Israel Tightens Flight Security Measures

Fearing Hezbollah attacks in retaliation for the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, Israeli Transportation Ministry has issued instructions to all airlines flying into the Jewish state to tighten security measures.

The daily Yediot Ahronot said that the instruction came following growing concerns that Hezbollah may try to launch a retaliatory attack against Israel, which the group believes is responsible for the killing Mughniyeh in Damascus two weeks ago. Danny Shenar, head of security at the Transportation Ministry, has ordered all foreign and local airlines landing in Israel to require from passengers to remain seated half-an-hour before landing, when flights approach a distance of some 250 kilometres from Israel’s shores. Furthermore, airlines have also been asked to instruct their pilots to lock the cockpit door thirty minutes before landing, so as not to allow “terrorists” to take control of the plane. Yediot quoted Transportation Ministry officials as saying that the new decree has been issued in light of fears that terrorists might succeed in infiltrating a plane, and attempt to take control over the aircraft only in the final stage of the flight, after it has reached Israeli airspace. A hijacking at this stage would make it difficult for Israeli security forces to respond in time to curb the attack. “It takes several minutes to deploy fighter jets toward a hijacked plane,” an aviation security expert explained. The new procedure is aimed at providing the aircrew with an additional fifteen minutes to notify air controllers on the ground about an emergency on board. The Israeli internal security service Shin Bet last Tuesday decided to reinforce the security measures around Israeli minister also for fear that Hezbollah would attempt to avenge the murder of Mughniyeh. Meanwhile, an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip early yesterday, Palestinians said, as Israel continued its dual policy of battling militants in the Hamas-controlled territory while pursuing peace talks with moderate Palestinians in the West Bank. The two men, from the Islamic Jihad group, had been posted in central Gaza near the Israeli border to observe army movements, Islamic Jihad said. The Israeli military confirmed that an aircraft had fired on a group of armed men in the area. Israeli forces regularly clash with Palestinian fighters launching rocket barrages at Israeli communities near Gaza. Also yesterday, a group of Palestinian fighters who walked out of a Palestinian Authority prison in the West Bank town of Nablus on Thursday returned to jail voluntarily, a Palestinian security official said. The dozen militants, from a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, turned themselves over to Abbas’ security forces nearly six weeks ago to avoid being captured by Israeli forces. But they left prison unmolested Thursday because of dissatisfaction with their living conditions, said Mahdi Abu Ghazaleh, one of the militants. The men returned to jail yesterday after negotiations with Palestinian Authority officials, the security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details to the media. In another development, Hamas called on the European Union yesterday to step up pressure on Israel to lift its economic and military blockade of the Gaza Strip. “We urge the European Union not to limit its action to purely calling for an end to the siege but also to apply political and practical pressure on Israel,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said. On Thursday, EU lawmakers urged Israel not to inflict “collective punishment” on Gaza’s population, saying its isolation of the territory had failed and its actions were endangering civilians.