Posted on 07/15/2005 8:02:08 AM PDT by Nachum
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel, on the forefront of nations fighting terrorist bombings, has decreased the number of suicide attacks by using methods ranging from employing Palestinian informants to asking guards to look each passenger directly in the eye.
One bus company even developed a sensor to detect explosives.
But experts say good intelligence, relentless military pursuit and a vigilant public - not technological innovation - is behind most of Israel's success in stopping bombers.
The steps Israel has taken have a downside: They've turned many public places into virtual garrisons and put guards, by law, outside every restaurant to frisk customers with metal-detecting wands.
But, combined with a Feb. 8 truce with the Palestinians, the methods have dramatically reduced suicide bombings - from a peak of 53 suicide attacks in 2002 to 12 in 2004 and just three this year.
Technological innovations were at the center of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's proposals Wednesday aimed at doing more to detect explosives and biological, chemical or radioactive material on rail, subway and bus systems.
However, technology has not been the key to Israel's success against terror attacks.
In Israel, a bus company briefly tested a system of using sensors to detect explosives outside buses, a turnstile at the front door of the vehicle and a one-way exit at the back to stop suicide bombers from boarding. The idea was that even if the sensor did not indicate explosives, a driver could lock out anyone who looked suspicious.
That plan was abandoned, though, due primarily to budget problems, said Eli Manor of the Dan bus company.
(AP) Israeli mounted policemen patrol Jerusalem Beach on the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, Israel, in... Full Image Bus companies do employ hundreds of guards to ride buses and patrol bus stops. Large numbers of police and paramilitary border guards also patrol open air markets, pedestrian malls and even beaches.
"Psychologically," Manor said, "the guards are more effective and aggressive. People can see them."
Additionally, mall entrances have walkthrough metal detectors, and bus stations have X-ray machines for bags.
Technology, in fact, is only one part of "a wide range of methods" that should be used to stop bombers, said Shabtai Shavit, a former head of Israel's Mossad spy agency.
Accurate real-time intelligence is the most important factor, he said.
Israel employs a vast array of informers among the Palestinians and often has stopped bombers at checkpoints before they cross into Israel.
In the quest to identify bombers before they reach their targets, Israeli guards also use ethnic profiling, a controversial practice shunned in many other countries.
Security guards frequently address passengers with a simple "shalom," looking them directly in the eye. Those who do not answer or have accents are considered suspicious and can be questioned further.
Israel is building a barrier to fence in the West Bank and keep out attackers. The military says it believes the barrier will do more to protect Israeli cities from bombers. Palestinians have criticized the barrier, which dips in some places into the West Bank - an area they claim for a future state - as an attempted land grab.
Newspapers also have published tips for the public to help spot bombers, including looking for people wearing long or bulky coats, which could conceal explosive-packed vests, on hot days.
The truce, declared Feb. 8 by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, has drastically reduced the level of violence after more than four years of bloodshed. Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings, has not carried out any since the truce went into effect.
But a determined suicide bomber can be unstoppable, warned Efraim Inbar, head of a think tank at Israel's Bar Ilan university. If suicide bombers detect security systems, they may just choose another target, he said.
This was illustrated Tuesday when a Palestinian suicide bomber, unable to enter a heavily guarded mall in Netanya, blew himself up outside the shopping center on a crowded sidewalk, killing himself and five others.
Keeping bombers away from their primary target can lower casualties, Inbar noted.
He credits Israel's success to an unflinching campaign to arrest or kill militants. Israel targeted dozens of leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in arrest raids and strikes by helicopter gunships.
"An organization with 25 percent of its leadership destroyed cannot function properly and launch attacks," he said. "If I had to choose between defense or attack, it is far more cost effective to go on the attack."
We should borrow some of this Israeli expertise and start using these methods in the USA.
Why wait until we have been attacked?
I wish technology would develop a machine that each person must walk thru entering any bus or train, one by one. And if any person is carrying explosives, it ignites.
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That policy has been discontinued as ineffective. Relative to the bad publicity I assume.
In the quest to identify bombers before they reach their targets, Israeli guards also use ethnic profiling, a controversial practice shunned in many other countries.
Security guards frequently address passengers with a simple "shalom," looking them directly in the eye. Those who do not answer or have accents are considered suspicious and can be questioned further.
In the quest to identify bombers before they reach their targets, Israeli guards also use ethnic profiling, a controversial practice shunned in many other countries.
Security guards frequently address passengers with a simple "shalom," looking them directly in the eye. Those who do not answer or have accents are considered suspicious and can be questioned further.
In the quest to identify bombers before they reach their targets, Israeli guards also use ethnic profiling, a controversial practice shunned in many other countries.
Security guards frequently address passengers with a simple "shalom," looking them directly in the eye. Those who do not answer or have accents are considered suspicious and can be questioned further.
In the quest to identify bombers before they reach their targets, Israeli guards also use ethnic profiling, a controversial practice shunned in many other countries.
Security guards frequently address passengers with a simple "shalom," looking them directly in the eye. Those who do not answer or have accents are considered suspicious and can be questioned further.
I thought the demolition of homes was in response to sniper and mortar/rocket fire. ?
I'm sure that will continue. For a period of time Israel was destroying many of the homes of bombers families, since in many cases support was given by the family, or the home was used as a preparation site. That policy was stopped a while ago.
Great pic that captures the insanity of our 'no profiling' airport screening policies. yeah right, a retired man with suspenders is likely the next 'shoe bomber'.
""If I had to choose between defense or attack, it is far more cost effective to go on the attack."
Why does Mecca , Medina, Syria, and Saudi Arabia not yet glow in the dark?
Kudos to the Israelis for their fine work in this matter.
I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, it will require another 9/11 to get us to finally implement what you have suggested. Seize all relatives' assets and immediate deportation to all. Racial profile is a must.
When Israel can complete the security wall it will go a long way toward keeping Satan's children at bay...
You're right. It will take another major attack on our soil for the U.S. to wake up to this realization. But, I'm convinced this is the approach we must take eventually.
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