Kindgo
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BOMBER KILLS 9 ON ISRAELI BUS
AUGUST 5, 2002: A Palestinian suicide bomber turned a packed bus in northern Israel into a fireball on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens. Hours later, a Palestinian opened fire at an Israeli telephone truck in a Palestinian market in East Jerusalem in an attack in which three people, including the gunman, were killed, police said.
The powerful blast on a Galilee country road tore gaping holes in the sides and roof of the inter-city bus crowded with civilians and soldiers returning to base during the morning rush hour at the start of the Israeli work week.
Witnesses and rescue workers said the explosion ignited an inferno that blazed for 10 minutes before the fire brigade arrived.
"There were mangled bodies everywhere," Nissim Hozeh, a fireman, told reporters. Pieces of clothing, including army uniforms and bags littered the ground for meters.
In a statement issued in Gaza, the militant group Hamas said it had carried out the bombing in further revenge for an Israeli air raid on July 22 that killed its military commander Salah Shehada, his deputy and 13 other Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the bus attack, but said in a statement that Israel's policy of "mass detentions, repressive measures and home demolitions" was responsible for the cycle of violence.
The bombing flew in the face of stepped up Israeli military action in the West Bank, including the demolition of nine homes of relatives of Palestinian suicide bombers and other gunmen, action which Israel said was aimed at deterring future attacks.
"I am distressed to hear about the latest suicide bombers in Israel," President Bush told reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he is spending a holiday weekend. "There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we have started. We must not let them," Bush added, wagging his finger. "I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers."
Outside the Damascus Gate to East Jerusalem's Old City, police exchanged fire with a 19-year-old Palestinian who shot dead an Israeli in a telephone truck. The gunman and a Palestinian passerby were killed, police said.
"We saw somebody standing by a truck. He leaned into the window. He had a pistol," said Carl Williams, 33, on holiday from Boston. "When I saw that, I got out of here and hit the ground and immediately we heard gunshots."
Rescue workers said at least 14 people were wounded.
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EXPLOSION AT HEBREW UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM - JULY 31, 2002: An explosion occurred lunchtime Wednesday in a cafeteria at Hebrew University, the Mount Scopus campus, in East Jerusalem, killing "several people," police said.
Police characterized the lunch hour incident as a terrorist act. Channel 2 television reported seven people were killed.
"There are a number of dead and critically injured, it's too soon to say how many. This was a very serious attack," a Magen David Adom official told the television.
Witnesses told Israeli media that the blast was the work of a suicide bomber.
The explosion took place at the university's Frank Sinatra cafeteria, which is the student union building, witnesses said. The building is next door to the Rothberg International Schoo, where about 80 pupils from the US and other Western countries arrived Wednesday to prepare for the fall semester.
Though classes are not in session, students are taking exams and the cafeteria was busy at the time of the blast. Firefighters reported dozens of people were wounded, and that the cafeteria was packed at the time of the attack.
The wounded were quickly evacuated from the scene and taken to Jerusalem area hospitals, Israel Radio reported.
The explosion follows a suicide bombing Tuesday that killed the bomber and injured seven Israelis at a falafel restaurant in central Jerusalem.
EYE FOR AN EYE IN HEBRON : JULY 30, 2002 - During the funeral of one of four Israelis killed in a terror attack on Friday, participants went on a violent rampage killing a Palestinian schoolgirl and starting a clash which ended with many Palestinians and 15 Israeli police wounded.
Palestinians said that scores of people attending the funeral started throwing stones at them, and then opened fire after some of the Palestinians hurled stones and rocks back.
But Israelis say that the funeral for Sgt. Elezar Leibovitch, 21, one of four Israelis killed in a terror attack on Friday, was marred by Palestinians throwing stones and disrupting the proceedings.
According to Palestinian accounts, a 14-year-old schoolgirl was shot in the head by the rampaging settlers while standing on the balcony of her home, and her brother was also wounded.
Palestinians said a young boy also was stabbed and several others were beaten or injured when those attending the funeral began to riot in the market area of Hebron's old city, overturning stalls and damaging property.
The Israelis denied that they had deliberately attacked Palestinians and charged that Palestinians had first hurled slabs of rock, stones, and metal bars at mourners when the procession was headed to the Jewish cemetery in Hebron. One man said they only fired shots into the air to disperse the stone-throwers in an act of self-defense.
Leibovitch, 21, of Hebron, was killed when terrorists ambushed two cars near the city last Friday evening. His funeral prompted the IDF and police to bolster forces in the city anticipating these disturbances.
The already tense atmosphere at the funeral was heightened when some participants started calling for revenge against Arabs.
Israeli Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said that Hebron settlers who were found guilty in these attacks would be severely dealt with.
Hebron police have asked the Palestinian police to cooperate with them in investigating the violence. Police have arrested four Jewish Hebron residents, two adults and two minors and are examining footage of the incident.
Twelve-year-old Shlomo Dickstein sat in a wheelchair, blood still caked on his fingers, as the bodies of his mother, father and younger brother were buried on Sunday.
Nearby stood his eight brothers and sisters, ranging in age from age 2 to 20, orphaned Friday when Palestinian gunmen attacked the family van traveling on a road after they left their settlement near Ramallah.
Near the onset of Shabbat on Friday evening, their parents and another brother were killed in an ambush shooting attack in south Hebron. Fatah's military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the attack, on a road south of Hebron, gunmen first hit Hana Dickstein, 44, in the front seat of the van, then 9-year-old Shuvel, in the backseat. Finally, they hit Yossi, 46, who stopped the car and got out to check on the children after the firing started.
As the remaining children cried in fear, one of the gunmen came and looked into the car but didn't shoot before fleeing the scene.
Shot in the arm, Shlomo climbed out of the car and searched for his mother's cellular phone. When he saw she had been shot repeatedly in the head, he went to his father who was still alive, lying on the ground. Told by his father everything would be okay, Shlomo used the phone and called the army.
Elazar Leibovitz, 21, was also killed in the same attack as he drove with some friends.
The Dicksteins had moved from Jerusalem to the Psagot settlement eight months ago out of a desire to strengthen Israel's settler movement. The parents were religious and believed that the Jewish people should live in the biblical land of Israel.
But settlers have been the target of repeated shootings in the 22 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
The oldest brother, Zvi Yehuda, who was not in the car at the time, said, the children would continue to live in Psagot to fulfill their parents' wishes.
"We recognize the price you paid for your dreams. We believe we are not suffering from a private grief. My mother and father didn't die in a car accident or for any sin they committed. They were killed in the light of day in front of their children, because they were Jews living freely in their land that they loved so much and without fear."
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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