The Palestinian Ministry of Interior in Gaza announced a few days ago that 2013 would witness the end of collaboration between some Palestinians and Israeli intelligence apparatuses. Although the move was welcomed by all citizens, it raised questions regarding the extent of the government’s seriousness and its ability to fulfill this pledge. Many in the Palestinian territories believe that Israel's readiness for a future war would be based on security information gathered by Palestinian agents — dubbed the “target bank” by the Israeli army.
This analysis deals with the collaboration that began after the Israeli army’s occupation of the remaining Palestinian territories in 1967. Israeli security agencies decided to recruit agents and create spy networks in the occupied territories to monitor the Palestinian resistance. The resistance had started recruiting, arming and training, and it had launched guerrilla operations. As a result, Israeli intelligence sought to prosecute and arrest its members by all possible means — the most dangerous being informants. Palestinians refer to informants as "spies, agents, traitors, fifth columns."
The Israeli military knew that military and security technology are no substitute for agents in the field. The success of its field operations essentially relied on its ability to manage these agents. Israeli army's intelligence wings focused on this, allocating huge sums of money to "integrate" and assimilate agents locally so that they could break the psychological barrier between Palestinians and the occupier.
After the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Israeli intelligence had even more need for fast communication with their agents via electronic means. Israeli intelligence also needed to focus on incursions and attacks with the help of the army; they joined its special troops, and executed field assignments such as "cutting the wires of explosive devices" set up by gunmen against Israeli soldiers. A Palestinian agent even admitted that the Israeli army made him wear special shoes fitted with sharp knives for cutting wires of explosives.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
