The commander of the IDF's Menashe (Jenin) Regional Brigade is a man on a mission. "We are working around the clock here, without restrictions," says Col. Arik Moyal, who is in charge of the sector from where the terrorists who perpetrated the last two terrorist attacks in Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv came. "We aren't scared of anyone and we will reach everyone we have to. But we also have no desire to exacerbate the situation on the ground. Our duty is to think about the day after."
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In a special interview with Israel Hayom, Moyal says that in early February the IDF decided to change tack. Until then, the army had carried out almost no offensive operations inside the city of Jenin, with an emphasis on its refugee camp, in an effort to allow the Palestinian Authority security apparatuses to restore their control over the area. Because this didn't happen, the IDF began putting its foot on the gas.
"We decided to clean things up as much as possible before Ramadan. We've carried out more than 150 preventative operations since then. Arrests, surprise roadblocks, searches for illegal weapons, raids into villages and places in which we had less of a presence until then, including the refugee camp," says Moyal.
The Jenin refugee camp has once again become a symbol of Palestinian resistance. Such was its status during the Second Intifada, and in the last few months the violence there has spiked amid the PA's loss of control and a massive influx of weapons and money from terrorist groups, chief among them Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is traditionally viewed as the strongest organization in northern Samaria.
"The refugee camp has created a narrative for itself as being something different from the rest of Judea and Samaria; that it's a tiny Gaza. Of course, this isn't the case. At the end of the day, we're talking about a group of punks that got too full of themselves, and we now need to give them a whack on the nose and finish with this," he adds.
Just 10 infiltrators per day
Moyal rejects the criticism, including from Col. (res.) Oren Zini, the former commander of the Menashe Regional Brigade, who wrote in Israel Hayom on Tuesday that the IDF erred by not operating in the refugee camp for several months.
"Area A is no more. It's an irrelevant term," says Moyal. "Before Operation Defensive Shield we didn't operate in Jenin. Today I have no problem doing that. I operate where I want, how I want, and when I want – sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly. We can kill wanted terrorists at any time, but we don't want to kill dozens of people on every mission and ignite the entire area. We are trying to act logically and intelligently and to be precise and professional.
"Even when we didn't openly act in the refugee camp, we still did other things, in other ways. But there was a reason for that: We do want the PA security apparatuses to be there so that we have a partner. We want the PA security forces to take control of the area because we will have to work with them in the future as well," he says.
Q: Wouldn't it have more right to do this operation earlier, before the terror wave, and perhaps manage to prevent these attacks?
"Hindsight is 20/20, mainly when it comes to the opinions of former defense officials. Things were managed in a certain way that made sense at the time, and when information about wanted terrorists came in, we handled them in various ways. It's true that the two terrorist attacks succeeded, but we prevented dozens before them, including attacks planned by terrorist cells. The lives of hundreds of Israelis were saved because of the attacks we prevented."
The other mission right now is to guard the seam zone, which has been completely breached in recent years. "Up until this terror wave, 7,000 people on average would pass through holes in the fence every day. On Sunday, we finished the day with just 10 who crossed. On one hand, this is a phenomenal achievement, but on the other hand, it's an insane challenge, because every one of them can carry out an attack, against our forces as well."
Moyal says the main concern is that despite immense offensive and defensive efforts, another terrorist attack will originate from his sector. "I'm expected to fulfill this mission. I don't delude myself into thinking there's such a thing as 100% success, but this is the goal – to stop the wave," he says. "Even when there's a wall here, we won't have total protection. They will always shoot in Tulkarm, and bullet casings will fall in Bat Hefer. That's part of the reality here. I don't want to guard the fence, but that's the mission. I'd rather invest these forces in preventative operations, but now we don't have a choice."
The future rests in the economy
He is 41 years old, married, and a father of eight, and lives in the community of Tapuah in Judea and Samaria. He began his army career in the Nahal infantry brigade and arrived in Jenin last summer. The future, in his mind, rests in the economy. Aside from the refugee camp, Jenin is flourishing. More than 3,000 vehicles belonging to Arab Israelis enter the city every Saturday, leaving behind millions of shekels. "Most of the residents here hate the refugee camp because it ruins their lives. They very much want us to handle it and calm it down," says Moyal.
Stopping undocumented Palestinians from entering Israel through the fence on foot is also hurting the city's economy. "It's an entire industry. There are those who drive others to the fence and back. Some have even established parking lots that charge Palestinians 10 shekels per day to watch over their cars until they return home from working in Israel illegally. These lots hold 400 vehicles every day. This is a fortune in Palestinian terms. Many laborers who do have work permits preferred to enter Israel through the holes in the fence to save time and inspections. I hope now we'll get this organized and it will stop."
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