Today, two suicide bombers struck the Israeli town of Dimona located in the heart of Israel's Negev Desert. They killed one woman and injured many more. It only seemed a matter of time. Why?
According to one report, the Jerusalem Brigades of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. They said the suicide bombers came into Israel through the Sinai. This Sinai route became accessible because of what happened less than two weeks ago.
On January 23rd, Hamas blew a huge breach in its border between Gaza and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of Gazans poured out the Sinai. Many came to buy goods they couldn't buy in Gaza. But what for some became a shopping spree also became a boon for terror groups. Israeli security officials also knew dozens; maybe hundreds of terrorists hid among the masses. They had an unprecedented opportunity to infiltrate Sinai's Wild West and blend into its quilted topography. Now who knows how many sleeper cells are lurking in its mountainous terrain? Because of the danger, since then Southern Israel has been on high alert.
Look at a map of Israel's southern border and you can see why this new situation makes Israel so vulnerable. It has more than one hundred and forty miles of border with Sinai, most of it unprotected. While Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says they'll now build a fence, it won't be done until 2010. Dimona is located in the heart of Israel's Negev Desert, an area now vulnerable to terrorist attacks. It's not hard to see how a potential suicide bomber can sneak over into what the head of Israel's security agency, Avi Dichter now calls "Israel's Soft Underbelly."
Dichter also warned on Sunday that long range rockets, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles were some of the weapons smuggled into Gaza since January 23rd. In addition, he said a number of terrorists from Iran, Syria and Egypt were smuggled into Gaza. He explained they would try to 'upgrade' attacks against Israel using Iranian training.
The last successful terror attack into Israel was just over one year ago when a suicide bomber killed three people in Eilat. But as one member of Israel's Knesset said today's bombing may just be a "prelude."
An open question here in Israel is; given this new situation, why didn't Israel invade Gaza more than a year ago? And will it do so now?