The terrorism loophole - Lilach Shoval and Daniel Siryoti

by Lilach Shoval and Daniel Siryoti

The wave of terrorism has turned the spotlight back onto the familiar issue of illegal Palestinian infiltrators • Defense officials say considerable efforts are made to curtail the problem, but admit the military has more pressing threats to counter.

A Palestinian man using a rope to climb down the security fence near east Jerusalem, last week | Photo credit: AFP

Two of the terrorists who carried out Tuesday's attacks in Jaffa and Petach Tikva were in Israel illegally. Although both terrorists were from Palestinian villages adjacent to the West Bank city of Qalqilya, authorities believe the attacks were unrelated, as all signs indicate the two did not know each other.

This is not the first time Palestinians who are in Israel illegally have carried out terrorist attacks. Countering the illegal infiltration into Israel has been a priority for the defense establishment for years, and Shin Bet security agency data suggests that 28 out of the 254 terrorist attacks that have taken place in Israel and across Judea and Samaria since the onset of the current wave of terrorism were perpetrated by illegal Palestinian infiltrators.

These 28 terrorists were merely a fraction of the estimated 40,000 Palestinians who enter Israel illegally every day. Some return to their homes every night, while others stay within the Green Line, illegally, for days and sometimes weeks. En route to Israel, they travel on roads the defense establishment is familiar with, they often have set pickup points and transportation arrangements, and most are employed regularly by the same Israeli employers. The majority of these Palestinians have nothing to do with terrorism -- all they want to do is provide for their families.

Civil Administration data suggest 61,000 Palestinians hold valid work permits allowing them to enter Israel, and an additional 27,000 Palestinians have permits allowing them to work in Jewish communities across Judea and Samaria. Palestinians applying for work permits in Israel must be specifically requested by their Israeli employers before they are vetted by the defense establishment. 

Defense officials have repeatedly noted that the fact Palestinians are granted work permits in the midst of the current surge in violence serves as a mitigating factor that curtails terrorism, adding that were Israel to comprehensively deny or revoke such permits, these Palestinians would be rioting on the streets and clashing with Israeli security forces. So far, only two of the terrorist attacks that have taken place over the past six months were carried out by Palestinian workers allowed into Israel.

Palestinians denied an official work permit have good reason to infiltrate Israel, where they are paid about 200 shekels ($50) for a day's work -- double what they make working in Palestinian cities. Infiltration also nixes the need to arrive at IDF checkpoints in the very early hours of the morning, for the routine security screening. 

Despite statements to the contrary, prior to the current wave of terrorism Israel took only minimal steps against Palestinian infiltrators. The defense establishment's premise was that the Israeli economy needed Palestinian day laborers, whose employment alleviated the dire economic situation across the West Bank, which in turn curtailed Palestinians' desire to carry out terrorist attacks. But as the violence refuses to ebb, and as reality proves that more and more Palestinian infiltrators are involved in terrorist attacks within the Green Line, the defense establishment has come to realize the flow of terrorists into Israel must be stopped.

A senior officer with the IDF's Judea and Samaria Division told Israel Hayom that the military goes to great lengths to prevent Palestinians from infiltrating Israel but he also admitted that given the other major threats facing Judea and Samaria's Jewish communities and roads, the matter was simply not a top priority.

With the exception of specific areas making up the security fence, which are still under construction, the majority of the fence across Judea and Samaria has been completed. The fence however, is constantly sabotaged and according to defense officials the damage amount to hundreds of thousands of shekels a month, and the breached fence allows Palestinians to infiltrate Israel illegally. 

"In many cases, where the fence is intact we are able to detain infiltrators. The fence indicates [breaches], and we have scouts and patrols. Prevention rates are high. We know their routes and they know they have to work hard to infiltrate Israel. [Palestinian] Infiltrators are always on our radar but we have other threats in the sector. Even if I had two additional battalions in the sector right now I would use them for other assignments, not to catch infiltrators, because I think we're doing well in that department," he said.

Commenting on the fact that the Jaffa and Petach Tikva attacks were carried out by Palestinian infiltrators, he said, "We don't have a hermetic seal. We're not happy about it but we make sure to draw the necessary conclusions from any event and adapt how we operate accordingly."

The infiltration problem, he admitted, "is multitiered because there is legislation to consider. Theoretically you can arrest a Palestinian infiltrator and indict him, but practical reality is slightly more complex. There are times when the police let them go, depending on whether or not they're repeat offenders, and sometimes they are fined."

Another military official noted that often after the military arrests Palestinian infiltrators, "no one comes for them. There's nothing we can do in such cases. They [the infiltrators] are suspected of having committed a criminal offence, not of participating in terrorist activity, so it's out of the military's hands."

The Israel Police said in a statement, "In general, the Israel Defense Forces is responsible for border protection, including any operations and checkpoints along the security fence, to prevent individuals from illegally entering Israel. This is complemented by focused enforcement by the Israel police against those who have managed to infiltrate Israel despite the IDF's efforts. Such offences are subject to strict, unwavering enforcement, including punitive actions against those who employ, drive, or harbor illegal Palestinian infiltrators. It should be noted that in the past 24 hours alone, police and Border Police forces have arrested over 250 illegal Palestinian infiltrators, 12 drivers, and 15 employers. The police files thousands of indictments in the matter every year."

The police statement noted that "enforcement is pursued in several spheres, from the security fence inward toward city centers, while paying special attention to construction sites and other popular urban areas, so to ensure all security aspects pertaining to public safety are addressed. Tens of thousands of investigations are launched every year over illegal infiltration and in cases where there is a proven threat, as determined by set criteria, suspects are arrested, arraigned, and prosecuted accordingly. 

"It is important to note that as the courts are usually lenient on infiltrators -- unless they are repeat offenders -- the police focus the majority of their efforts on employers, drivers, and those who harbor infiltrators, who are subjected to serious administrative measures, including for example, shutting down construction sites." 

Where there's a will, there's a way 

Authorities understand that one of the most effective ways to deal with the phenomenon of illegal Palestinian infiltrators is by dealing with their Israeli employers. 

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is currently promoting legislation seeking to significantly aggravate punitive actions taken against Israelis who employ illegal Palestinians infiltrators. According to this bill, which has already passed its first Knesset reading, employers would face prosecution and hefty fines, the police will be granted administrative authority to shut down a business or a construction site employing illegal infiltrators for up to 30 days, and the court will be able to revoke their business license or construction permit.

"Those who employ illegal Palestinian infiltrators place Israeli lives at risk. The current wave of terrorism has proven once again how dangerous it is that illegal infiltrators are present on construction sites and in city centers. Their employment is a nationwide plague that is the result of lenient enforcement. We have to prosecute those who employ or harbor illegal Palestinian infiltrators to the full extent of the law, and make sure it is simply not worth it to them to risk Israeli lives for greed," Edran said.

The involvement of illegal infiltrators in the current surge in violence makes things difficult not only for the Israeli security forces but also for the Palestinians themselves, especially those who have valid work permits. 

"All most of us want is simply to make an honest living, which is virtually impossible in the Palestinian Authority," Abdullah, an illegal infiltrator from a village near Jenin, who sells sandwiches to those traveling through the Gilboa checkpoint north of the Palestinian city, told Israel Hayom. 

"I'm here every day from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. If I make 100 shekels [$26] in 12 hours I say, 'Praise Allah.' Until a few months ago, before the terrorist attacks began, the soldiers would let us go through to the other side of the checkpoint and sell food and drinks to the Israelis as well, so we made more money. But ever since the attacks began anyone trying to go through the checkpoint risks his life. I can sell only to the Palestinian workers going through the checkpoint and they count every shekel they spend."

Muhammad, an illegal infiltrator who works in fields in the western Galilee, says trying to stop Palestinians from infiltrating Israel would prove nearly impossible. 

"Someone who needs to provide for his family will do anything and everything for that. I know Palestinians and Israelis who keep coming up with new and creative ways to get into the Green Line and to smuggle Palestinian workers into Israel. Some pay people who take them to certain areas along the [security] fence, where it's easier to infiltrate [Israel] and others hide in specially-built hidden compartments in cars," he said.

Infiltrating Israel, however, has become much harder since the onset of the current wave of terrorism, and Muhammad said smugglers have doubled their usual fee. 

"If, say, a year ago any Palestinian worker without a permit wanted to get into Israel he would pay somewhere between 200 and 300 shekels [$50 and $80]. Today it's about 600 or 700 shekels [$150 or $180] per person. Those who use smugglers who take them to where you can breach the fence on foot pay a little less, but we're still talking about several hundred shekels a person. That's why the majority of illegals prefer not to return to the West Bank [at night] and stay on the farms, or the construction sites that employ them."

Undocumented Palestinian workers can be found working Israeli fields in the country's north and south, and on construction sites nationwide. 

"If there's no specific expertise needed than Israeli contractors -- Arab Israelis and Jews -- prefer hiring Palestinian workers," Rassem, an illegal infiltrator from Husan, a Palestinian village west of Bethlehem, told Israel Hayom.

"There are almost thirty of us living in sheds near the fields we work on. Most of us don't go home for months. In better times before the attacks, we would bring our families and children to be with us and help us. But now when the police and the Border Police raid construction sites almost every day it makes no sense to bring our families here. I haven't seen my wife and children for almost 6 months, and I have no intention of going back to my village right now because I know infiltrating Israel again would be very expensive and chances are we'll be caught," he said.

According to Rassem, the majority of Palestinian workers are familiar with how the police and Border Police look for illegal infiltrators, which makes it easy for them to avoid capture. 

"Agricultural areas and construction sites are full of hiding places. Sometimes the cops walk or drive right by us and they have no idea that there are 10 or 20 Palestinian workers hiding right under their noses," he said. 

Undocumented workers and their employers have developed systems to fool the police: "We take turns -- five of us volunteer to get caught to save the remaining 20 or 30. The police are happy and they leave the area. For the most part those detained are even given a ride to whatever checkpoint gets them home. After a few days go by, we collect a little money from everyone, to pay for those who were captured to be smuggled back into Israel." 

Muhammad and Rassem both said that for the most part, their Israeli employers, and others who pay to have Palestinian workers smuggled into Israel, see it as a cost-effective venture, although they have their reservations. 

"If, heaven forbid, the illegal worker carried out a terrorist attack than his employer or the person who smuggled him [into Israel] could be in a lot of trouble," Rassem said. "But in routine times this is a win-win situation for everyone: the smugglers make a lot of money, hundreds or even thousands of shekels every day; the employers get cheap labor -- much cheaper than any foreign worker; and the Palestinian workers are able to make an honest living and provide for their families.

"If Israel were to allow more Palestinians into the Green Line to work and make an honest living, the number of terrorist attacks would drop. Even now, in this wave of terrorism, the majority of terrorists were not illegals, but high school students [university] students and women," he said.

Lilach Shoval and Daniel Siryoti

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=32333

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