Close Call

A terrorist attack potentially as destructive as September 11 was averted Thursday when an explosive device destroyed the cabin of a fuel truck as it was being filled with diesel at Israel's largest fuel depot, Pi Glilot, in Herzliya. Firemen on site managed to extinguish the fire within minutes, but the target was clearly the flammable fuels stored at the facility. Later, police sappers discovered a second bomb that failed to explode attached to the vehicle's chassis. Apparently detonated by a cellular phone, the bombs were intended to cause the explosive destruction of the entire depot, killing anyone in the area, and raining death onto the nearby residential areas of Herzliya and northern Tel Aviv. It would have been, security officials said, "a strategic event."

That expression means that, had it been successful, the fuel-depot attack would have been several orders of magnitude more serious than even the worst of the recent suicide bombings. Ninety percent of the people in proximity to the facility, including motorists on the major highways passing nearby, would have been killed immediately, and 50 percent of the residents of the neighboring residential areas would have died in the ensuing fires or from the poisoned air that would have blanketed the area. Ehud Yatom, a former General Security Services officer and one-time nominee to head the prime minister's antiterrorism task force, commented that a successful attack on the installation could have caused a chain reaction culminating in a full-scale regional war. Therefore, Yatom said, "Israel must work together with the United States in preparing its reaction, as the ramifications are world-wide." Former minister of national infrastructures, Avigdor Lieberman, had noted and warned of the possibility of a disaster such as the one that was avoided Thursday morning during his tenure in the government. "It is clearly a tempting target for hostile elements," Lieberman said on Israel Radio. The Israeli intelligence community has been warning of a "massive attack" against strategic targets over the last few months. A successful attack on the Pi Glilot facility would definitely have fit that description.

While almost all players on the Israeli political stage appear to be in agreement that a successful attack on a target like the fuel depot would lead to, even demand, massive Israeli retaliation, a massive Israeli retaliation does not appear to be in the offing just yet. It is clear that such a response at this point would be met with even less sympathy from the world community than Operation Defensive Shield was following a month of daily suicide bombings, even though the type of attack attempted today was a far greater strategic threat to the Jewish state. It remains an open question, of course, if a successful attack on the fuel depot would have led to a United Nations condemnation of the PLO or of Israel.

Some in Israel, however, are insisting that the failed Pi Glilot attack should be treated just as seriously as if it had been successful. "In the Middle East," the head of the Israeli Air Force commented, in another context, "if you fail to retaliate, it is not seen as goodwill, but as weakness." Referring specifically to Thursday's attack, Ehud Yatom told Israel Radio, "A near-miss is just as serious as a successful attack…" Failing to retaliate immediately, he said, would be a "clear signal of weakness to the terrorists, and it will increase their motivation to employ non-conventional weapons."

Americans with a little bit of historical knowledge can probably appreciate those sentiments. One wonders what might have happened — or rather, what might not have happened — in 2001 had the United States treated the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, which was meant to bring at least one tower crashing down, as if it had done so and gone after terrorist infrastructures the world over in the 1990s. More importantly, today, would the Bush administration support an Israeli preemptive strike to prevent the tragedy yet to come?

Fuel depot closed after bomb attack

By Amiram Cohen and Amit Ben-Aroya


	A worker examining the remains of the truck that was blown up yesterday by a bomb at the Pi Glilot fuel depot. (Photo: Motti Kimche)

The Pi Glilot fuel depot, just off the Tel Aviv-Haifa Highway, was closed yesterday by administrative order of the mayor of Ramat Hasharon after serious security flaws were discovered in the wake of a terrorist bomb exploding under a tanker that was loading diesel fuel at the site. The tanker truck burst into flames, but automatic firefighting equipment put out the blaze before it blew up the diesel on board, averting a major catastrophe. No one was hurt.

Ramat Hasharon Mayor Gabi Faran decided to order Pi Glilot closed on the basis of Article 4 of the business license law, saying that grave security flaws were detected in the wake of yesterday's incident. According to Faran, despite repeated extensions given to the operating company - fuel companies Paz, Delek and Sonol, as well as the government-owned Fuel and Energy Infrastructure - the flaws had not been corrected. Among those flaws were security regulations set by the anti-terror council in the prime minister's office, which had not been followed.

Hours after the explosion, National Infrastructures Deputy Minister Naomi Blumenthal promised that the fuel tanks at Pi Glilot would be moved underground within 11 months, saying it would greatly reduce risk to the area.

The depot supplies some 70% of the gasoline and cooking gas in the country. If it is not reopened, the fuel companies will have to start today deploying hundreds of trucks to bring fuel from elsewhere in the country to the TA metropolitan area. For years the government has been trying to move it to west Rishon Letzion, to no avail, because of opposition from the mayor and residents.

The National Infrastructures Ministry and Environment Ministry, meanwhile, have been cooperating to reduce the amount of flammable material kept at the depot. The latest order by the National Infrastructures Ministry instructed Pazgaz to reduce its fuel deposits there to 360 tons, and Amisragas can keep no more than 500 tons. Tankers that until now held 500 tons each will be filled with water. Both companies have been limited to storing no more than 180 tons of refined natural gas.

The Environment Ministry has long demanded the tanks be stored underground on the site. According to Miki Hearn, deputy director general for hazardous materials, reducing the amount of fuel is important, but even a small amount of gas can cause a major explosion. "They should put it all underground and do it now, irrespective of where and when they move the depot," said Hearn. "Even if they decide to go ahead with the move, it will take a couple of years and until then the depot at Pi Glilot should be put underground."

Shalev Cooperative truck driver Yitzhak Ginzburg drove his truck into the depot early yesterday morning, unaware that some time during the night a small bomb had been attached underneath the cabin of his truck while it was parked in a Holon parking lot near his home. He began filling the tank at 7:30 A.M., and almost immediately afterward, the bomb exploded. Eight other trucks were refueling beside him, but as luck would have it, the tank was only cracked and did not explode in the blast, and the diesel did not ignite. The police have yet to make any arrests in the case. "A huge disaster has been averted," said Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon. Shlomi Sarig, acting manager of the depot, said there had been warnings of a possible attack, and security had been boosted accordingly. A senior police source said that "not every bomb can be discovered, even if all the rules are followed." One avenue of investigation is that the bomb was detonated by a cellular phone call, indicating that the bomber knew the driver's routine schedule.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=167717&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0

Pi Glilot attack raises questions
By DAVID RUDGE

The attempt to blow up the giant Pi Glilot fuel storage facility could have been the most deadly attack since the outbreak of the current violence, according to Boaz Ganor,director of the International Policy Institute on Counter Terrorism at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.

"It should be clearly understood that this was a strategic attack attempt against the state, and not just another in the long chain of terror atrocities that we have witnessed until now," he said. "For that reason, we have to differentiate between the actual outcome and the catastrophe that could have occurred had the terrorists' plans succeeded fully."

Ganor said security forces have been aware that installations like PI Glilot are targets for strategic attacks and security measures have apparently been increased.

Such a scenario has been obvious for many years, long before the devastating September 11 terrorist attacks, he said.

Several of the Scud missiles Iraq launched at Israel during the 1991 Gulf War were aimed at such installations.

"The fact that an attempt of this kind was likely to be made should come as no surprise. A highly sensitive installation of this nature, packed with volatile petroleum and gas products near one of the busiest road intersections in the country, and not far from residential areas and an army base, is an obvious target for strategic terror attacks," said Ganor.

"There are only a few high-risk places like this in the country, and one would assume that the dangers have been taken into account and appropriate security measure have been implemented."

"The fact that this attempt succeeded to the extent that the terrorists managed to infiltrate an explosive device and detonate it inside the facility is extremely disturbing, and is something that will have to be investigated thoroughly," he said.

According to security experts, a lot of careful planning and preparation went into the operation. The perpetrators discovered a way of penetrating tight security at the installation by hiding the bomb under a tanker.

The fact that it was detonated when the tanker was being filled and was alongside eight others indicates that at least one terrorist maintained visual contact with the vehicle when it entered the facility, and then detonated the device by remote control at what appeared to be the optimum moment.

Ganor said there is a constant battle of wits between terrorists trying to conceive new "modus operandi" and counter-terrorism experts whose task is to predict and thwart the new methods.
"On this occasion, the terrorists discovered and utilized a soft spot, and the results could have been horrendous but for a margin of good fortune and the quick and effective action of damage control teams at the scene," said Ganor.

"We should thank God that this ended the way it did and that we now have a second chance to examine the various aspects and to take the necessary steps to tighten security at such installations and regarding tankers transporting hazardous materials," he added.

http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1021813237519

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