The Ghost Warriors

December 1, 2015
An action-packed, nondidactic examination of how Israel's special operation units rose to the challenge of the Palestinian intifada. In a work of formidable research, Katz (Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the Manhunt for the Al-Qaeda Terrorists, 2002, etc.) meticulously examines the makeup of the Israeli undercover anti-terrorist organizations, such as the Shin Bet and the Ya'mas (Border Guard), which infiltrated deep inside enemy lines (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem) to root out Hamas-directed Palestinian terrorists bent on making Israel "bleed." Although not a "war," the protracted intifada erupting between 2000 and 2008 was as bloody as any of the other numerous wars in the region, fought not on battlefields but in shopping malls and other civilian sites where suicide bombers and lone shooters wreaked havoc. Katz moves chronologically from 2000 as several specialized units were developed to meet the growing Palestinian terrorist cells, such as the tightknit Ya'mas, a diverse mix of Israeli's minority communities, who had Arabic language and customs and could infiltrate the West Bank and elsewhere. As diplomacy broke down--most recently, the Camp David meetings between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders organized by President Bill Clinton in July 2000--tensions increased when the botched attempt to assassinate leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud aroused Palestinian ire. Conflict also followed Ariel Sharon's well-publicized visit to the al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount. Subsequently, the specialized forces met the intensified insurrection with renewed force and organization, launching Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in March 2002. Katz smoothly moves from one hot spot to another--e.g., Itamar, Jenin, Hebron, Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip--following high-profile terrorists like Hamas operative Ziad Musa and delineating specifically the operations that shut down the terrorist cells and allowed the country "to maintain the semblance of day-to-day normalcy inside a country mercilessly under siege." A detailed book that is refreshingly full of sound research rather than polemic.

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December 15, 2015
The current violence in Israel and the West Bank is deemed by some as the Third Intifada, even though it lacks central direction and the mayhem pales in comparison to the Second Intifada, launched in 2000, which cost the lives of an estimated 4,000 Israelis and Palestinians over four years. The Palestinians' most deadly and effective tactic was the use of suicide-bomb attacks against Israeli buses, restaurants, and other public gathering points. To counter these well-planned terror attacks, the Israeli defense forces formed special units called Ya'mas, composed of fluent Arab speakers, to infiltrate, disrupt, and sometimes physically destroy these cells and their members. The people in these units were mostly Jews but also included Druze and Bedouins. In this tense, grim account, Middle East security expert Katz shows how these men effectively engaged in a brutal shadow war that often involved face-to-face violence. This isn't a balanced account, since Katz provides personal, humanizing portraits of the Israelis while portraying Palestinians as faceless and sinister. Still, it's an engrossing, if very disturbing, chronicle of a successful program of counterterrorism.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)