to
Tunis or Algiers if he wanted to get in
touch with the P.L.O.," a senior Israeli
military officer in th West Bank said.
"Now they are waiting for him 20 miles
from the Allenby Bridge. They have
meeting places, safe houses and they
can easily send in money, or a knife or
instructions."
Israeli military officials say they be-
lieve that Mr. Arafat, the P.L.O. chair-I
man, has been impelled to step up vio-
lence inside Israel because he is report-
edly considering recognizing Israel's
right to exist as part of a Jordanian-
P.L.O. initiative to open a dialogue
With the United States.
"It is the 'Christmas bombing of
Hanoi' theory of violence," said the Is-
raeli officer, referring to the bombing
of North Vietnam by the United States
in December 1972, which preceded the
signing of a truce agreement in Paris
the following Anontn. "Strike hard jut
before you negotiate in order to build
up credibility within your own ranks to
he_able to make concessions." ?
The last factor contributing tb the in-
crease in Arab violence, according to
taild
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120038-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120038-6
kol
Israeli military experts and Paleatin-
? ians, has been the behavior of thi Jew-
ish settlers. They have becordit in-
creasingly aggressive in trying to ex-
pand into densely populated_ Arab
areas, attacking the homes of, the
Palestinians released from prisop ,and
conducting armed patrols in the main
streets of West Bank towns after Wats
lis are attacked.
The settlers say they believe they are
Just reacting to Arab violence angr are
demanding the security to whicji, they
feel entitled as Israeli citizens. -
However, Israeli military alerts
say the settlers have been provoking
the Arab.? Rabbi Moshe Levinger, a
leader of the settlers, sat outsides-refu-
gee camp for two months wait*. for
. an Arab to throw a stone at hl?and
trying to pressure the Governmeniiinto
rekindling the settlement drive. et a
t time when it has run out of money to fi-
nance new settlements..
"The settlers say they are moving
into the Hebron marketplace because
they want to live with the Arabs,"
Amnon Cohen, the historian, said.. "In
; reality they want to replace ;Aim.
I They want friction in order to juptify
, bringing the- army in and imposing
harsher security. We must not only
condemn Arab aggression but Jewish
aggression."
In fact, in the last two weskit, both
David Levy, a minister from the tight-
wing Likud bloc, and Prime Minister
Shimon Peres, leader of the left-ofrcen-
ter Labor Party, have scolded the-set-
tlers for trying to take the law Into, their
own liana.
"The presence of the settlers in
densely populated areas adds to- the
Arab anxiety that the Israelis are; dos-
ing in on them and that desperate steps
are necessary," the senior Milftary
officer in the West Bank said. "Theset-
tiers want the security on the road to
Hebron to be as perfect as the secmity
on the road to Tel Aviv. They' fdiget
that this is occupied territority.": -
' Slgomo Gazit, i former head of inili-
intejliggpc? who was the natary
governlisi of the West Bank from 1967
until 1V74,'sald that people forget"how
far the current Israeli approach to the
West Bank has moved f the origi-
nal philos of occupation insatuted
Immediatelyafter the war 7-
me ori iihlrosophy of Israel's
military government, said Mr. 'Cluit,
who has just completed a book on the
subject titled "The Carrot and 'the
Stick," was twofold: "It said, first, that
we must wait for a political setttatient
to determine the fate of these areasand
that settlement will not be betweell Is-
rael and the local inhabitants but -be-
tween Israel and some outside *Ser.
Until that settlement comes, the two
sides should find a way to live togittier
with the minimum damage to limp."
"Secondly," Mr. Gazit contithied,
"we Israelis argued that 'We were as
embarrassed at being a military_ gov-
ernment as Much as you Arabs presuf-
tering. Hence, if you behave yourself,
; you will not see us, you will not notice
our patrols, you will not feel otin pres-
ence." "
?
, After all of the settlement activity,
though, Mr. Gazit said, this philosophy
has been almost totally forgotten. To
protect one settler around the clock in
the middle of Hebron now requires
frnore than a dozen soldiers and support
personnel, he said, and that crest*" an
additional layer. of security on top of
the continuing occupation.
"Our original philosophy doedn't
Id water anymore," said Mr. Gazit.
'We have gone from a policy that sub-
tly facilitates peace and quiet- and
keeping all political options open,to one
that subtly facilitates the closinil of
political options. This latest wave of
olence may calm -down, but 'things
go on like this. I don't -know
hether it is go1ng to be the summer of
86 or '87 or whenever, but if this -aims-
ion continues there is going to be a teal
losion."
?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120038-6