Trail of Blood

by Uzi Eilam

  The action plan included a rescue force comprised of eight fighters and commanded by Second Lieutenant Gideon Ben Ari, the platoon commander. He was tasked with infiltrating the leader’s house, neutralizing its inhabitants without using firepower, and freeing Eliezer from his captivity. Gideon’s force was familiar with the structure of the house and all its details. They were equipped with handcuffs if necessary, but also with flash grenades in case of unexpected trouble or resistance. A force identical in size to Gideon’s, headed by a commando officer, would serve as an auxiliary force, on alert to assist in case the rescue operation veered off track. A third force, the blockade unit, was to be positioned by the side of the main road connecting the refugee camp to the city of Jenin, preventing Jordanian forces from arriving in the area of the sheikh’s house in case of complications with the rescue operation.

  Crossing the border was always accompanied by tension, even among the most daring warriors. The lights of the settlements in the Ta’anakh region were left behind, flickering and signaling security and peace. Gideon led his team skillfully, accurately remembering all landmarks, every curve in the road, mountain range and wadi that needed to be crossed. The night was dark, but this did not impede his ability to navigate with confidence. From time to time, the bark of a dog was heard as they bypassed one of the villages on the way and the light breeze carried the scent of the commando fighters to the dog’s nostrils. The path wound past a field of baladi cucumbers and tomatoes, and Gideon was nearly tempted to pick a fresh, juicy cucumber.

  A guard shack suddenly appeared from the darkness, and a large dog began running toward the force, barking hysterically. The entire column crouched down as the warriors held their breath and hoped this would not be a complication harming the rescue mission, perish the thought. Losing no time, Gideon picked up a heavy rock and threw it skillfully at the dog. The rock hit the dog’s neck and it let out a brief howl, tucked its tail between its legs and retreated toward the shack. The force remained in place for several more minutes, and when no sounds were heard in the area, the team resumed moving silently and swiftly. Lights from the city of Jenin and the refugee camp were now in plain sight, and the force soon reached the point where they would split up from the blockade team. Silently, the blockade force headed for its designated position between the city and the refugee camp. Gideon’s force and the auxiliary force waited until the blockade force drifted away, then continued slowly and more cautiously in the direction of the refugee camp and the group of stone houses that included the house of Abu Nimer.

  Pungent smoke from taboons and cooking stoves fueled with dried cattle dung hovered over the camp, and the members of the force had to hold back from clearing their throat or coughing, thus risking exposure. The refugees’ houses were a hodgepodge of tin structures, mats, black blankets woven from goat wool and wooden boards that were the remains of crates and containers. There were no signs of elegance or opulence. The distance between one hut and the next allowed them to pass through without risking discovery, and the late hour enhanced the stillness with which the warriors could approach the sheikh’s house. Gideon confidently led his force after the auxiliary force stopped, sticking close to the stone fence surrounding the cluster of houses belonging to the family of Abu Nimer, the local leader.

  The plan was based on the element of surprise, an established commando tradition. Gideon’s force was supposed to enter the house through the back door, which was always open according to the information the commando had received. Five teams, each comprised of two warriors, were to silently seize control of every room in the house, making sure the rescue would take place uninterrupted. Gideon and two other fighters were to stay on the ground floor and deal with any unexpected developments. Gideon’s team also included the medic, who was supposed to take care of Eliezer after he was freed and prepare him for the travails of the way back.

  The force arrived at the rear entrance without being detected, and Gideon pressed down gently on the door handle. Pressing did no good, even when he increased the force of the movement—the door was locked.

  What should they do? Break in forcefully and wake up the entire household? Move on to the front door, hoping that it was unlocked? Gideon was prepared for this eventuality. He produced the bundle known as “the universal key” by the commandos from his tactical vest. After some sewing-machine oil was drizzled from a small container with a long neck into the keyhole of the reluctant door, and after the appropriate implement was chosen, the door opened without creaking. The five teams entered silently, moving quickly toward the rooms allocated to them. The teams moved in an agile manner, truly feeling “at home.” Team Three easily found the wounded Eliezer in the room indicated by intelligence information. Everything took place soundlessly and with no resistance, other than in the case of Team Two, which encountered a young man of twenty or so. It was the leader’s son, who resisted detention and even tried to grab hold of the gun kept in his room. The two fighters overpowered him and brought him to Gideon with his hands cuffed and his mouth blocked with a broad adhesive band. Gideon looked at the young man, who stared back with a gaze that was initially hate-filled, but soon turned embarrassed and full of wonder.

  “Let him go immediately,” Gideon commanded. “I have to talk to him.”

  The freed young man stood and looked at Gideon wordlessly, as Gideon looked back.

  “Nimer?”

  The young man hesitated briefly then said, “Gideon?”

  Saying nothing more, the two fell into each other’s arms.

  “I’m so happy to see you,” the two of them said simultaneously. “You’ve grown up so much without changing at all,” as they continued talking spontaneously.

  “I understand you’re here to get your soldier,” Nimer said, his approach realistic and pragmatic. “Dad protected his life and wouldn’t allow him to be handed over to the Jordanian Army. Your soldier also received the best medical treatment we could give him.”

  Gideon continued to hug Nimer, saying, “Thank you, Nimer. I’m sorry we can’t stay longer. I’ve been thinking about you all these years. I worried about you and missed you. And now here you are and we have to part ways again. What’s going on with you now? I have to hear about it.”

  Nimer continued to look at Gideon, obviously trying to keep himself under control. “I’m studying physics and math at the University of Beirut, and right now, I’m on a short break. The almighty Allah made sure I would be here right on time, Gideon. But in the meantime, I promise to make sure you all leave here safely. Let me talk to Dad briefly and I’ll walk you out of the camp.”

  Accompanied by a soldier from Gideon’s team, Nimer went up to exchange a quick word with his father, the leader, who was being kept in his bedroom by two commando fighters. Two rapid sentences in Palestinian Arabic, also spoken by the commando warriors, were enough to soothe Abu Nimer, who approved of his son’s initiative. The leader also told his son that in any case, they could not have continued to keep the captured soldier for much longer before he was discovered by the Jordanian Army, and perhaps it was a good thing that the Israelis had come to retrieve him.

  The gurney that the force had brought with it had already been set up, and Eliezer was lying upon it after the medic had checked his bandages, gave him a shot to ease his pain, and tightened the belts securing Eliezer to the gurney so he would not slip and fall off. This time, the force exited through the front door of the house and began to move through the refugee camp. The auxiliary force was fortunately left with nothing to do. Nimer walked beside Gideon and from time to time, answered his questions. The residents of the camp peered out from their homes, asking what was going on. Nimer calmed them down and the column walked on with no problems until reaching the outskirts of the camp. Here, the two young men, Gideon and Nimer, had to say goodbye, but their hug went on and on, until the commando fighters grew concerned.

  “We’ll meet again,” the two young men
said once more as they sorrowfully let go of each other.

  Several hundred yards away from the border, the reserve force waited along with a military ambulance on which Eliezer was loaded, transferred to the care of a military physician. Only then did Gideon heave a sigh of relief, free to report to Yehuda Gurion and to the senior Paratrooper Brigade commanders who were waiting, concerned and expectant, for the successful completion of the rescue mission. We got very lucky thanks to the local leader in the refugee camp and his son Nimer, Gideon told his commanders. They treated Eliezer in an exceptionally humane manner, and allowed us to retrieve him without putting up any resistance. Gideon did not think that under the circumstances, it would be appropriate to add any details about his special meeting with Nimer. When the time was right, he thought, when he was composing a written report regarding the entire mission, he would find an apt way to phrase this wondrous chapter of the rescue operation; had this episode not taken place, the rescue mission might have had a very different outcome. Deep in his heart, Gideon knew that this unusual episode could not have taken place if it weren’t for the connection forged between him and the Arab boy from the village adjacent to the kibbutz where he had been born.

  Gideon still remembered the hostile actions of the Arab residents that had begun back when he was a child. These were events that had influenced the course of his life, and there was no way he could erase them from his memory. But now, as Gideon recalled the successful rescue operation once more, he could also look back fondly on his childhood connection with Nimer from the nearby Arab village.

  * * *

  12Shabab means “young men” in Arabic, and may refer to a gang or a militant organization.

  Chapter 10

  As he began briefing Dan, Gideon spent a long time summarizing the findings brought up by the researchers from the intelligence agencies. Occasionally, he picked up one of the files from the stack on his desk and pointed out relevant topics within the research conducted.

  “I’m glad you’re here with us, Dan,” Gideon could not hold back from saying. “And I have to thank Noam for recognizing the importance of the mission pretty quickly, and recommending that you join me.”

  “I’m sure she’s already told you that she’ll be arriving here herself as soon as possible…”

  “Right, that’s what she told me, and you know as well as I do that if Noam decides on something, you can’t stop her.”

  Dan, who had stepped up to take part in the activity immediately after landing in Israel, had no problem quickly surveying the dozens of pages consisting of summaries and flow charts and noting emerging directions for further investigation. He was particularly interested in the reports from the three graduates of the Talpiot program, promoting technical excellence. Dan paged through the documents, furrowing his brow in concentration. Gideon once again emphasized his perception of the importance of what the Palestinians termed the Nakba as the source of their sense of discrimination and aspirations of revenge. The refugee camps, still full of people, were expanding even now, Gideon emphasized, and the discrimination factor was increasing as well.

  “All that’s clear to me,” Dan responded, “but plenty of things have happened since the early Fifties, and the terrorist attacks began way back then. Your father was killed in a terrorist event during those years, only you called it ‘The Incidents’ at the time, rather than ‘terrorism.’ In contrast, Gideon, current terrorist organizations have added accurate long-range missiles and even guided missiles to their arsenal, and make use of the Internet of Things (IOT) technology, extract Big Data information using smart algorithms, and control the entire field of cyberwarfare.”

  “Right, Dan, there have been plenty of terror attacks during the years, but in most cases, it was clear who carried them out and who would be punished for it. I myself volunteered for the Paratrooper Brigade precisely in order to ensure that no innocent civilians would be harmed.”

  “But to some extent, as I saw while taking a quick peek at the files you showed me,” Dan insisted, “there’s an escalation in the scale and style of the attacks. Also, at least according to what I’ve already had time to note, it’s still impossible to point out a known, familiar culprit.”

  “That is indeed one of the problems that the researchers, in their various teams, have not been able to figure out. However, they’re all in agreement regarding the ‘Big Bang,’— to borrow a term from physics — that is, the origin point of these terrorist attacks. There’s no doubt that much stems from the First Lebanon War, particularly of the massacre carried out by the Christian Phalanges in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Most researchers cite these events as the cause for the establishment of the Shiite Hezbollah organization. If terror were an epidemic, that’s where you’d be looking for Patient Zero.”

  The conversation went on for many hours, and Gideon was happy to realize that Dan had retained his clarity of thought and sharp perceptiveness despite his jetlag. The files were opened, one by one, and fragments of information regarding activity in Syria, Iraq and Iran were exposed, producing more question marks than clear answers. Gideon pointed out that the head of Hezbollah’s military arena, Imad Mughniyeh, had been marked as a preferred target for monitoring and even elimination. Mughniyeh had been found to be collaborating with senior elements in every one of these countries, Gideon emphasized.

  “I think it’s important that I meet the Talpiot team,” Dan said. “I think I could learn a lot from them, since they’ve employed techniques of artificial intelligence, cyber and computerized analysis of what’s currently termed Big Data in their research.”

  “No problem, Dan. I’ll coordinate it with Nahari’s office right now.”

  ***

  Dan was surprised and pleased to meet Itzik, a graduate of the Talpiot program serving in IDF’s Unit 820013. Dan had been responsible for Itzik’s orientation when he first arrived in the unit as an officer. Remembering the brilliant young man with unique analytic ability, he asked him what his current role in the unit was. The other two graduates of the Talpiot program, coming from the Mossad and the Shin Bet, also sounded experienced and seemed to possess an original way of thinking. The four were soon immersed in an exchange that sounded associative and incomprehensible to Gideon. Technical terms and examples of mysteries cracked in the past were tossed into the air of the room, and Gideon felt like a spectator at a tennis tournament; however, in this case, the ‘balls’ were flying around too swiftly for him to be able to track them.

  “It’s obvious to us that monitoring Mughniyeh is essential, and could provide us with important points in order to propose an activity profile indicating the source of the attacks. But we also need to analyze his environment, and better understand the essence of his connections. In all the countries in which Mughniyeh is active, he’s managed to establish an affiliation with Hezbollah, and receive support, whether financial or through other means. The man changes identities as frequently as other people change their socks. It takes us time to locate Mughniyeh under his new identity, and a short time later, he’s no longer there,” Itzik said.

  “The most urgent thing,” Dan noted, “would be to build a Big Data algorithm that would expedite analyzing data in the population registry in countries where the man is active. After all, Mughniyeh isn’t the only one enjoying the freedom to move around in multiple countries without being detected; he’s got an entourage that moves with him.”

  Gideon enjoyed seeing how his son-in-law was beginning to take the lead, and how the Talpiot team members respected his opinion and the authority he projected.

  “I wouldn’t give up on improving our surveillance systems,” Aaron, the member of the Talpiot team from the Shin Bet dared to venture, slanting a glance toward Dan. “It’s actually the fact that Mughniyeh and his gang wander from state to state that poses quite a complex challenge to out surveillance system deployment.”

  “That’s very t
rue,” Dan praised him. “And that topic should be granted a high priority on our agenda.”

  Gideon followed the conversation with interest, happy to see how quickly Dan had forged his way into the heart of the activity. He noted with pleasure that the systemic experience that Dan had acquired in the course of missions in which he recently participated now positioned him as the unquestioned leader in the research team he had just joined.

  * * *

  13 Unit 8200 is the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption.

  Chapter 11

  Nimer was pleased by the reception he received at the University of Beirut upon his return from Germany. A more spacious room with a sign on the door declaring that Dr. Nimer Al-Khaldi was already a member of the faculty was placed at his disposal. He was happy to return home and spend time with Hassan, his son who had grown and matured, and with his sister Jamila, the devoted aunt and caretaker. His few hours with his son were like a vital elixir to him. They conducted long conversations about studying at the university; Nimer felt that Hassan was continuing his own path, but without having to constantly think about how his studies would serve his quest for revenge.

  The most important mission that lay before him, the dean of the Faculty of Sciences told Nimer, was to design an original curriculum expressing the new areas mapped out by scientific research that Nimer had mastered during his studies and professional training in Germany. Nimer composed a written proposal listing the main points of the curriculum. At the same time, he was also mindful of the mission of recruiting young students with which Imad Mughniyeh had tasked him. A loud knock on the door made Nimer jolt. He raised his eyes to find Mughniyeh entering his office before he could respond.