JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Authority and insurgency groups have
acquired hundreds of anti-tank rockets smuggled from Egypt.
An Israel Security Agency report said most of the rockets were smuggled
from
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip in wake of Israel's withdrawal
from the area in September 2005. The report said the PA smuggled anti-tank
rockets and anti-aircraft missiles.
[On Monday, an Israeli court released charges that reported a
Palestinian plot to attack the nuclear reactor in the southern city of
Dimona. At the same time, an Israeli air strike killed three Palestinians in
the refugee camp of Jabalya north of Gaza City, Middle East Newsline reported. Officials said the target
was an Islamic Jihad operative who organized missile strikes on Israel.]
"The withdrawal of the IDF from the Philadelphi corridor in September
2005 led to a significant increase in the quantity of war materiel smuggled
into the Gaza Strip in comparison to first eight months of 2005," the report
said.
The report said most of the rockets were smuggled from Sept. 12 to Sept.
18. The weapons included over five tons of explosives, about 200 anti-tank
rocket launchers, 350 anti-tank rockets, 5,000 automatic rifles and more
than one million rounds of ammunition.
Egypt has smuggled a limited number of anti-aircraft rockets into the
Gaza Strip. The report said that during the first eight months of 2005 the
Palestinians acquired about 200 anti-tank rocket launchers, 50 anti-tank
rockets and 1,800 automatic rifles.
"The presence of anti-aircraft missiles in Gaza considerably heightens
the threat against Israeli aircraft, both military and civilian," the report
said. "It also increases the risk that such weaponry will enter the West
Bank where it will present a significant threat to Israeli aviation."
In 2005, four Hamas rocket facilities were discovered in the West Bank.
The report said Israel's military also found facilities from the Fatah and
Islamic Jihad.
"During 2005, the terrorist organizations have increased their efforts
to establish infrastructures for producing mortar rounds and rockets in
Judea and Samaria [West Bank] to both circumvent the obstacle posed by the
security fence in infiltrating suicide terrorists into Israel and to move
the main focus of their efforts to Judea and Samaria following the
implementation of the Disengagement Plan," the report said.
