Why Israel negotiates with terrorists

Sunday's decision by the Israeli cabinet to vote in favour of a prisoner trade that will see scores of terrorists released from its jails in exchange for the safe return of an Israeli businessman kidnapped by Hezbollah, and the bodies of three dead Israeli soldiers, must have been an extremely difficult one to take. It may come as a surprise to hear that Israel -- which is famed for its tough stance against terrorists -- is willing to enter into such a deal that is likely to have strong ramifications for the long-term war against terror.

On a human level it is easy to understand the decision given the Israeli doctrine of getting all their boys back home. Israel is a small country of only six and a half million inhabitants. Despite all its problems it is a small, closely knit society in which everyone knows someone who has been hurt or killed in action. This, together with traditional Jewish values of wanting to give everyone a decent burial, have meant that over the years Israel has gone to great lengths to get its prisoners of war and dead returned to the country.

This casualty issue has always been Israel's Achilles heel. Arab leaders have known this, and have acted accordingly. Hezbollah, however, has in recent years taken this to new lows. During Israel's occupation of Southern Lebanon the organization filmed its attacks against Israeli soldiers often showing in graphic detail the bloody aftermath of its actions. Tapes were quickly distributed to Arabic news organizations and shown on cable channels in Israel. The aim of groups like Hezbollah is twofold: to create fear and doubt among Israelis; and to help translate this into public pressure on the government to release their prisoners (and Palestinians) from Israeli jails.

While it is easy to understand the action of the Israeli government on humanitarian grounds, it is more problematic to understand how it pushed aside the political and security considerations of the deal. In Northern Ireland, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, nearly all paramilitary prisoners have been released from jail on licence that their respective organizations stick to the terms of the agreed ceasefire. The attitude of the vast majority of these prisoners is that the war is over, and they have not returned to violence.

Sadly, it appears the war is not over for the Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners which Israel is about to unleash back into the free world. The brutal reality is that of those to be released a sizeable majority will carry out additional attacks against Israelis. Of the last group of prisoners let go by Israel -- as a goodwill gesture to the then-Palestinian prime minister, Abu Mazen -- some six have been involved in serious crimes since their release, including several in organizing suicide bomb attacks against Israeli cities. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that Israel can expect a wave of terror in the coming months from those it has agreed to release. One wonders what the attitude of the families of the future bereaved will be when they learn the attack was carried out by someone Israel released from prison.

Israel has always had to learn lessons quickly in its war against terror. For some time it has been accepted practice for Israeli Special Forces to kidnap leading Hezbollah figures and use them as bargaining chips. In the case of Ron Arad, an Israeli airman shot down in the mid-1980s -- and presumed to have been held by Hezbollah (and possibly Iran) -- Israel kidnapped Hezbollah leaders who they hoped to trade for Arad's life. Sadly the Arad trail has gone cold. Hezbollah either doesn't know where he is or it has little control over any third party that knows his whereabouts. Either way the absence of Arad in the prisoner exchange has angered many Israelis. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he has no new information on Arad, but will negotiate if he is ever found.

On the surface Israel appears to be tough against terrorists, the widely publicized targeted killings and house demolitions have helped create such an image. The truth is much more complex. Throughout history, Israel has released thousands of prisoners from its jails to secure the return of a handful of Israelis. Since 1994 it has also negotiated with the Palestinians when under fire from suicide bomb attacks. Sadly, these two actions have inadvertently encouraged the Arab strategy of using tactical violence to gain political concessions.

A final word of caution is that some of the prisoners Israel will release are likely to head for Iraq in order to join other Hezbollah operatives in planning and executing attacks against U.S. forces there. This is not just an Israeli problem.

Neill Lochery is director of the Centre for Israeli Studies at University College, London.

You are referring to a proven hoax, here is the debunking:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blatta.htm

Muhammad Atta

Netlore Archive

Description: Email rumor
Status: False
Circulating since: September 2001
Analysis: See below

Email text contributed by Bob Dashman, 12 October 2001:

Subject: Atta Terrorist pilot Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement Israel had to agree to release so called "political prisoners". However, they would not release any with "blood on their hands". Some well meaning American President and Secretary of State insisted that all be released. Thus Mr. Atta was freed and eventually thanked us the US by flying an airplane into tower one of the world trade center. This was reported by many of the networks at the time the terrorists were first identified. It was missing from later reports.

This was Ronald Reagan and George Schultz.

Email text contributed by Eric Kirman, 6 November 2001:

In case you didn't know ... Please pass this on. Terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners." However, the Israelis would not release any with "blood on their hands." The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, "insisted" that all prisoners be released. Thus Mr. Atta was freed and eventually "thanked the US" by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center. This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified.

It was censored in the US from all later reports. The American public must be made aware of this fact.

Comments: Well, if we're going to play the blame game, let's at least get the identity of the terrorist right. It was not Muhammad Atta — believed to be the mastermind behind the September attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon — who was convicted of the 1986 bombing and machine gun attack on a bus in Samaria, sentenced to life imprisonment and later released. It was Mahmoud Abed Atta, a Palestinian associated with the Abu Nidal terror organization. They are not the same person.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Mahmoud Abed Atta fled to Venezuela after the bus attack but was deported to the U.S. and eventually (in 1990) extradited to Israel, where he was tried and sentenced for his crime. His subsequent release from prison, confirmed by the Israeli Justice Ministry, had nothing to do with the Oslo Accord or intervention by either the Reagan or the Clinton administration. It was the result of a finding by the Supreme Court of Israel that Abed Atta's extradition process was flawed. The freed terrorist's whereabouts are now unknown, officials say.

Accounts differ on when WTC terrorist Muhammad Atta became a political activist, but in any case he was only 18 and living with his family in Cairo when the 1986 bus attack occurred. In 1992 he moved to Germany, where he met his future co-conspirators and ultimately began plotting the September 11 attacks.

The Jerusalem Post attributes confusion about the identities of the two terrorists to "rumors circulating on the Internet," but in fact those rumors had their origin in erroneous press reports during the first few days after September 11.

Sources and further reading:

Internet Rumors Aside, WTC Attacker Not Held by Israel
Jerusalem Post, 8 November 2001
A Case of Mistaken Identity
Anti-Defamation League, November 2001
Clues Emerge to the Making of a Fanatic
Sydney Morning Herald, 24 September 2001

Related:

Terrorism Rumors & Hoaxes
Coverage of rumors and Net hoaxes in the wake of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon

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