Word: shield
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...surge in terrorist attacks since Defensive Shield has come as no surprise. Despite Israel's well-equipped forces and its highly developed intelligence capabilities, its security experts know they cannot stop the bombers entirely. When militants are as motivated as the Palestinians are now, when their inspiration is only heightened by Israel's counterattacks on Palestinian communities, when the terrorists' technology is as simple as strapping home-brewed explosives onto willing human bombs, deterrence is impossible and prevention a matter of hit or miss...
Still, it is the job of the security services to do what they can, and based on their recommendations, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promised to retaliate even more harshly than he did with Defensive Shield. With a new operation, code-named Determined Path, Sharon promises to reoccupy parts of the West Bank ceded to Palestinian control under the Oslo peace accords--not for a matter of days, as in the past, but indefinitely, says Sharon, "as long as terror continues." It's unclear whether he can pull it off, either logistically or politically. But if he does...
With Determined Path, Israeli security officials hope to finish what they started with Defensive Shield. Under U.S. and European pressure, Sharon wrapped up the first operation faster than the army or Shin Bet liked. The armed forces wanted four months; Sharon gave them one. By the time Israel ended the campaign in the final days of April, it had arrested Hamas' top and mid-level activists, according to Israeli intelligence, but hadn't worked down to the legmen who carry out surveillance on target locations and run errands for the bombmakers during the planning of operations. Of 90 activists...
...campaign is also targeting what the Israelis call ha-Masterim (the Masters). In Defensive Shield, Israeli forces picked up or killed all the Hamas men they knew of in the West Bank who had mastered the precise formulas for homemade explosives. But according to Israeli intelligence, a few top Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip slipped through Israeli security to the West Bank and have begun to produce explosives there, reinvigorating the West Bank wing of the group that had been on the ropes during and just after Defensive Shield...
...down only two West Bank cities at a time. To control all nine major towns and the largest villages would require a big call-up of reserves. That would be unpopular with a public that has not yet seen a real, permanent improvement in security despite the huge Defensive Shield call-up. Many Labor ministers reason that only peace negotiations with the Palestinians can stop the violence...