Top Israel Defense Force officials are reportedly discussing the establishment of permanent IDF patrols in an area of the West Bank between Alfe Menashe and the pre-1967 Israeli border.
Their discussions apparently were prompted by incidents such as the throwing of a Molotov cocktail Thursday by an unidentified man into the car of an Israeli Jewish couple, Menashe and Edna Regev of Alfe Menashe, wounding them. The incident occurred near the crossroads where four months ago Ofra Moses of Alfe Menashe was burned to death by a petroleum bomb thrown into the family car. Her son later died of his injuries.
Premier Yitzhak Shamir referred to the Thursday incident while addressing the National Defense College’s concluding ceremony Thursday night. He said that “occasionally there is a need to impose collective punishment, and the population in the territories occasionally needs an iron fist.” He added that the IDF must alter its methods from time to time in order to surprise terrorists.
He said that while threats to Israel’s security should not be belittled, “they should not be viewed as threats to our existence. It should be remembered that our situation today allows us time and the possibility for negotiations, bargaining and the debate on the conditions for peace, which are no less important than peace itself.”
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