More Freed Terrorists Return To Radical Islamic Activities, Say Israelis – OpEd
By Jim Kouri
On Sunday, officials from the Israeli Defense Forces released a report revealing a “significant increase in terror-related activities” in the Palestinian stronghold in West Bank which they attribute to the release of hundreds of suspected terrorists from Israel’s prison facilities, according to a source with the Israeli National Police.
The source told the Public Safety Examiner that the number of terror-related incidents have spiked during the months of January and February, with an increase of money smuggling into the West Bank to finance terror attacks.
The IDF and Israeli intelligence officials believe the smuggled cash will be used to fund rocket strikes against Israeli civilians or to abduct Israeli soldiers who patrol the borders.
According to the INP source, the number of detentions made by the Palestinian National Authority dropped by about a half during 2011, which is being attributed to the recent reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
Since October 2011, when the Israel government authorized the exchange of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for one captive soldier — Gilad Shalit — the IDF has arrested seven of the released prisoners accused of engaging in terrorism.
The last arrest by the IDF of a Palestinian terror-suspect occurred last week in a village in the West Bank, and the incident was reportedly violent. At the end of the confrontation it was discovered an Israeli soldier had been stabbed by one of the Palestinian combatants.
The wounded soldier was treated and released without serious injury, according to the Public Safety Examiner’s INP source who requested anonymity.
