Posted on 03/04/2002 10:57:49 PM PST by JohnHuang2
JERUSALEM, Mar 05, 2002 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday in a bus as it reached the main bus station in the central Israeli town of Afula, police said. Israel TV said five people were wounded.Dov Lutzky, a regional police commander, said the suicide bomber was on the bus as it reached the parking area of the Afula bus station. Earlier Tuesday, an attacker firing an M-16 rifle killed three people and wounded 31 in a Tel Aviv restaurant, hours after an Israeli raid killed the wife and three children of a Hamas rebel in what Israel said was a mistake.
The gunman was shot dead during the restaurant assault, the latest in a spiral of attacks and counterattacks by both sides that have left 17 Palestinians and 25 Israelis dead in three days.
Four of the wounded had serious injuries, officials said. The three dead were Israelis. The injured weren't immediately identified most were believed to be Israelis.
Israel Radio reported that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility. Callers to TV stations said the attacker was a Palestinian from the Jebalya refugee camp next to Gaza City.
Witnesses said the gunman fired the assault rifle as he walked into the restaurant and night club in a commercial area of Tel Aviv at 2:15 a.m. local time, also lashing out at patrons with a knife.
The shooting went on for five minutes, said a witness who gave his name as Effie. "He was firing all the time."
Shoe salesman William Hazan, who was eating with his wife, told Israel Radio he drew his own pistol and shot the attacker.
"The tall man stabbed me in the back with a knife," he said. "Then I understood that he was the terrorist. Right away I started firing at him."
Police said they also shot the assailant and that it was their gunfire that killed him.
Late Monday, warplanes lashed out at Palestinian headquarters in the West Bank and Gaza, hitting empty buildings in Bethlehem and Gaza with a near-miss on Arafat himself in Ramallah, where the Palestinian president has been confined by Israeli tanks for three months.
Missiles fired by Israeli helicopters in Ramallah hit a building a few metres from Arafat's office, witnesses said. Arafat was in his office with aides, officials said, and was not hurt.
Meanwhile, the newest peace effort teetered when Palestinian minister Nabil Shaath said Saudi Arabia would not present its initiative to an Arab summit in Beirut later this month unless Arafat is allowed to attend.
But an Israeli official said Arafat will be confined to Ramallah until he takes steps to stop violence.
Shaath spoke after meeting Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who is reportedly backing a proposal to offer Israel peace with the entire Arab world in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
The multiple strikes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip followed a cabinet decision Sunday to intensify military action after Israel was left reeling from Palestinian bombing and shooting attacks that killed 22 Israelis over the weekend.
Besides Ramallah, Israeli air strikes zeroed in on Arafat's other headquarters. F-16 warplanes bombed buildings in Bethlehem just two kilometres from the Church of the Nativity, traditional birthplace of Jesus. Doctors said four people were hurt. The buildings were empty, as Palestinians evacuated offices several days ago, expecting an Israeli attack.
In Gaza, Israeli warships fired two missiles at Arafat's seaside headquarters, setting a fire in a courtyard, witnesses said.
Palestinian security official Ahmed Abdel Rahman condemned the air attacks as "dangerous escalation."
The Israeli military said the attacks were a "response to murderous attacks of the past few days."
"We are in a war over our home and the war is horrible," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told parliament.
Sharon said the Palestinians must absorb punishment to learn that terrorism does not pay.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell praised a proposal by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to host a summit meeting between Sharon and Arafat. Mubarak, who is in Washington, said he hoped such a meeting might "change the atmosphere."
In a deadly episode, an Israeli tank shell fired from long distance slammed into a pickup truck, killing the wife of a Hamas rebel and the couple's three children, aged eight, 14 and 17.
Hussein Abu Kweik's wife had just picked up the children from school and was driving in a well-to-do neighbourhood of Ramallah when the shell turned the vehicle into a mangled piece of steel.
A second car, passing in the opposite direction, was hit by shrapnel, killing two youngsters, ages four and 16.
Abu Kweik, who was not in the pickup, vowed to avenge the deaths. "I swear to God they will pay a very high price for this crime," said Abu Kweik.
The Israeli military said the tank shell was aimed at a car carrying armed Palestinian policemen and hit the truck by mistake. Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed "regret at the loss of life of Palestinian civilians."
Israel has killed dozens of suspected Palestinian militants in targeted attacks, but army spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ron Kitrey said Abu Kweik was not a target.
Israeli troops also staged two new raids into refugee camps.
In the Jenin camp in the West Bank, six Palestinians were killed and 20 wounded in fierce shootouts, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Dr. Khalil Suleiman, who was overseeing rescue efforts from an ambulance, was killed and three colleagues were wounded when the ambulance was hit by an Israeli tank shell, Red Crescent officials said.
In a gunfight in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza on the border with Egypt, troops killed two armed Palestinians and a civilian, doctors said. The Israeli military said troops searched for tunnels used to smuggle arms under the border.
Also Monday, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man who ran toward an Israeli army checkpoint near the West Bank town of Nablus, the army said.
In 17 months of fighting 1,043 people have died on the Palestinian side and 312 on the Israeli side.
The online source for news sports entertainment finance and business news in CanadaCopyright (C) 2002 The Canadian Press (CP), All rights reserved
No need for the trademark sign. The quote can be attributed to our Commander In Chief. Maybe we ought to respect that in time of war. Try to make a contribution to our soldiers who have their lives on the line in Arab countries, rather than baiting those Islamics who are peaceful into siding with their terrorist brethren. Inflaming anti-Arab passions on a global network such as this can have the effect of putting our boys who are over there in harm's way.
Maybe we ought to be thinking strategically instead of just lashing out with racial hatred with every skirmish. The Palestinians want to ignite WWIII. We have a calculated approach and a timeline with objectives and outcomes. Acting in haste and out of passion is exactly what the enemy wants from us. Why help them?
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.