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The infrastructure of terror As we head into the third year of the intifada, it can be said that none of Israel's efforts to root out the infrastructure of terror in the West Bank has helped. Over a period of a year and a half - from the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000, and through to Operation Defensive Shield at the end of March 2001 - Israeli spokesmen accused the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, of planning terror attacks, and deemed the PA responsible for the outbreak of the violence. The Israeli public called to "Let the IDF win." The facts are well known: In the past eight months, the IDF has won, and has reoccupied the territories of the West Bank that had been under full control of Arafat and his underlings. Full security authority in the Palestinian cities, from Jenin to Hebron, was wrested away from the Palestinian security organizations, which were dismantled after failing to fulfill their role in curbing terror, and passed over to the Israeli defense establishment. Every day since then, curfews and full closures are imposed on an alternating basis on the cities and villages of the West Bank, where life has been nearly paralyzed. Each day, leaders of military factions and those responsible for dispatching suicide bombers are captured or liquidated; and every week, we are informed of the discovery of explosives laboratories and the rounding up of wanted men. Nevertheless, it is clear that the infrastructure of terror in the occupied West Bank has not been impaired. Perhaps, it has even expanded. In addition, the confiscation by Israel of Palestinian tax monies - due to revelations that these funds go toward supporting the terror - has done nothing to help. The conclusion that is customarily drawn from this progression of events is that the actual infrastructure of terror is not a well-organized system of terror groups with commanders and soldiers, or sophisticated laboratories. The most important element in the infrastructure of terror is the rising number of Palestinian youths willing to die for the sake of doing us harm. The suicide terrorists are not only those who wear explosives belts, but also the two who carried out the murderous assault in Beit She'an last Thursday and who did not prepare any escape route. Prior to the action, they were photographed holding drawn guns and a Koran, even though they did not belong to a Muslim organization, but to Fatah - and a large photograph of the two graced the front page of the Palestinian daily, Al Hayat Al Jedida. Another young man who blew himself up last week near an IDF position at the Erez crossing was not an Islamic activist either, but belonged to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist group. In other words, those volunteering to die are not only zealous Muslims, as was once the case. The organizational infrastructure of suicide bombings is extremely simple. Little else is needed besides the volunteers who are prepared to die. The Palestinian public recognized suicide as an effective and successful means of struggle as early as the Lebanon War. In 1983, a Shi'ite suicide bomber killed 241 Marines in Beirut, engineering the American army's exodus from Lebanon. Shi'ite suicide bombers also booted the French out of Lebanon, and the Israel Defense Forces withdrew as a result of this tactic, as well. If suicide bombings had relied solely on initiative and organization, the Palestinians could have begun committing suicide back then, 20 years ago. Presumably, one can make a thousand different plans for suicide attacks, but unless you can find a volunteer willing to die, all of the planning is worthless. Although Sari Nusseibeh has called on his fellow Palestinians to extend a helping hand to the Israeli peace camp, and Abu Mazen has admitted to the mistakes of the intifada, and acknowledged the need to negotiate with Ariel Sharon, the Palestinian public is now quite firm in its admiration for Hamas leaders who extol the virtues of suicide bombers. Hamas is now on an equal footing with the Palestinian Authority. Last week, PA Interior Minister Hani al-Hassan met with Hamas's spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in Gaza, to coordinate a renewal of the Palestinian Authority-Hamas dialogue. Yet at the same time, Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi announced that an end to the suicide bombings was not even on the agenda. "We have two choices," he said. "Either to be killed by the Israelis, who have killed hundreds of our sons from the start of the intifada, or to die and kill them in return." There are more than enough people in the territories who share this thinking; they are the ones who constitute the infrastructure of terror. By Danny Rubinstein