Fencing them out

Israel’s State Comptroller has been likened to the legendary bogeyman, held in awe by everyone in public office. His principal function is to check on the legality, regularity, efficiency, economy, and ethical conduct of public institutions. The checks are performed by continuous and spot inspections of the financial accounts and activities of all ministries, the armed forces and security services, local government bodies, and any corporations, enterprises, or organsations subsidised or managed by the state in any form.                                               The State Comptroller in Israel also functions as Ombudsman to whom members of the public may address complaints about actions by governmental bodies.

Outgoing Ombudsman / Comptroller Micha  Lindenstrauss is known to be extremely diligent. His critics accuse him of loving the limelight too much.           His reports often seem well-coordinated with the media. Notably, his report regarding alleged corruption involving Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yoav Galant.   The document   was crucial in preventing Galant from being appointed IDF Chief of Staff. His admirers, on the other hand claim his use of the news media is not for self-aggrandisement, but as an auxiliary  to enhance the impact of his reports. Like his predecessors, Micha Lindenstrauss is painstakingly thorough.

Last week Comptroller Lindenstrauss presented his report on the handling of the  Mavi Marmara incident . As expected he criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for poor decision-making in the lead-up to the boarding  of the Mavi Marmara two years ago

“Netanyahu,” the state comptroller wrote in a long-awaited report, “failed to heed multiple warnings, including alerts from the IDF chief of staff, that an Israeli military effort to enforce its blockade by intercepting the vessels could erupt into violence.” The report also said he did not sufficiently coordinate or document high-level government discussions on how to handle the flotilla.  The State Comptroller reports and recommends, he is not empowered to enforce his recommendations. Judge Lindenstrauss knows that in many instances unless he makes full use of the news media the recommendations in his reports won’t be implemented.

In addition to the State Comptroller’s office, approximately seventy boards of inquiry, investigating committees and other fact finding bodies have  examined various “shortcomings” during times of war and peace, over the past 64 years. There has been very little “corrective action” as a result of these investigations.

This week too the Comptroller presented another report, the results of his investigation of the devastating Mt. Carmel forest fire that claimed 44 lives in 2010. In this case public outrage prompted corrective action and Israel’s fire-fighting force is gradually improving.  .

Minister of Interior Eli Yishai and Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz were singled out by the comptroller for direct ministerial responsibility for the inability to deal with the Mt. Carmel blaze. The prime minister was criticized for not intervening to correct his ministers’ shortcomings.

Yuval and Steinitz refuted the criticism and denied ministerial responsibility for  the sorry state of the fire fighting force. In other countries the disclosure of similar failings would require accountability, even the resignation of the minister mentioned in a report. Both ministers received bad media reviews, but they surely know that by next week both reports will be forgotten.

The Minister of the Interior made headlines this week with an expensive repatriation scheme for illegal African infiltrators he is promoting. The first flight to South Sudan left Israel early this week. The passengers accepted Minister Yishai’s voluntary repatriation offer and received in addition to the  free flight home $1300 each. The same day twice as many infiltrators crossed into Israel. Yishai has promised to return all the African infiltrators within three years.

Many people say we will be stuck with 60,000 unskilled African job seekers.

Most of the illegal “immigrants” are from Eritrea and North Sudan and only a relatively small number come from South Sudan. Neither Eritrea nor North Sudan are in a position to repatriate their exiles. A claim that another African country  can be persuaded ( paid) to  accept them is nonsense.

Some of African infiltrators are employed by contractors  constructing the security fence cordoning off the  Sinai Peninsular from Israel. This week a previously unknown terrorist group claiming affiliation to Al-Qaida, cut through the old border fence and ambushed contractors on their way to a section of the new fence under construction. They killed one of the contractors, an Israeli Arab from Haifa.

The incident occurred immediately following the Islamic Brotherhood's victory in Egypt’s presidential elections. The proximity of the two events is a coincidence, yet they are not unrelated.

Arab affairs analyst Ron Ben-Yishai tends to emphasise the Bedouin connection, citing the economic aspect.  He claims that the attack was initiated by Bedouin smugglers in the northern Sinai who want to impair the construction of the new security fence. The new barrier is higher and more robust than its predecessor. Furthermore it will be equipped with state-of- the - art surveillance accessories that are bound to make life difficult for Bedouin smugglers

The Sinai  Bedouins and their collaborators among the Israeli Bedouins in the Negev have an urgent interest in furthering violent border clashes. Their goal is to delay the fence construction as much as possible.

The rapid erecting of the new barrier is reducing the "porosity" of the old fence. In the past Bedouin smugglers had little difficulty crossing the border with  African job seekers, trafficking drugs and transporting weapons for terrorists. Now they are about to lose a very lucrative source of income. Ben-Yishai estimates that the northern Sinai Bedouins have been raking in   hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of dollars from their trans-Sinai “trade route.”   They know they can't prevent the construction of the fence, nevertheless, they are doing everything they can to delay its completion, thereby profiting a little more before the fence finally cuts their economic lifeline.  ..  

The terror and deterrence method they are using against Israel is similar to the tactics they employed  several months ago against Egyptian troops and security agents who attempted to block the smuggling routes to Israel. The Bedouins are not short of weapons; they possess huge arsenals of heavy machine-guns, RPG rockets and launchers of all types, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as advanced Grad rockets and perhaps longer range rockets..

Most of these weapons arrived from Libya. The Bedouins are gaining experience in using them and are being trained by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza and members of the Global Jihad.

The Bedouins are well acquainted with the rules of the game. They know that under the terms of Israel-Egyptian peace treaty  the IDF  cannot  pursue them across the border into Sinai.

For Egypt, Sinai has for the most part been an almost extraterritorial province.

The Bedouins have always  been hard to control. They were quick to learn that  Gaza and the Negev presented more lucrative opportunities than their traditional grazing economy.

However the Bedouin involvement in the terrorist attacks possesses an ideological-religious aspect too. Some of them have been influenced by Islamic fundamentalist groups. At present the exact makeup of the terrorist groups is not clear. Part  Palestinian break-away groups from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and part Bedouin fundamentalists and opportunists. They might be a loose coalition of some or all of them.

Ron Ben-Yishai says the Bedouins want to coerce the IDF to boost its security operations, including armed escorts, thorough searches for roadside bombs, and an earlier curfew for workers in the area. All of the above will surely slow the pace of construction, the extra hours will accumulate into nights, and these nights will translate into dollars

Once the whole length of border fence from the Gaza border to Eilat is completed the Bedouins will try to overcome this setback. They will soon discover that the fence and its surveillance teams are smarter than they are. For now, they are mounting a last stand. No doubt the IDF is preparing for the contingency of more frequent attacks and the likelihood that Palestinian/Bedouin terrorist groups will be tempted to use the anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles in their arsenals.

As has been the case in the past, attacks on Israel from Sinai, this week’s attack had repercussions in Gaza. Overnight the whole Gaza Strip periphery, a belt of kibbutz and moshav communities and small towns was targeted by terrorist teams in Gaza firing mortar shells and Qassam rockets. Fierce IDF reprisals caused Hamas to ask Egypt to broker a return to the ostensible ceasefire understanding.

The Egyptians don’t have the inclination or ability to intercede at the moment.

Just the same it seems Hamas and its affiliates have returned to the back-burner mode.

Next week my wife and I will be holidaying in the Black Forest and Alsace-Lorraine, so I won’t be able to write to you.

Have a good weekend.

Beni                            21^st of June, 2012.