Posted on 12/25/2003 11:44:05 AM PST by CHUCKfromCAL
BNEI BRAK, Israel - In the first such attacks in two months, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed three bystanders at a bus stop and an Israeli helicopter killed a senior Islamic militant and four other people.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the bombing in a call to The Associated Press, saying it came in retaliation for the killing of two of its members last week.
The group identified the bomber as Said Hanani, 18, from the village of Beit Furik, east of Nablus.
The attack occurred during rush hour at Geha, a major intersection just outside Tel Aviv where Palestinian workers routinely gather to wait for people to pick them up for odd jobs, Yossi Sedbon, Tel Aviv district police commander, told Israel's Channel 2 television.
Two women and the suicide bomber were killed immediately, and a man died later on the way to a hospital, police spokeswoman Shlomit Hertzberg said. Sixteen others were injured.
The bombing was the first since an Oct. 4 bombing at a restaurant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa that killed 21 people.
It came during renewed efforts to restart the stalled peace process and to organize a summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
Visiting the wounded at a Tel Aviv hospital, Israeli Health Minister Dan Naveh blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) for the bombing. "Before we consider a political move, by agreement or unilateral, we must expel the terror regime of Arafat and the gang of terrorists that comes with him. This is the obligatory security step before we move on."
Yaron Lubaton said he was driving on the bridge above the bus stop when the blast went off underneath.
"I was on the way home after a day at work, looking to see my daughters. Suddenly I saw the last thing you would ever want to see. It was horrible, horrible," he told Channel 2 television.
Minutes before the attack, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a car in Gaza City, killing senior Islamic Jihad militant Mekled Hamied, 30.
Residents said an Apache helicopter fired the missiles at a white Subaru driving between Gaza and the Jebaliya refugee camp Thursday evening.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Hameid was planning a huge attack. "In the early evening hours, the military worked to foil what I would call a mega-terror attack in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites)," he said, without elaborating.
Islamic Jihad officials said Mekled Hamied, commander of the group's military wing, was killed with four other people — two Islamic Jihad militants and two bystanders.
Hospital officials confirmed that five people died and said 14 were wounded, three seriously.
The car was completely burned black, its windows shattered. Nearby buildings in the heavily populated neighborhood were damaged.
The last time Israel used a helicopter to kill Palestinian militants was Oct. 20, when missiles killed 14 people, most of them bystanders, in the Nusseirat refugee camp. However, that attack was not a "targeted killing," since the Israelis were chasing a car carrying Palestinians who had tried to infiltrate Israel, according to the military.
During three years of violence, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have caused dozens of civilian casualties. In April, an attack killed Hamas leader Said Arabeed and eight other people. In July 2002, 15 people were killed, including nine children, in an airstrike that targeted another Hamas leader, Salah Shehadeh.
Earlier Thursday, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man carrying explosives toward a Jewish settlement in Gaza, the Israeli military said.
The man was spotted crawling near the Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements, likely planning to lay a mine, when soldiers shot him, the military said. They later discovered an explosive charge on his body, the military said.
Islamic Jihad identified the man as Mohammed Akram Al-Dosuki, 22, a member of the militant group.
That's the only thing that will have any effect on the cancer. One does not reason with or appease cancer, one kills it. Israel refuses to do this and is succumbing.
Pali terrorists operate openly at every Seattle "anti-war" rally.
And Islam is Nazism, without the snappy uniforms.
Reuters occasionally messes up and interjects their true feelings.
ISRAEL OUT -- Israel is to be destroyed.
NO ARCHIVE -- There shall be no memory of Israel.
Sickening anti-Israel bias here
1. This is the firs SUCCESSFUL attack in two months. In the last two months there have been 25 attempted suicide bombings, among them targetting a school, and also other cities
2. The people who were murdered were not BYSTANDERS! What were they bystanding? The bus as a vehicle, without people in it, was a target? No! The People were the target! They were not bystanders to anything, they were those who were targetted by the terrorist murderer on purpose.
3. Again, the article tires to make it equivalent that a terrorist murderer targets Israeli civilians on purpose is the same as an Israeli IAF pilot targetting a terrorist murderer and not civilians.
Here is a really neat "moral equivalency" statement.....
a suicide bomber = an Israeli helicopter
three innocent civilians waiting for a bus (bystanders?)= senior Islamic militant + (4 people) (four 'other' terrorists?)
A (Islamic) suicide murder of (Jewish) civilians = a retaliatory strike against terrorists (Muslims) by the Israeli army
If you'd like to be on or off this
Christian Supporters of Israel ping list,
please FR mail me. ~
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Arafat needs a bullit between his running lights.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.