TEL AVIV Ñ Palestinian militants have launched a campaign to
destroy Israel's strategic facilities.
Israeli officials acknowledged that Palestinians are collecting
intelligence on strategic civilian targets around the country. They include
major business and energy facilities.
On Thursday, militants tried to destroy a huge natural gas storage
complex near Tel Aviv. The militants detonated a bomb on a truck in the
facility, sparking a fire in the Pi Glilot complex. The blaze was quickly
extinguished.
The complex is located on the coastal road between Herzliya and Tel
Aviv, one of the most developed areas in Israel. Officials and analysts said
Israel's intelligence agencies have been warned that the depot as well as
other strategic facilities were being targeted by Palestinian militants.
"Here, something very complicated was attempted," Ehud Yatom, a former
senior security official, said. "Such an attack could have been the opener
of a conventional or nonconventional war."
"We treat an attack without victims as if it was not an attack," Yatom
said. "This is very dangerous."
Hours after the blaze, Israeli authorities ordered the gas depot closed
until further notice. For years, residents had lobbied for the relocation of
the complex.
On early Friday, a Palestinian militant tried to drive a car full of
explosives into a packed Tel Aviv discotheque. Authorities said the disco's
armed guard spotted the car speeding toward him and opened fire.
The car exploded, spewing pipe bombs on the street. Five Israelis were
lightly injured. The driver was killed.
Overnight Friday, Israeli forces entered the Gaza Strip and destroyed
what military sources described as a workshop for the production of
Kassam-class short-range missiles. In April, several such Kassam production
facilities were destroyed in the West Bank.
In Nablus, two Palestinians were killed in an explosion of several bombs
in the Balata refugee camp. Palestinian sources said the explosion was in an
apartment believed used to manufacture bombs.
Palestinian Authority secretary-general Tayeb Abdul Rahim criticized
insurgency leaders for insisting on continuing suicide bombings in Israel.
The PA has several times called for an end to such attacks.
