Five-year intifada: 1,061 Israelis killed in 26,159 attacks...and increasing

From Jerusalem Post , Sep. 28, 2005 23:54 Updated Sep. 29, 2005 0:03, By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH ...

Terror groups have increased their efforts to launch attacks inside the Green Line, especially in Jerusalem in the past year, marking the fifth year since the outbreak of the Al Aksa intifada in September 29, 2000, a report issued by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Wednesday stated. This is despite the so-called truce or tahdiya terror organizations pledged to uphold in January this year, the report said.

In the past year (from last September up until the present date), 57 Israelis were killed in a total of 3,531 attacks in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. Of that number, 262 attacks were perpetrated inside Israel compared to 185 between September 2003 and September 2004.

Twenty percent of all Israeli casualties in the past five years were harmed in attacks in which east Jerusalemites were involved in, the report said.

In the five years of violence, a total of 1,061 Israelis were killed and murdered and 6,089 wounded in a total of 26,159 attacks carried out in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza
Sources in the security establishment estimate that in the coming year, terror groups will increase their efforts to transfer knowledge and weapons, including Kassam rockets, to the West Bank, which is expected to become the main arena for Palestinian terror since the IDF pullout from Gaza.

The western Negev will become the main weapons smuggling route for terrorists in the coming year, and terror organizations are expected to increase their efforts to smuggle weapons from the Sinai into Israel via the western Negev, and transfer it to the West Bank, the sources said.
The possibility that Al Qaeda operatives succeeded in entering Gaza in the days the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the PA areas were forced open cannot be ruled out, the sources said.

...While the abduction and subsequent murder of Jerusalemite Sasson Nuriel shocked the nation, it does not constitute a change in terror groups' strategy, the sources said. In the past five years threats by terror groups to abduct Israelis have been constant, the sources said.

... anarchy prevails in Gaza where Hamas continues to vie with the PA for a future leadership position, and continues to perceive itself as a top running contender in the upcoming Palestinian legislative council elections scheduled to take place in January 2006. The report estimates that because of its attempts to win over the Palestinian public, Hamas will refrain from claiming responsibility for any future terror attacks it carries out ...At the same time however it will also continue "behind the lines" to assist other terror groups improve their capability.

Despite the hundreds of Palestinian fugitives arrested in recent West Bank raids, the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in northern Samaria, especially in the Tulkarm and surrounding environs as well as in Jenin, continues to constitute a serious threat and continues in its efforts to launch attacks.

The Hamas infrastructure operating in the Hebron and Ramallah districts continues its efforts to target Israelis, but is far smaller then Hamas in Gaza.