Israel Matzav: Terror can be defeated

Terror can be defeated

BBC Reporter Alan Johnston, who was 'kidnapped' in Gaza two years ago and held by Hamas, returns to Shchem (Nablus) and discovers that Israel has defeated the terrorists - or at least forced them to put down their guns.

Over the years I had often interviewed men like Abu Ahmed. But what was different this time was the way he spoke when we talked of the future. He explained why he had put down his gun. He said it had been a political decision, but he gave every impression of having been ground down by the conflict.

Abu Ahmed described what it had meant to live on the Israeli army's wanted list. "There was fear 24 hours a day. You might be only moments from death or jail. You would fear for yourself and for those around you."

He described how militants would try to escape an army operation – scrambling from house to house in a frantic search for a place to hide. "Sometimes when a wanted man was cornered he would say his prayers, knowing he would die."

Abu Ahmed had been wounded more than once, and he wanted a way out. "My mother has no other children but me. My brothers are dead and I have got married." He would live for his family now, he said.

Like many militants in Nablus over the past two years, Abu Ahmed has taken advantage of an amnesty programme. In line with agreements worked out between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, former militants are often allowed to join the regular Palestinian security forces.

You no longer see gunmen on the streets and al-Aqsa is not launching attacks. To the Israeli Defence Forces, this looks like victory. "Nablus was a city that exported terror," Lieutenant-Colonel Avi Shalev said. "We faced a very difficult situation whereby nearly every second day there was an attack in an Israeli city. And a lot this wave of terrorism came from Nablus."

Over the years, he said, the army's raids and arrests had eradicated the threat. "This was a very successful campaign." I asked if he regarded Nablus as posing any danger to Israel now. He replied that the army was "satisfied", but that the situation was reversible. He said the IDF had created conditions that had allowed the Palestinian Authority security forces to take control.

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Yes, there is a military solution to control - and ultimately defeat - terror.

Israel Matzav: Terror can be defeated