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January 18, 2005
Shin Bet back in the line of fire
MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Oded Sharon and scores of other Shin Bet agents play a vital role in the ongoing war against terror.
Sharon was the first Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operative to have been killed in action since the outbreak of violence four years ago. Perhaps this alone is testimony to the agents' professionalism and dedication.
Shin Bet agents' identities never reach the limelight, and their missions can be life threatening. They work behind the scenes, compiling intelligence, meeting
with Palestinian informers, cross-checking information before launching operations, searching for wanted fugitives and thwarting terror attacks. Days, weeks
and months are invested working around the clock in an effort to achieve success.
When that happens, the Shin Bet shares credit with the IDF, and the agents who spent hours in the field remain anonymous. Families of Shin Bet agents are
kept in the dark as to the real nature of their husband or son's work. They know better then to probe or question why they are never around to participate in
family celebrations or a child's birthday.
It is because of security coordinators in the field, like Oded Sharon, that the Shin Bet has enjoyed such high success in the war against terror, Internal
Security Minister Gideon Ezra, a former senior Shin Bet official, said Wednesday.
Last year, the Shin Bet thwarted 367 planned suicide bombings stemming from Judea and Samaria, and another 159 about to be carried out.
On Tuesday night, acting on a tip, Sharon, other agents and soldiers at the Orhan outpost at the Gush Katif junction were on the lookout for Hamas fugitive
Suleiman Omar Tabash. He was spotted approaching the intersection in a car. The car was stopped and Tabash was ordered out. After an initial body check
failed to turn up anything, he was accompanied to the compound where a more stringent body search was to be conducted before he was questioned.
Three meters from the trailer where he was to be searched, Tabash detonated the explosives hidden in his pants, killing Sharon and wounding seven soldiers
and Shin Bet agents. Security officials believe Tabash had intended to blow up elsewhere in Gush Katif, either near soldiers or possibly in one of the
settlements.
The combined IDF-Shin Bet investigation is focusing on whether the agents and soldiers followed the strict procedures required when arresting a suspect. A
thorough body search, including the use of a metal detector and an explosive-sniffing dog is required before a suspect undergoes further security checks. If
all the procedures were followed, it was a case of bad luck and a terrorist who outsmarted the security forces.
This was not the first time, however, that a terrorist hid a bomb in his pants. In August, a man recruited by Hamas to commit a suicide bombing was caught
with explosives stitched to his underpants by security forces at the Erez crossing before he had time to detonate the explosives.
In January 2002, Murad Abu al-Asal, a collaborator turned suicide bomber, blew himself up in the van of his Shin Bet operators. The agents suffered
light-to-moderate wounds.
In 1994, Shin Bet agent Noam Cohen was shot to death in an ambush in Beitunya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, where he planned to meet an informer. Two
other agents were wounded. Weeks later, security forces shot and killed two Hamas terrorists involved in the murder.
In January 1993, agent Haim Nahmani was slain with an axe and a hammer by two Palestinians he had been scheduled to meet in Jerusalem's Rehavia
neighborhood. Hamas members Nasser and Mahmoud Abu Srur were sentenced to life imprisonment for his murder.
Sharon is to be buried at the cemetery in Gan Yavneh at 4:30 on Thursday afternoon. He is survived by his wife and three children, ages one to nine.
Copyright © The Jerusalem Post
In Memoriam
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