[Image] [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com] [Boston Globe Online / Nation | World] [ Send this story to a friend | Easy-print version ] [Image] [Image] [Image] FIGHTING BACK Israel's approach to terrorism called instructive for US By Robert Schlesinger, Globe Staff, 9/23/2001 [W] ASHINGTON - They [Image] TODAY'S GLOBE called Yehiya Ayyash ''The Engineer'' for his skill in Pakistan, India masterminding terrorist sanctions lifted bombings. The Pakistan backs from Palestinian was believed to have Taliban planned seven suicide A deep groan by attacks during his investors career, killing 55 How hijackers hid in people between 1994 and 1996. plain sight Life after Sept. 11 But one day in January [Image] More stories from 1996, Ayyash took a call on a cellphone today that the Israeli Army had rigged to explode. Complete archive of He was killed stories instantly. THE U.S. ARSENAL A look at U.S. Little over a month later, Hamas terrorists Carriers responded, unleashing A look at U.S. four suicide bombings Submarines in a single week, A look at U.S. Planes killing 59 people. But, said Boaz Ganor, an A look at U.S. Israeli specialist on Missiles terrorism, the attacks Photos of the U.S. ''were never so sophisticated and so arsenal damaging as at the time of `The Engineer.''' PHOTO GALLERIES Such is victory in a The making of war against terrorism. As the United States President Bush plans an extended, Celebrity telethon for methodical campaign heroes against terrorist Boston on alert networks worldwide, it has an ally whose experience may be The scene at Ground highly instructive: Zero Israel. (Stan Grossfeld, Globe Staff) During the 1970s and Related story 1980s, and again in recent months, Israel engaged in a policy of Archive of photo ''active defense,'' galleries intended to disrupt and destroy terrorist REALVIDEO groups by seeking them out and attacking them. [New England Cable News ] Many of the military [Image] Bush: 'Justice options being discussed here today, from will be done' pinpoint bombing of [Image] Bush: 'We will terrorist targets to rebuild' commando raids against [Image] Identifying the terrorist camps, were first practiced by the enemy Israelis in the kind of [Image] Peace rally at deliberate campaign Harvard against terrorists that [Image] UNH helps the Bush administration is discussing. mourners [Image] FBI questions ''El Al aircraft do not Boston cabbie get hijacked,'' said Richard Perle, a former Archive of RealVideo assistant secretary of defense who advises the Bush administration, THE ATTACK referring to the Israeli airlines. ''We Sept. 11, 2001 would be making a great mistake if we do not A reconstruction of the benefit from Israel's day in graphics, photos, experience and and text. expertise. Israel is a great repository of THE RESCUE EFFORT experience. Israeli intelligence has A look at the search significant capabilities.'' in NY Digging through the Benjamin Netanyahu, rubble Israel's former prime minister, testified THE SUSPECTS before a congressional committee Thursday, urging the United The 19 suspected States to wage the kind hijackers of unrelenting war on terrorists that his A look at Osama bin Laden country has pioneered. The elusive Saudi militant is widely ''We have received a regarded as the world?s wake-up call from most dangerous man. hell,'' Netanyahu said. ''Israel's policy of PHOTO GALLERY preemptively striking Bin Laden's trail of at those who seek to murder its people is, I terror believe, better understood today.'' THE RETALIATION But while security US forces face a tough analysts and fight antiterrorism Afghanistan is a hostile specialists say the land with a history of Israeli experience can vanquishing some of the be helpful, the results world's finest armies. of Israeli policy are America's military mixed and hard to assess, partly because options of differences between Profile of Afghanistan Israel and the United Map of Persian Gulf States. region When it comes to assets, the United MESSAGE BOARD States has far greater economic and military Acts of patriotism[Image] might, a wider range of What is the most allies on which to call original or for help, and friendly inspiring display neighbors with whom to of patriotism cooperate. you've witnessed over the past ''Anyone who has the week? impression that the Read messages Israeli method is the only efficient method is mistaken,'' said Earlier boards Daniel Benjamin, who Has America changed served on the Clinton forever? administration's Condolences National Security Council as director of transnational threats. FROM THE ARCHIVES The United States has relations with many Recent US terrorist more governments than Israel, Benjamin said, threats including Arab states, and can cooperate with them. The disadvantages faced by the United States are also different. The American task may be more difficult than that of Israel because the United States has a society that has focused more on freedom than security in recent years, and has longer borders and a larger geographic area to protect. Skeptics say that, in the long term, Israel has not solved the problem of continuing violence. This year alone, there have been 80 terrorist attacks in the region, according to a data base maintained by the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism. Terrorist attacks, these specialists say, have only truly been quieted through negotiations. ''Israel has only politically been able to stop terrorism,'' said Judith Kipper, a Middle East specialist associated with the Council on Foreign Relation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ''They've interrupted some events, and they've certainly grabbed people and assassinated people who they have evidence are involved in some operations. But overall, you have to ask, have they been that successful? I think nobody can be that successful when you have people willing to blow themselves up.'' William Quandt, a member of President Carter's national security staff, said: ''Probably the Israelis had their most terror-free period when they were negotiating effectively with the Palestinians.'' Proponents, however, say Israel's aggressive policy has served several purposes, hindering the activities of current terrorists and discouraging would-be terrorists. ''Israel's approach to dealing with terrorism is very sound and one that we can take many lessons from,'' said Robert McFarlane, a Reagan-era national security adviser. In mounting a broad effort against terrorists, the United States ''ought to have on our agenda the adoption of some of the Israeli tactics,'' he said. The Israeli policy has been multitiered, from the methodical effort of sending undercover commandos to hunt down and kill the terrorists responsible for the murder of Israeli athletes in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, to full-blown military activities against the Palestine Liberation Organization and suspected terrorist bases. Ganor, director of the Israel-based International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, said that such actions punished terrorist networks for attacks and thwarted upcoming ones. Israeli policy removes effective terrorist leaders via attack or assassination, and deters other terrorist groups who fear similar retaliation, Ganor said. The case of ''The Engineer'' is an example, he said: ''It doesn't stop the attacks, but it may narrow them down.'' Finally, Ganor said, the offensive operations boost morale and help citizens cope with the aftermath of terrorist attacks, by supplying a feeling of resolve. ''The people want to see that their leaders are not passive in the face of terrorism,'' he said. Deterrence might be particularly important in the case of the United States, he said, because the Sept. 11 attacks tore away the country's veil of invulnerability. ''After a terrorist organization crossed the Rubicon by executing such attacks, there is a danger that this organization might use it again, or other terrorist organizations might imitate such attacks by saying, `If they do it, we can do it as well,''' Ganor said. ''It's very clear that the Americans must bring back the image of deterrence they had before these attacks.'' But such a policy can have deplorable side effects. Searching for the terrorists behind the Munich massacre, Israeli operatives mistakenly killed at least two people. More broadly, the 1982 Israeli occupation of Lebanon led to the bloody massacres of refugees at two camps in Beirut. Assessing the results of an antiterrorism campaign can be quite difficult, for deterrence is nigh impossible to measure. ''Terrorists don't say to us, `We would have conducted 20 attacks, but decided not to because five of our guys were shot,''' said Dan Byman, the research director of the Rand Corp.'s Middle East Center. That may be the ultimate lesson offered by the Israeli experience for the United States: Offensive operations are tools, but not a stand-alone strategy. ''It's effective sometimes,'' said Byman. ''Some individuals are not replaceable. Some may have a skill, some are so charismatic, that if you take them out, they cannot be replaced. These sort of direct military tactics have a role, but they don't replace diplomacy.'' Robert Schlesinger can be reached by e-mail at schlesinger@globe.com. This story ran on page A7 of the Boston Globe on 9/23/2001. © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company. [ Send this story to a friend | Easy-print version ] [Image][Boston Globe Extranet]© Copyright[Click here for advertiser information] Extending our newspaper2001 Globe services to the web Newspaper Company Return to the home page of The Globe Online