A dozen soldiers and combatants, headed by the commander of the Hebron Brigade, Colonel Dror Weinberg, on Friday night paid the price of Fuad Ben-Eliezer’s primaries. These casualties are the result of the former defense minister’s decision to pull the IDF out of most of Hebron some two weeks ago, only because of primaries’ calculations,and Fuad’s desire to cast himself as a statesman promoting diplomatic processes.

The commander of the Hebron brigade who was killed, Colonel Dror Weinberg, was among the chief opponents in the army of the withdrawal from Hebron. He was not alone. He was supported by nearly the entire military chain of command above him, including the chief of staff, the OC Central Command, the commander of the Judea Division, Brig. Gen. Amos Ben-Avraham. But the leading opponent was Weinberg. He said, as the commander in the field, that the terrorist infrastructure in Hebron had still not been eradicated completely, that the IDF was still capturing wanted men on a daily basis and that an IDF troop withdrawal would undermine its ability to gather intelligence. Hatzofe reported three weeks ago the statements made by high-ranking officers who issued warnings in internal discussions that now sound like veritable prophecies: “Terror in Hebron has not been wiped out yet. As soon as we are no longer there, we won’t be able to continue with our ‘terrorist harvest’ and the terror organization’s ability to recover will be far easier.” The officers also warned that an IDF withdrawal would result in the loss of intelligence that was vital for the war on terror. “People won’t agree to cooperate with us again,” they warned.

The IDF presented its thoughts but the defense minister had considerations of his own. “Judea First” indeed was the beginning of one of the Palestinians’ most stunning successes in the last two years.

This article appeared in the November 17th, 2002 issue of HaTzofe

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