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17 Cheshvan 5763 - October 23, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Deadliest Bus Bombing in Months
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

Fourteen were reported dead and as many as 65 wounded in the deadliest bombing in months as a bus traveling from Kiryat Shemoneh to Tel Aviv exploded in northern Israel. The explosion occurred when a jeep packed with explosives drove up behind the bus near Pardess Channa and blew up.

Israeli officials blamed the Palestinian Authority for the bombing, but political sources say the government is unlikely to respond this time with any dramatic actions. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, but analysts say that it is now fully controlled by Hamas. The attack is believed to have been planned by bomb expert Iyad Sawalha, 30, a former Fatah member who lives in the Jenin area. He has been at the top of the list of those wanted by the IDF for some months.

Monday's attack came as Israel, urged on by U.S. officials, was making efforts to ease hardships on the Palestinian population and seeking ways to advance the diplomatic process. Israel had been lifting curfews imposed over the past few months on Palestinian population centers in Judea and Samaria to prevent terrorists from infiltrating Israel.

Israeli police said the explosives-packed jeep apparently came from the Jenin area, three days after Israeli troops pulled out of the city and lifted the curfew.

There are a number of Islamic Jihad cells operating in northern Samaria, many of them in villages, due to the constant IDF presence in major Palestinian towns. Security officials noted that the curfew had been lifted from Jenin recently, but that troops maintain a tight blockade around the town and have also dug a two-meter-deep ditch in some areas. The officials noted that the fact that the terrorist drove a jeep points to the possibility he drove on dirt roads and rough terrain to avoid detection.

The Shin Bet noted that in the last two weeks, 49 warnings of specific warnings of terror attacks had been received. Five attacks were thwarted, 25 terrorists were arrested, and two potential suicide bombers were killed.

Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer recently said that Israel's dilemma is that as soon as it eases restrictions on the Palestinian populace, terrorists exploit the situation to carry out attacks.

The Islamic Jihad said its attack was revenge for the killing of eight Palestinians during clashes in the Gaza Strip last week, but Israeli military analysts said that the Palestinian terrorists are always working at full capacity and are not evidently affected by events.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres blamed the Palestinian Authority for the attack, saying it is doing nothing to fight terrorism. "The least we expect is that the Palestinians really show an effort to stop it even if they did not organize it," Peres said in Luxembourg.

President Bush condemned the bombing, calling it another reminder of the importance of achieving peace and halting terrorism.

The attack came as the assistant U.S. secretary of state, William Burns, was to hold talks in the region on ways to revive the diplomatic process. Some Israeli officials charged that the attack was aimed at undermining the mission by Burns, who was due to arrive in Israel on Wednesday.

"Those who committed the crime will not be exonerated, they will pay the price, but at the right time and place," a senior diplomatic source said. "Islamic Jihad, which is based in Damascus, will not be left alone. We will catch them and bring them to justice or justice will be brought to them."

The Prime Minister's Office denied there is American pressure not to respond, saying the Americans understand the need to respond to terrorism.

The No. 841 Egged bus had stopped to pick up passengers at Karkur junction when the jeep carrying more than 100 kilograms of explosives pulled alongside and blew up. A typical suicide bomber carries 5-10 kilograms of explosives. The massive fire that engulfed the bus after the fuel tank caught fire hampered rescue efforts.

Israel Stefansky, a ZAKA Volunteer on the site of the suicide bomb, said that two ZAKA medics on motorcycle arrived at the Karkur Junction just minutes after the explosion and immediately began treating the wounded.

"We had difficulty reaching the wounded because the bus was on fire," said Stefansky. "But as of 5:12 p.m. our medics had finished helping evacuate the wounded to area hospitals."

Among the five seriously wounded are a two-year-old girl suffering from a torn liver and her four-year-old brother who were traveling in a car with their mother.

The method used in Monday's attack was similar to a June 5 bus bombing on the same road, in which a car bomb blew up beside a bus near Megiddo junction, killing 17 people.

 

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