Suicide Bombers - 'The Poor Man's Smart Bomb'

July 3, 2002
By RICHARD SALE, UPI Terrorism Correspondent

Suicide bombers are by far the most effective weapon the Palestinians have against Israel, and one against which there is no real defense, a retired Israeli military official and expert on Palestinian intelligence told United Press International.

"The suicide bombing campaign has clearly thrown Israel into disarray. It has demoralized its population and has severely damaged Israel's economy," said Gal Luft, a former lieutenant colonel in the Israel Defense Forces.

Luft described the suicide bomb as "the poor-man's smart bomb," and said using it had enabled the Palestinians to move some way toward alleviating the huge military disparity between them and the Israeli army -- widely believed to be one of the most effective military machines on the planet.

"It's the only way the Palestinian Authority can attempt to counter Israel's vastly superior fighting ability and military might," Luft said.

Former CIA official and Middle East expert Stan Bedlington agreed, calling the wave of suicide bombings extremely effective.

"Israel's economy has been severely damaged, and its tourism industry has simply collapsed," he said.

The effects on popular morale are everywhere, said Bedlington.

"If you read a lot of Israel's daily press, you hear of empty shopping malls, stores and shops boarded up, deserted streets at night."

Said Luft: "A suicide bombing is horrible because it can happen any where with no warning. It can turn the most familiar and safe place into a horror of wreckage in an instant."

But the main selling point of suicide bombing as an instrument of strategy is its effectiveness, he said.

Luft said that during the first year of the second intifada, beginning in September 2000, Palestinian militants launched more than 1,500 shooting attacks on Israeli vehicles in the occupied territories, but killed only 75 people.

But the suicide attacks by Islamic extremists that followed that first wave "killed or maimed more Israelis than the mainstream Palestinian organizations had in 8,000 previous attacks," Luft said.

Luft said that now the Palestinian and Islamic organizations view the suicide attack as the one weapon for which the Israelis have no comprehensive defense.

"They will continue to rely on it, because it has brought real results," Luft said.

Although Israel's massive incursion last April badly damaged the Palestinian Authority infrastructure and rooted out some hard-line terrorists, it would not end the attacks. There is always "a new wave to replace them," Luft said.

"Terrorism is not a military problem, but it is Israel's habit to always think that you can use the military to solve anything," he said.

The April Israeli invasion has only "bred more hatred among the Palestinians and that will produce more suicide bombers."

According to U.S. officials, on June 16, Israel began work on construction of a "separation fence" using barriers, sensors, roads and aerial patrols to try and prevent suicide bombing infiltration.

Israel has also broken up the West Bank into eight security zones comprising 120 army checkpoints and 220 military enclaves.

Not only will these measures not work, said Luft, "they act to increase the prestige of the suicide bombers, which already enjoy "heroic stature." His answer? "Hard bargaining. Use carrots to obtain a declaration renunciation of suicide attacks from the Palestinians in exchange for removal of a number of Israeli settlements," he said.
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