C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001611

SIPDIS

DS FOR IP/ITA AND IP/NEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2014
TAGS: PTER KWBG ASEC PREL PGOV IS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS COUNTERTERRORISM
SUBJECT: UNUSUAL FACTORS IN ASHDOD BOMBINGS INVITE
SPECULATION ABOUT NEW TURN IN INTIFADA


Classified By: DCM Richard LeBaron for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Several atypical elements of Sunday's dual
suicide bombing at the Ashdod port have led Israelis to worry
that Hamas and Fatah meant what they said when they announced
that the attack, for which the two groups claimed
responsibility, signalled a new phase in the Intifada. The
attack appeared to be the first in Israel during the current
Intifada carried out by Palestinian attackers who entered the
country from Gaza. That the attackers targeted economic
infrastructure was also unusual for this Intifada. A DAO
source at the port confirmed police speculation in the media
that the explosives were more powerful and of better quality
than those usually deployed in Palestinian terror attacks,
thus suggesting a possible foreign origin of the explosives.
The source cast doubts, however, on speculation that the
attackers could have ruptured or ignited chemical tanks at
the port, reporting that the nearest "chemical storage" was
at least half a mile from the bombing site. In retaliation
for the bombings, the IAF fired missiles at two metal shops
in Gaza City overnight, lightly wounding one Palestinian.
Critics of Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan will view this
attack as evidence that the terror groups are set on creating
the impression that Israel is withdrawing from Gaza under
fire. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Two Palestinian teenagers from the Jabalya refugee
camp in Gaza killed ten Israelis March 14 in a dual suicide
bombing at the port of Ashdod. IDF and port sources told DAO
that one of the bombers detonated inside, and one outside,
the port facility. According to these sources, port
authorities believe that the bomber who detonated outside the
facility boosted the other bomber over the fence surrounding
the facility at a place where the wire netting on top of the
fence had sagged. Each of the bombers then entered, and
detonated in, the nearest sites with people inside: a
fo

rklift maintenance facility inside the port, and a
refrigeration warehouse outside.


3. (C) Hamas and Fatah jointly claimed responsibility for the
attack in a message claiming that the attack signalled the
"next stage of the armed Intifada." Several apparently
unusual or even unprecedented aspects of the attack lent
weight to GOI concerns that the attack might indeed represent
a qualitatively new turn in terrorist tactics:

-- Whereas attacks on Israeli civilians typically take place
against soft targets with the primary goal of killing as many
Israelis as possible, the attack in Ashdod, while still
murderous in intent, took place at a well-guarded facility of
strategic economic value. In attacking, however, the first
buildings in which they encountered Israelis, the terrorists
did not appear intent on causing maximum economic damage.
The symbolic value of hitting a sensitive, economically
important target appeared sufficient in this case. (A
similar attack that did not succeed was directed in May 2002
at the Pi Glilot fuel storage facility just north of Tel
Aviv. In that attack, a bomb surreptitiously placed under a
fuel truck exploded insided the storage facility, but failed
to detonate any fuel in the truck or the storage tanks.)

-- If in fact the two bombers entered Israel from Gaza, the
attack would represent the first time in the current Intifada
that any Gazans succeeded in crossing the border fence to
carry out an attack within Israel. The Embassy had no
indication from the IDF as of mid-day March 15 about the
route the bombers might have taken to enter Israel. (Besides
getting through or over the Gaza fence, other possible exit
routes from Gaza would include being admitted to Israel at
the Erez crossing, or entering Israel from the Sinai after
crossing from Gaza to Egypt via a tunnel.)

-- A port official told DAO that the bombers used explosives
of greater potency and quality than the bombs usually
detonated by Palestinian terrorists. He assessed that the
explosives were not homemade, thus giving credence to media
speculation that the explosives might have come from
Hizballah or other sources from outside the territories.

-- Media speculated that the attackers might have sought to
rupture storage tanks of bromide or ammonia, or to ignite
fuel tanks, thus causing mass casualties in a wide area
around the port. According to DAO sources, however, the
bombers detonated in the first buildings they encountered
with Israelis inside. These sources said that the nearest
"chemical storage" to the site of the bombings was at least
half a mile away.


4. (SBU) In response to the Ashdod attack, IAF helicopters
fired about ten missiles overnight into two Gaza City metal
shops that the GOI alleged were used for producing and
storing rockets and other munitions. UNRWA reported that one
Palestinian, the owner of one of the shops, was lightly
wounded.


5. (C) COMMENT: This atypical attack by Gazans in Israel,
coupled with the recent string of attacks at the Erez
Crossing, will likely be used to support the case made by
those like Military Intelligence Chief Farkash who argue that
Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan will provoke intensified
terrorism in the run-up to withdrawal. Farkash reportedly
assesses that terrorist groups are anxious to duplicate the
image from Lebanon in May 2000 of Israel retreating under
fire.


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