Jerusalem bomb attack crosses new boundary: Israeli press

AFP | 3/10/02

[kattracks]

JERUSALEM, March 10 (AFP) - Israel's newspapers Sunday described the previous night's bloody suicide bomb attack, in "one of the most heavily secured areas" in the country, as a turning point in the conflict with the Palestinians.

Eleven Israelis died in the blast in a cafe near the office and official residence of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"Last night ... something of substance happened," said an editorial of the daily Yedioth Aharonot.

The bodies, blood and destruction, were "the same ones that have been with us on a nearly daily basis". The difference was the location, the paper said.

"Symbolically, the strike on the prime minister's residence compound last night is no less important than the shells that the IDF (Israeli army) has sent flying into (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat's courtyard in Ramallah" in the West Bank."

"An unbearably difficult symmetry has been created here. Both sides have found a way to strike at each other's heart," the paper added in the editorial written before Israeli forces destroyed Arafat's compound in Gaza City.

The daily Ma'ariv said: "The horror, which has become our daily bread recently, approaches new heights."

"The talks of ceasefires and diplomatic initiatives, of soon-to-arrive envoys, seems pathetic in view of the reality developing on the ground."

Sharon now faced pressures "which could eventually tear him and his coalition to pieces", the paper said.

It added that "now the Rubicon has truly been crossed ... there are only radical solutions ... from an all-out war, through a ceasefire initiated by two exhausted sides, and up to the possibility that the international community will take itself and matters in hand."

The right-leaning English-language Jerusalem Post daily, for its part, said that "Arafat has no intention of halting the violence any time soon."

In a swipe at the international community, the paper said: "While sending envoys and hurling criticism at Israel may help appease the Arab states, it will do little to convince Arafat that violence is not the answer."

[newzjunkey]

Compound??? Doesn't he live in an apartment in the Moslem quarter?

[eclectic]

It is somewhere left of Ha'aretz.

Left of Ha'aretz is the abyss

[ladyinred]

My heart goes out to the Israeli's. I cannot imagine living with the horror of terrorist attacks almost daily as they do.
I totally agree with the stepping up of retaliation that Sharon has employed the past few weeks.
Fighting fire with fire is the only language the terrorists understand. They have no intention of stopping the violence against Israel.
The more the Israeli government gives them, the more they demand.

[Alouette]

Arabic news outlets trumpeted Arafat's election as president of the Palestinian Authority with more than 80 percent of the vote.

Who ran against him?

[MACD]

Who ran against him?

Samirha Khalil

From Jimmy Carter's group . ….
"We saw a number of problems on election day," said Harry Barnes, director of The Carter Center's Conflict Resolution and Human Rights programs. "These included campaign activities within polling places, problems with secrecy of ballots, general disorganization, and some intimidation by party agents and security officials. While we don't want to minimize these and other irregularities, we saw no pattern of fraud or manipulation. Overall, the Palestinian people had an historic opportunity to choose their leaders, and they did so with enthusiasm and a high degree of civic responsibility."