Israel Matzav

Got a big one in Tulkarm

On Tuesday night, the IDF captured Omer Jaber, the commander of Hamas forces in Tulkarm, without firing a shot. Jaber has been one of the most sought after terrorists in the country for six years, since March 27, 2002, when a suicide bomber murdered 30 people and wounded 140 in the Park Hotel in Netanya on the seder night, the first night of Passover.

Jaber, 54, was released from an Israeli prison in 1994 and began setting up Hamas terror infrastructure in Tulkarm. In 2002, he was responsible for drafting the guide responsible for leading the suicide bomber to the Park Hotel and introduced him to Hamas's top commander in Tulkarm at the time, Abbas Said.

Later, Jaber planned the route that the guide would take with the bomber from Tulkarm to Netanya on Seder night, March 27, 2002.

The suicide attack killed 30 Israelis and injured over 140 more and motivated then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to launch Operation Defensive Shield under which the IDF conducted military operations throughout the entire West Bank and in every major Palestinian city.

Since 2002, military sources said, Jaber has been actively working to set up a Hamas military force in Tulakrm modeled after the Executive Force which succeeded in defeating Fatah and conquering the Gaza Strip in June. He was directly involved in financing the force, purchasing weaponry and recruiting fighters.

Ironically, earlier today, Noam Schalit, the father of captured IDF corporal Gilad Shalit, complained that his son is "the only to pay the price" for the 'failure' of the government and the IDF to arrange for an exchange of terrorists in return for Gilad's release.

Noam Schalit lashed out at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government on Wednesday for their inability to follow through in the efforts to precipitate the release of his son, IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit, who has been held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for over a year and a half.

Schalit, who was speaking at Bar Ilan University during an event dedicated to raising awareness to the plight of soldiers being held by terror organizations, accused Olmert of hesitating and procrastinating, and contrasted the prime minister with his predecessors, who, he claimed, knew how to make decisions.

The IDF was also not spared criticism from Schalit, who charged that the military could have averted the kidnapping had it paid attention to the warning signs. "The writing was on the wall even before the kidnapping, which could have been avoided," he asserted. "Why was Gilad the only one to pay the price from amongst the entire chain of command?"

With all the sympathy in the world for Gilad Shalit's plight, is his father suggesting that thirty other Israelis should pay with their lives for the release of the next Omer Jaber in exchange for Gilad?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:32 PM