News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (April 6 – 12, 2016)

Riots, Clashes and Popular Terrorism

• This past week the throwing of stones, Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs continued in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. The Israeli security forces prevented a number of terrorist attacks. Protest demonstrations and marches continued, as did rioting.
• The more prominent events were the following:

• April 9, 2016 – Palestinians threw stones at an Israeli vehicle on Route 443 (the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road). There were no casualties. The windshield of the vehicle was damaged (Facebook page of Red Alert, April 9, 2016).
• April 8, 2016 – A 25 year-old Palestinian from Hebron armed with a knife was detained by the Border Police and Israel Police Force at the Nablus Gate in Old City of Jerusalem. He did not have an entry permit for Israel. He was detained and taken for interrogation. He confessed to coming to Israel for a stabbing attack and had purchased a knife to carry it out.
• April 7, 2016 – An mobile intensive care unit was attacked by Palestinians throwing stones north of Hebron. There were no casualties. The ambulance was damaged. Palestinians also threw stones at an IDF vehicle on the road between Ariel and Rehalim. There were no casualties. The vehicle was damaged (Facebook page of Red Alert, April 7, 2016).
• April 6, 2016 – IDF forces seized a printing press in the Dheisheh refugee camp (south of Bethlehem). It belonged to Akram Shaafut, an owner of a print shop, and was used to print anti-Israel notices. According to his Facebook page, he was affiliated with Fatah in the Bethlehem area and his print shop specialized in notices and signs for Fatah (Facebook page of Akram Shaafut).

Left: Notices printed at Akram Shaafut's print shop. Right: IDF forces seize the printing press (IDF spokesman, April 6, 2016).

The Palestinian Authority Security Forces Prevent a Terrorist Attack

• On April 7, 2016, it was reported that three Palestinian men who had gone to Ramallah had not contacted their families for several days, worrying their relatives. The three were Haytham al-Sayyakn,19, from Hebron; Basel Mahmoud al-A'araj, 33 from the village of Al-Walaja south of Bethlehem; and Muhammad Abdullah Harb, 23 from Jenin ((Twitter account of Palinfo, April 9, 2016).
• A few days later the Palestinian Authority (PA) police told the families that cell phones, a laptop and the ID cards of two of the three had been found near Ramallah. On April 9, 2016, the PA security forces detained the three in the village of Qatanna (Jerusalem region). They had guns and grenades in their possession. They were apparently planning to carry out a shooting attack and abduction. A Palestinian suspected of supplying the three with weapons was also detained. They were transferred to Palestinian general intelligence headquarters in Ramallah (Quds.net, April 10, 2016).

• Hamas was severely critical of the detentions:

• Hamas spokesman Husam Badran accused PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the PA security forces of responsibility for the detentions. He said the PA and Fatah leadership were openly operating to contain the Palestinian people's intifada and stop the "resistance activities" [i.e., terrorist attacks] carried out against Israel by young Palestinians. He called on the Palestinian organizations to protest against the PA and Fatah because of their security coordination with Israel and the prevention of hundreds of attacks since the beginning of the current events (Facebook page of Paldf, April 11, 2016).
• Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the event "very serious and an escalation in the coordination between the PA's security forces and Israel." He claimed the activities of the security forces were contrary to the good of the Palestinian people. Such activities, the claimed, reflected the PA's close security collaboration with Israel, whose objective was to make the intifada fail and harm the Palestinian resistance [i.e., terrorist organizations] (Facebook page of Paldf, April 10, 2016).

Left: Hamas cartoon mocking Mahmoud Abbas for collaborating with Israel by apprehending the squad in Ramallah (Al-Risalah, April 11, 2016) Right: Husam Badran criticizes the PA and Fatah leadership after the detention of the terrorist squad in Ramallah (Facebook page of Paldf, April 11, 2016).

Israel Security Agency Monthly Report on Terrorist Attacks, March 2016^[1]

• During March the number of terrorist attacks continued to drop in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. In March the total number was 119 terrorist attacks compared with 153 in February 2016, as follows:
• Location of the attacks– 81 were carried out in Judea and Samaria (compared with 107 in February 2016); 36 in Jerusalem (42 in February); two inside the Green Line (one in Jaffa and one in Petah Tikva), compared with four in March.
• Casualties–   One Israel was was killed (in Jaffa) and 26 were injured (13 civilians and 13 members of the Israeli security forces); 17 were wounded in stabbing attacks.
• Modus operandi of the attacks– Most of the attacks (92) involved Molotov cocktails; 33 were carried out in Jerusalem. There were six stabbing attacks (one in Jerusalem), two vehicular attacks, one personal attack, nine attacks involving IEDs and six light arms shooting attacks, two of them in Jerusalem.

Rocket and Mortar Shell Fire Attacking Israel

• This past week no rocket or mortar shell hits were identified in Israeli territory.

• An IED was activated against an IDF bulldozer engaged in routine activities near the border security fence. There were no casualties and no damage was reported. The Palestinian media reported that the bulldozer was damaged by the blast and had been attacked after it entered the Zeitoun neighborhood in the eastern part of of Gaza City (Quds.net, Paldaf and Paltoday, April 8, 2016).

• On April 8, 2016, young Palestinians rioted against IDF forces close to the border security fence near Nahal Oz, east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip (Facebook page of Palinfo, April 8, 2016). The Palestinian media reported the four Palestinians had been wounded by IDF fire during a riot in the eastern Gaza Strip (Wafa, April 8, 2016).

Tunnel Collapse on the Egypt-Gaza Strip Border

• Security sources reported that a tunnel in the Yabna refugee camp in Rafah collapsed, killing two Palestinians (Watan24, April 10, 2016). The collapse was apparently the result of Egyptian preventive activity.

Egypt-Hamas Relations

• Interviewed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)-affiliated Filastin al-Yawm TV channel, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of Hamas' political bureau, spoke about Hamas' relations with Egypt. He claimed he expected a breakthrough in relations in the near future. He claimed Hamas would not permit rockets to be fired from the Gaza Strip into Egypt because Hamas needed Egypt for its struggle against Israel. He also claimed Mahmoud Abbas was responsible for the closing of the [Gaza Strip] crossings, the cutting off of electricity and water and the non-payment of salaries. He claimed such steps were being taken to topple Hamas in the Gaza Strip (Filastin al-Yawm, April 11, 2016).

Preparations for a Military Confrontation with Israel

• According to Ahmed Bahar, deputy chairman of the legislative council of the naval commando forces of Hamas military-terrorist wing, in the future there will be a new "equation" of power with Israel that will determine a new situation on the ground. He claimed the forces were preparing to fight Israel and would not permit the maritime siege imposed on the Gaza Strip to continue (Ma'an, April 8, 2016).

Rally in Support of Palestinian Prisoners

• On April 11, 2016, the PIJ and Hamas held a rally in front of the offices of the Red Cross in Gaza City "for the victory of the prisoners and support for the Al-Quds intifada." The rally was attended by supporters and senior figures in the two Palestinian organizations (Facebook page of Quds, April 11, 2016).

Left: The rally stage. The sign reads, "For the victory of the prisoners and support for the Al-Quds intifada." There are Hamas and PIJ logos on the sign. Right: The Hamas-PIJ rally in Gaza City (Facebook page of Quds, April 11, 2016).

Former Hamas Terrorist Operative Killed in Aleppo, Syria

• On April 10, 2016, the death of Ahmed Abu Hussein was reported. He was formerly a Hamas commander in Gaza City. He was killed fighting in the ranks of Ahrar al-Sham movement^[4] against the Syrian regime forces south of Aleppo (Al-Mujahed, Facebook page of Aleppo News, April 10, 2016).

• Mahmoud Abbas held a press conference in Ramallah with a media delegation from Romania, where he proclaimed he was prepared to cooperate with Israel to end the mutual incitement. He added that he was prepared to renew the activity of a trilateral committee to assess and address incitement on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.^[5] He claimed there was nothing to prevent the immediate renewal of the committee's activity. He also claimed they were working to implement the two-state solution to establish an independent, secure, stable Palestinian state with the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital, that would live side by side with the State of Israel. He claimed the main obstacle to the peace process was the settlements, and that they were investing effort in the UN Security Council for a resolution for the immediate condemnation and halt of the construction in the settlements to make it possible to return to the negotiating table (Shasha News, April 5, 2016).

Palestinian Activity in the UN

• The Palestinian legation to the UN announced it was distributing to the members of the Security Council the draft copy of a resolution condemning the continuation of construction in the settlements (Palinfo, April 8, 2016). It was being distributed in preparation for Mahmoud Abbas' visit to UN headquarters on April 20, 2016. According to the draft, the settlements in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem are illegal and constitute an obstacle to peace based on the two-state solution. The draft also calls for acts of terrorism and violence by the settlers to be prevented, and insists on the need for renewing the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians for the final status arrangement.
• Riyad al-Maliki, foreign minister of the Palestinian national consensus government, denied that the draft of the resolution had been distributed to members of the UN Security Council. He claimed the Palestinian legation in New York had given a copy of the proposed resolution to the council of Arab ambassadors for consultations as a first step in preparation for the conference of the council of Arab ministers (Paltoday and Voice of Palestine Radio, April 10, 2016).

Buying a House for the Family of a Terrorist Whose House Was Destroyed

• Shafiq Halabi, the father of Palestinian terrorist Muhannad Halabi, sighed a contract for buying a new house for his family to replace the one destroyed by the Israeli security forces. The money for the purchase came from the popular campaign to support the families of shaheeds. The house, which is under construction, is in the village of Abu Qash in the Ramallah region, where the family previously lived. The construction costs are estimated at about 124,000 Jordanian dinars (about $175,000). Of that, about 4,000 dinars (about $5,000) have already been paid (Ma'an, April 5, 2016).
• Abd al-Rahman Shadid, a senior figure in the committee to support the families of shaheeds and a senior Hamas activist, who did not attend the signing of the contract, said the move indicated the unity and solidarity of the Palestinian people. He said that was especially true when it was a case of shaheeds and prisoners. He claimed the campaign was a way to tell Israel that the policy of collective punishment and the destruction of houses would not keep the Palestinian people from continuing the intifada, and that what had been destroyed would be rebuilt "in spite of what the Zionists wanted." He claimed that whoever donated to the campaigns [to rebuild the houses of terrorists that had been destroyed] demonstrated "active involvement in the resistance" (Hamas and Jerusalem Battalions websites, Facebook page of Quds, April 5, 2016).
• On October 3, 2015, Muhannad Shafiq Muhammad Halabi carried out a stabbing attack near the Lions' Gate in east Jerusalem, killing Rabbi Nehemiah Lavie and Aharon Bennett, and wounding two civilians. Muhannad Halabi, 19, a student, was shot and killed by Israeli security forces during the attack and subsequently became a role model for other Palestinian terrorists. On the night of January 9, 2016, the Israeli security forces razed his family's house.

A Hamas video calling on young Palestinians to take up weapons and struggle against the "enemy" in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Tel Aviv and Tulkarm (Facebook page of the Islamic Bloc at Bir Zeit University, April 10 2016).

The Palestinian campaign against putting security cameras in the Temple Mount compound. The Arabic reads, "May the camera be broken...and the hand [that puts it there]," "There is no need for cameras, the picture is clear" (Facebook page of the Islamic Bloc at Bir Zeit University, April 10 2016).