Since al Qaeda decimated the World Trade Center and plunged an airliner into the Pentagon, killing several thousand Americans, in 2001, Israel has unconditionally supported Washington’s aggressive anti-terror counteroffensives in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and other countries.
In this context, Israelis awoke to the unpleasant news report Dec. 27 that the United States sought public clarification from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Israel’s anti-terror operation in the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Nablus.
The operation resulted in the killing of three terrorists from the Fatah-affiliated and Iranian-backed Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades. News reports that the United States requested clarification on behalf of an official complaint lodged by the PA raised eyebrows among senior Israeli policymakers and the public alike.
This was because Israel’s incursion came 48 hours after the drive-by terror attack and murder of Rabbi Meir Chai, the father of seven children. The Israelis located and neutralized Chai’s killers and their commanders within 48 hours. An M16 automatic rifle found on one of the attackers matched the murder weapon.
At least one of the Aksa commanders — Annan Sabuh, who was found with two M16 automatic rifles, two other firearms and massive ammunition — had been part of the PA amnesty program for “former” Fatah-affiliated terror group members that was predicated on turning in all weapons and ceasing terror activities.
The amnesty program was implemented by Israel and encouraged by the U.S., whose PA security reform program began under Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton in 2005.
Notwithstanding recent Israel Defense Forces and U.S. praise for PA public-policing improvements in some West Bank cities and for select security actions against Hamas, the American-trained and -funded Palestinian security forces under the command of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have either refused or been unable to uproot the terror infrastructure of the Fatah-associated Aksa.
In fact, aside from the now-neutralized Chai attackers, thousands of additional Aksa operatives and other Fatah militia members have gone into “retirement,” but many operatives still store weapons in their homes. Other Aksa commanders also hold senior positions in the reformed PA security forces, such as Abu Jabbal, a PA security forces officer in Nablus.
Jerusalem now needs clarification from Washington as to how the increased U.S. commitment in 2009 to upgrade the PA forces to nearly 3,500 men at a cost of $130 million will address the unsolved problem of “dormant” Aksa and other armed Fatah factions, such as the one that perpetrated the recent murder of Chai.
Senior Fatah security echelons know well that the limited capacity and political will of PA forces require the IDF to assume between 70 and 80 percent of the security operations against the extant terror infrastructure in the West Bank.
The reason is no secret to Palestinians. Aksa operatives fired shots recently at Anan Atiri, deputy to the incoming governor of Nablus, after publishing leaflets labeling the governor a “traitor.” The group has also publicly labeled Fayyad an “American agent” and has published threats against him.
Add the fact that on Nov. 26, Aksa operatives shot at outgoing Nablus Gov. Jamal Muheissin, while in May it published a leaflet accusing PA President Mahmoud Abbas of participating in assassinations in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. As a typical survival tactic, following the IDF operation, Abbas and Fayyad praised the Aksa terrorists as “Shahids.”
Israelis expect reciprocal U.S. backing for the Jewish state’s unending battle against Palestinian Islamic terror and understanding that they have become risk-averse.
A second Gaza-style complete Israeli withdrawal, particularly in the strategically vital Jordan Valley and the 3,000-foot protective hills overlooking Israel’s major coastal cities and Ben-Gurion International Airport (defending it from surface-to-air missiles), will likely not be approved.
This is particularly true if the PA continues to prove itself incapable of completely uprooting the entire terror infrastructure in the areas under its jurisdiction.
Dan Diker is senior policy analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute in D.C.
