Terrorist attempts to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon more than doubled last year. Israeli sources link the rise to the intifada.
There were 24 infiltration attempts in 1988, compared with 10 in 1987, a senior defense source disclosed Tuesday. All were foiled by the Israel Defense Force.
Another seven to eight infiltrations were prevented by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
At the same time, there was a 67 percent drop in the number of Katyusha rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon last year.
The source said this pattern of terrorist activity “unquestionably” was intended as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Five of the infiltration attempts were made by Al Fatah, the military arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization headed by Yasir Arafat. The most recent was on Nov. 27, two weeks before Arafat issued a statement in Geneva renouncing terrorism.
Several infiltration attempts were made from Egypt last year, but these involved smugglers rather than terrorists, military sources said.
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