Peace talks failure won't cause more violence, says Shin Bet chief

Amid veiled threats from the Palestinians and certain Western elements of a possible increase in violence if peace negotiations fail, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen on Monday told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the failure of the talks would not be the cause, in and of itself, of a surge in violence.

Cohen, presenting his biannual security overview to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that there has been an uptick in attacks in Judea and Samaria, but that most cases were localized, grass-roots attacks, rather than institutionalized, systematic terrorism. According to Cohen, the Shin Bet foiled several attempts to kidnap soldiers.

The Shin Bet chief added that in the past year 1,700 terrorist acts were recorded in Judea and Samaria, including shootings, fire bombings, stabbings and stone throwings. In November alone there were 160 attacks, said Cohen.

Discussing "price-tag" attacks perpetrated by Jews against Arabs, Cohen said that over past four years there have been 40 such attacks, although not all are considered acts of terrorism. Just in the past few days, according to Cohen, the Shin Bet arrested three suspects accused of committing price-tag attacks. Cohen said such attacks were not orchestrated by a central organization, rather were the acts of lone perpetrators. The Shin Bet chief admitted that his organization struggles to solve these crimes, that he was using administrative warrants against suspects to collect intelligence information, but that there was not enough evidence to file indictments.

Cohen also discussed what he identifies as an increase in radical jihadist activities in the Sinai Peninsula. According to Cohen, the Egyptian military is indeed combating these jihadist elements, but at this stage it cannot cope with the general phenomenon.

Temporary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Likud-Beytenu) said during the meeting that the committee has appointed Yitzhak Eilon, formerly the deputy head of the Shin Bet, to act as the committee's advisor on intelligence affairs. Eilon had been in the running against Cohen for the Shin Bet's top position, yet despite Eilon winning the recommendation of previous Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, Cohen was ultimately chosen to head the security organization.