December 29, 2014
MEMRI Special Dispatch No.5916
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8352.htm
Aljazeera.net Article In Praise Of Stabbings, Vehicular Attacks And Other
Forms Of Resistance: Israel Can Manufacture Advanced Missile Systems, But
Cannot Protect Its Citizens From Knife Attacks


Dr. 'Adnan Abu 'Amer, a Palestinian journalist and Gazan university
lecturer, recently devoted his regular column on Aljazirah.net to the
November 18, 2014 attack on the Jerusalem synagogue and to other recent
attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Abu 'Amer praised the "creativity"
of the Palestinian attackers who, he said, have begun using simple weapons
like knives and stones that are readily available everywhere. Such weapons,
he added, are particularly effective because they can be used by a lone
attacker, and the Israeli security apparatuses are unable to stop this
attacker before he strikes. According to Abu 'Amer, the rise in stabbing
attacks attests to a growing spirit of self-sacrifice in Palestinian
society.

Below are translated excerpts from his article:[1]

Recent Operations Show That Anyone Can Carry Out Resistance Using Primitive
Weapons

"The recent Fidai operations carried out by young Palestinians in the West
Bank and occupied Jerusalem against the Israeli army and settlers reveal
that the Palestinian people have armed themselves with the will to wage
resistance against the occupier, and no longer accept the wretched and bleak
situation [that currently exists]. These operations show that we have
reached the point of no return, [where it is impossible to go back] to the
former status quo that included repeated incursions to the Haram [i.e. the
Al-Aqsa compound] and repeated attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"...The fact that the people of the West Bank and Jerusalem have joined the
battlefield of resistance in recent weeks improves and renews the popular
primitive weapons, making them more effective than before. In recent
operations, the fighters utilized many diverse types of weaponry of
increasing sophistication – from stones and slings, through knives and other
sharp weapons, to firearms. This qualitative improvement of the resistance
tools used in the struggle against the occupier allows every member of the
[Palestinian] people to wage resistance with these primitive weapons. And so
one person erects a barrier and a second burns a tire, a third makes a fire
bomb, a fourth digs a trench, a fifth scatters nails on the road, a sixth
stabs a settler and a seventh runs over a soldier. Palestine has become a
popular workshop where everyone plays a role.

Primitive Weapons Are Effective And Highlight The Contrast With The Advanced
Israeli Weapons

"A review of the recent resistance [operations] carried out in the
Palestinian territories, and of the diverse weapons used, reveals which were
the most important weapons – both primitive weapons and firearms, as
detailed below:

1. The stone: used to erect barriers, block traffic arteries and build
hideouts and barricades, [including for] ambushes. Even if a stone, in terms
of its physical impact, does not evoke a mental image of a heroic battle, it
has powerful symbolic significance, because it highlights the contrast
between [the Palestinian's simple weapons] and the advanced weaponry of an
enemy that possesses an atomic bomb.

2. The slingshot:... Palestinians use the slingshot in sniping
operations against the occupation forces and the settlers and their various
means of transport. Its importance lies in the fact that a shooter can use
it while remaining unseen, which complicates things for the occupation
forces. Although [this weapon] rarely causes lethal damage, it is capable
of causing severe injury if used at close range and if the stone is hefty
and the shooter strong.

3. Arson and burning tires: Last summer the Israelis experienced a 'hot
season' whose flames reached the very heart of Israel. Dozens of fires broke
out in the forests and woods and set thousands of hectares ablaze. [These
fires] constituted an additional surprise for the Israeli security
apparatuses, which recently began awakening, now and again, to a new
surprise by the resistance.

4. Barricades and obstacles: this tool was used by the resistance to
block the entrances and streets in the cities, villages and refugee camps to
occupation army vehicles, and this helped the youths divide the attacks on
the Israeli forces [between them], and even more so to retreat at the right
moment and guarantee that the occupation's military vehicles and armored
cars could not pursue them…"

The Importance Of Stabbings: The Knife Is A Household Item; Even Israeli
Arabs Can Take Part In Such Resistance

"Knives were the weapons most frequently used in the recent [operations] by
the popular resistance in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The latest stabbing,
at the [Jerusalem] synagogue, led to five Israelis killed and eight wounded.
Stabbing operations are important because this sharp weapon is a found in
every household and its use has very significant impact – not only in terms
of its lethal potential but due to the psychological effect on the Israelis,
who see and grasp that a soldier can be killed with a knife [even] while
weilding a sophisticated automatic rifle.

"The most important thing is that the [stabbing actions] forced the
occupation to open up a new front that [can] always blow up in its face. For
the knife attacks compromised its deterrent capability and harmed the morale
of its public, to the point that [Israeli] army officers admitted that they
had effectively lost their ability to deter [the Palestinians]… The waves of
knife attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem and within the Green Line,
against both the occupation soldiers and the settlers, provoked an interest
in researching the most important characteristics this novel mode of
resistance, the most prominent of which are:

A. [The stabbings] erupted following the decline in popular mass-protest
actions, which gave rise to the notion of transitioning to a stage of
qualitative and unique activity, the war of knives being one of the
resources and tools of this [stage].

B. The idea of persevering in constant resistance activity, and giving
the [Palestinians] within the Green Line a chance to adjust themselves to
the resistance and its activities, served as a catalyst for escalating this
type of [knife] war against the occupation, because it doesn't require many
people [but] focuses on small groups. In fact, many of the stabbing actions
were performed by a lone resistance fighter.

C. The phenomenon spread throughout the occupied territories and [even]
reached the areas within the 1948 [borders], the heartland of the occupation
state, provoking its fears that the knife war will spread to its entire
territory. The stabbing operations focus primarily on soldiers armed to the
teeth – both regular army soldiers and reservists, as well as Border Police
personnel and settlers.

D. The stabbing actions are evidence of the growing spirit of sacrifice
and martyrdom within Palestinian society. [The fact that] operations
resulted in the attackers being killed or sentenced to life did not deter
other resistance fighters from following the same path and carrying out the
same operations.

"Israel's response reflected its great fear that these knife stabbing
operations would increase, and it has admitted the growing burden on its
security apparatuses and the difficulty in combating this kind of
phenomenon. It turns out to be one of the security apparatuses' most
difficult and complicated tasks. One result of the [knife war] is that arms
stores in Israel filled with people who came to purchase personal arms for
self-defense after the recent stabbing incidents repeated themselves.

"In this context, officers in Israel's Central Command said that they have
no magic solution to stop the Palestinian stabbing operations, because it is
hard to prevent them from obtaining knives. Furthermore, the increasing
[stabbing operations] mean that Israel's power of deterrence is declining
daily. The paradox is that Israel is capable of manufacturing the
state-of-the-art Arrow antimissile-missile, but is incapable of protecting
its citizens from knife attacks.

"Resistance fighters also used cars and cabs to run over the occupation
soldiers and settlers while they were carrying out foot patrols in the
cities and refugee camps. And indeed several [vehicular] attacks were
successful and killed or wounded several soldiers..."

[1] Aljazeera.net, November 19, 2014.


© 1998-2014, The Middle East Media Research Institute All Rights Reserved.
Materials may only be cited with proper attribution.