West Bank most-wanted terrorist list has dwindled to almost nil
For the first time since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, there
is not a single security suspect being sought by Israel in the northern West
Bank.
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel Haaretz 02:36 08.11.10
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/west-bank-most-wanted-terrorist-list-has-dwindled-to-almost-nil-1.323465

There is not a single security suspect being sought by Israel in the
northern West Bank for the first time since the outbreak of the second
intifada in 2000. In the southern West Bank, there are only a few names on
the security establishment's wanted list. The situation is a reflection of
both the improved security situation in the West Bank and the increasing
cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian Authority security forces.

The northern West Bank, notably Nablus and Jenin, but also Tul Karm and
Qalqilyah, was where the most lethal terrorist networks established a
foothold during the second intifada. Members of the Hamas terror network,
which had its center of operations in Nablus, led the Israeli list of wanted
terrorists, but Islamic Jihad and local cells of the Fatah military wing,
the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, also exacted a heavy toll in the lives of
Israeli civilians and Israeli soldiers. In response, the security barrier
was constructed, thousands of Palestinian terror suspects were arrested and
interrogated and Israeli security forces made prolonged efforts to stop the
wave of terror centered in the northern West Bank.

The last fatal suicide bombing emanating from the northern West Bank
occurred in April 2006 when 11 Israelis were killed at an explosion at a
restaurant near Tel Aviv's old central bus station, committed by Islamic
Jihad in Jenin. At the time, however, most senior terrorist figures in the
northern West Bank had already been arrested and dozens of others had been
killed by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security services.

A major reason for the shrinking list, however, is growing coordination with
Palestinian security forces, which went into high gear against West Bank
terrorist groups after Hamas completed its takeover of the Gaza Strip by
Hamas in June of 2007 and expelled Fatah's leadership from the territory.
The Palestinian Authority then began arresting hundreds of Hamas and Islamic
Jihad members in the northern West Bank. At the same time, the PA, with
Israel's assent, developed protective custody arrangements and later
released hundreds of wanted Fatah figures who promised to lay down their
weapons and refrain from terror activity against Israel. Israel, in turn,
allowed the suspects who had not been involved in acts of murder to escape
punishment as part of an effort to stabilize the situation on the ground and
assist Palestinian security forces.

In the last year, several major terrorist attacks have been carried out in
the West Bank, but Israel located the perpetrators, Fatah members from
Nablus and Hamas members from the Hebron area, and killed them. Among the
few wanted figures still at large are Hamas members operating in Hebron.

In 2004, when the number of wanted suspects still numbered in the hundreds
and suicide attacks were still occurring within the borders of Israel
proper, a controversy developed in the leadership of the Israeli security
establishment. The head of the Shin Bet at the time, Avi Dichter, argued
that the "terror barrel" had a bottom, and that a continued intensive fight
against the terrorist organizations would reveal the bottom, meaning a
complete halt to the wave of terrorism. Senior figures in the IDF contended,
however, that despite the successes that were being chalked up at the time,
it was not possible to entirely stop terrorism.

Dichter was correct to a great extent. Terrorism from the West Bank was
stopped almost entirely and the wanted list for the northern West Bank
dwindled to nothing. The improvement is also related to arrangement with the
Palestinian Authority, which involved substantial compromise on Israel's
part.