PA says it foiled 200 terror attacks since October
Security chief says his agency is working together with ‘Israeli, American counterparts’ to prevent PA’s collapse and IS rising in its stead
The head of the Palestinian domestic intelligence body says the Palestinian Authority has prevented 200 attacks against Israelis in the latest wave of terror attacks since October 2015.
Majed Faraj, director of the PA’s General Intelligence Service, told Defense News in an interview published Wednesday that Palestinian security services have also confiscated weapons and arrested some 100 Palestinians in the effort to prevent the attacks.
“We are sure that violence, radicalization and terrorism will hurt us. It won’t bring us closer to achieving our dream of a Palestinian state,” Faraj told the magazine in what he said was his first media interview.
At least 29 Israelis and some 150 Palestinians, most of them attackers, have been killed in the latest spate of violence in recent months, which has included near-daily stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks in Israel and the West Bank.
“Aside from the immediate threat of Hamas and other extremist groups opposed to the PLO-controlled PA policies, Faraj views security coordination as a bridge that can sustain a decent atmosphere until the politicians go back to serious talks,” the report said.
“We fought for many decades in a different way; and now we are fighting for peace… So I will continue fighting to keep this bridge against radicalization and violence that should lead us to our independence,” Faraj said.
He also warned about the possible collapse of the PA and the rise of Islamic State in the West Bank in its stead.
“[The Islamic State] is on our border; they are here with their ideology; and they are looking to find a suitable platform to establish their base. Therefore, we must prevent a collapse here, because the alternative is anarchy, violence and terrorism.
“We, together with our counterparts in the Israeli security establishment, with the Americans and others, are all trying to prevent that collapse. The experts all know that in case of collapse, everybody will get hurt … They’re already in Iraq, Syria, Sinai, Lebanon and Jordan, but Ramallah, Amman and Tel Aviv must remain immune from them,” he said.
