Shin Bet report: terror increase originating from West Bank
The 2013 Shin Bet report indicates a rise in terror activities originating in the West Bank, attributed partly to the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the weakening of Fatah security mechanisms.
Israel’s Shin Bet is summing up 2013. The General Security Service, which is charged with preventing terrorist attacks in the country, released on Jan. 27 a detailed report covering 2013. The main data of this annual report points to a significant rise in terrorist attacks as compared to 2012. The number of attacks doubled in that time, from 578 in 2012 to 1,271 in 2013.
According to the Shin Bet’s data, there was a drop in the number of casualties from terrorist attacks, with six in 2013, as compared to 10 in 2012. However, two reservations should be considered when making that comparison. The first is that in 2013, five Israelis were killed in attacks launched from the West Bank, as compared to zero in 2012. Furthermore, among the Israeli casualties listed by the Shin Bet for 2012 are the six soldiers who were killed in Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip.
According to the data, the Shin Bet prevented 190 terrorist attacks last year, including 16 suicide attacks. The authors of the report sketch a profile of the terrorists responsible for the attacks as well. According to them, fewer terrorists are sent by Palestinian terrorist organizations to launch the attack against Israel, while there are more “lone wolves” — that is, Palestinians who decide independently to kill an Israeli, and who plan and implement the operation themselves.
These statistics do not require special clarifications to understand the changes and processes underway in the Palestinian Authority (PA). At the same time, however, the Shin Bet also referenced various other documents that it published over the past few months in an effort to analyze what is taking place in the territories.
