admin
The Herald, October 20, 1994
A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up a crowded bus in Tel Aviv, Israel’s biggest city, during rush hour yesterday killing 22 people and injuring more than 40.
The armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, claimed credit for the attack, which was condemned in almost identical terms by Israeli Prime Minister Mr Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine leader Cde Yasser Arafat as the responsibility of “enemies of peace”.
Four of the injured were in critical condition last night and Israeli authorities said the death toll could be higher. Bodies were still being pieced together.
Several dozen kilogrammes of explosives shredded the bus and its passengers just before 9 am as it went down Dizengoff Street, the city’s busiest, said Israeli police.
The front of the bus was little more than a metal skeleton. Severed limbs and mangled corpses lay strewn in the street, blown out by the force of the blast.
The side of a second bus absorbed some of the blast, protecting pedestrians on the pavement of the crowded street.
An anonymous telephone caller to Israel state radio said: “The Hamas deportees to southern Lebanon claim this attack on the Zionist entity. We thank the Rabin government for sending us to Lebanon to receive sabotage training.”
The caller was referring to the deportation of 415 Islamic activists in 1992. Hamas continued to claim responsibility in loudspeaker broadcasts from mosques in Gaza.
While Israel closed the border with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the peace talks between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel continued in Cairo.
Delegates said there was no change in the programme. The talks resumed on Tuesday after a week-long suspension called by Israel after a corporal was abducted by Hamas.
Cde Arafat called Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres to offer his condolences and offer help in tracking down those responsible.
“We didn’t ask Chairman Arafat as yet on any specific requests,” Mr Peres said. “He said this on his own initiative and I appreciate it.”
Mr Rabin, who cut short a visit to Britain on hearing the news, condemned the attack as “a continuation of violence by those who are the enemies of peace, the extremist Islamic terror groups”.
In almost identical language Cde Arafat said: “This condemnable act . . . was carried out by the enemies of peace.”
He called for greater efforts for peace. The Palestinian authorities have constantly said that speeding up the peace talks and producing results would be the surest way of undercutting and isolating extreme groups who want to abort the peace process. – Ziana-Reuter-AFP.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
- Arabs and Jews have been at war since 1948 when Israel declared statehood on May 14, 1948 and invaded neighbouring Arab states. This was after the United Nations had in 1947 recommended separate Jewish and Arab states, which was accepted by Jewish leaders, but rejected by Arab leaders.
- The current fighting, which started early this month, was prompted by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, that holds power in the Gaza Strip. Hamas launched a stunning surprise attack on Israel as revenge for the worsening conditions for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
- The war has been regarded as the deadliest in half a century, with more than 2,000 people killed so far, and over two million rendered homeless or in need of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
- The current crisis has seen millions of demonstrators worldwide against Israel, while Israel’s allies argue that it has a right to defend itself.
Online Reporter
dyton mupawaenda