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7 Die in Jerusalem University Blast
At Least Seven Killed, 70 Wounded in Bomb Blast at Hebrew University Cafeteria in Jerusalem
J E R U S A L E M, July 31 — A bomb exploded in a crowded cafeteria at Hebrew University during lunchtime Wednesday, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 70.
The blast in the university's Frank Sinatra International Student Center struck a place where Israeli Jews, Arabs and foreign students mix freely, and the school is considered a rare enclave of tolerance after almost two years of Mideast fighting. There was no immediate word on the nationalities of the casualties.
Witnesses initially said they believed a suicide bomber was responsible, but Israeli police said preliminary evidence suggested someone planted the bomb.
"We're talking about an explosive device, apparently not a suicide bomber. It is being checked," said Jerusalem's Deputy Police Chief Ilan Franco.
Alastair Goldrein, 19, from Liverpool, England, said students of all backgrounds all ate in the cafeteria.
"I was on my way to lunch. There was a huge, huge explosion. Everything shook and then there was this deathly silence," said Goldrein, who has been taking Jewish studies at the university for the past year. "I ran in, there were people lying around wailing, covered in blood. Scenes that are indescribable, clothes and flesh torn apart."
Many foreign students presently at the university are from Britain and France, he said.
The windows of the cafeteria were blown out and the floor was covered with pools of blood. Chairs, tables and plates were overturned, wires dangled from the ceiling.
Sirens wailed as rescue vehicles converged to remove the bloodied victims. Sniffer dogs checked for more bombs.
The blast was at the university's Mount Scopus campus, a Jewish enclave surrounded by Palestinian neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city. The university has extremely heavy security.
Seven people were killed and more than were 70 wounded, several of them critically, Israeli officials said.
The militant Hamas movement, which has carried out dozens of bombings, claimed responsibility, according to al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television broadcaster.
Hamas leaders praised the attack, but several told The Associated Press that the group had not issued any official claim of responsibility.
"Now (the Israelis) are paying the price of killing our children, women and leaders," said Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a leading Hamas figure.
The bombing comes eight days after an Israeli air strike killed a senior Hamas militant in the Gaza Strip, along with 14 other people, including nine children. Hamas had said it would seek revenge.
The Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, said in a statement that it "absolutely condemns the attack against Hebrew University."
However, the Palestinian leadership also said it "considers Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responsible for this cycle of terror."
Arafat, speaking shortly before the attack took place, said Palestinian authorities were "continuing our efforts, and will continue, from every aspect, to stop the violence."
David Baker, an official in Sharon's office, said "Israel is fighting a pitched battle against terror and for the right to walk down the street, take a bus or sit in a cafeteria without the fear of being decimated by Palestinian terrorism."
Wednesday's blast came a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a fast-food stand in Jerusalem, wounding several Israelis. That explosion was also near the dividing line between east and west Jerusalem.
In another development Wednesday, Israel transferred $15 million in tax revenues to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority in a move intended to ease economic conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayed said he had received the money and denied Israeli claims that it had set conditions on the transfer of the funds.
"The Palestinian Authority refuses any conditions to get any of our frozen money from Israel. This money is the Palestinian right, which is not subject to any concessions or conditions, or any kind of external control," he said in a statement.
Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Fayad had initially refused to accept the money because of Israel's insistence that it be used only for humanitarian purposes.
"We don't want the money to go to any of the Palestinian institutions where the money either goes into their pockets ... or to finance organizations that carry out terrorist attacks against us," Gissin said.
Israel has withheld an estimated $600 million in tax money over the past 22 months of fighting, debilitating the Palestinian economy and plunging many Palestinians into poverty. Human rights groups say many Palestinian children are suffering from malnutrition and that unemployment is widespread because of Israel's ongoing siege.
Under international pressure, Israel recently agreed to release some of the funds. Israel says its blockades aren't meant to harm ordinary Palestinians, but to prevent suicide bombers from reaching Israeli population centers.
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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.
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