JERUSALEM ø The Israeli intelligence community has projected the possible reduction in military tensions in the Middle East in 2005.
Israeli military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash,
briefed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on a range of
scenarios in the Middle East during 2005. Zeevi-Farkash told the
parliamentary committee that Israel could experience a reduction in the
current war against the Palestinian Authority and confrontation with
Hizbullah in southern Lebanon.
"The feeling is that the year 2005 will be a positive turning point,"
Knesset member Ran Cohen, a member of the committee, said.
The assessment was said to have been supported by other heads of
intelligence. They included the director of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, and the
Israel Security Agency, Avi Dichter.
Parliamentarians quoted Zeevi-Farkash as citing 10 elements that could
result in a relaxation of tensions in the region. They included the U.S.
national elections in November, a decision in December by the European Union
to set a date for accession talks for Turkey, and an Israeli unilateral
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in September 2005.
The intelligence chiefs asserted that the Israeli unilateral withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank could lead to a decline in
Palestinian
attacks. They said such an Israeli move could reduce the motivation by the
Palestinian Authority and the ruling Fatah movement to continue its war
against Israel.
But several of the parliamentarians expressed skepticism over the
assertions made during Israeli intelligence briefings. They cited previous
assessments, including by Zeevi-Farkash, which predicted major changes in
the Middle East that would benefit Israel.
"There is a tendency for people to give names to processes for which
they don't know how to influence," Knesset member
Aryeh Eldad, another member of the committee, said. "The Chinese call their
years 'the Year of the cat,' the 'Year of the hippopotamus.' The heads of
the intelligence community call them 'Year of decision' 'Year of
hesitation,' and 'Year of change.'"
Earlier, the ISA released a study that reported an 84 percent decrease
in Israeli victims of Palestinian insurgency attacks since August 2003, when
the first portion of Israel's security fence along the West Bank was
completed. That portion of the fence spanned 134 kilometers and comprised
about 20 percent of the project.
The report also asserted that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat remains the key
financier of insurgency attacks. The ISA said the PA provided weapons to
hundreds of security officers to attack Israeli civilians in Israel as well
as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The ISA also said Palestinian insurgents have been recruiting an
increasing number of Israeli Arabs for attacks. The report said the
Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has poured in funding and provided expertise and
training for strikes against Israelis.