Fri Mar 29, 9:57 AM ET
An Israeli tank shell explodes inside the headquarters of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah, March 29, 2002 after Israel declared Arafat an enemy.
Photo by Balogh/Reuters
| Jerusalem ghostly as bomb fears keep Israelis inside | |
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By Maia Ridberg
JERUSALEM, March 29 (Reuters) - Jerusalem streets were
mainly deserted on Friday, as Israelis heeded warnings of
further Palestinian attacks and stayed away from public places
usually bustling with life before the Jewish Sabbath.
"Is there anyone who isn't afraid today?" asked one soldier
in the city's bus station, where most travellers were soldiers
heeding orders to cut short their Passover holiday vacation and
return to their bases as tensions mounted.
Passers-by expressed either despair over the lack of
solutions, or determination that the only way to solve the
deteriorating security situation was to deal a fatal blow to
President Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority.
"We should eliminate Arafat and take over the territories,"
said Moshika Sabagi, referring to land in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip captured by Israel in 1967, some of which was later handed
over to Palestinian rule under interim peace accords.
Sabagi was injured in a recent attack in Jerusalem in which
four of his friends died.
He spoke after Israeli tanks and troops battered their way
into Arafat's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Israel
said this was a response to a suicide bombing in the coastal
city of Netanya that killed 22 people on Wednesday.
In the latest violence in an 18-month-old Palestinian
uprising against Israeli occupation, a suspected female suicide
bomber killed at least two people on Friday in an attack on a
Jerusalem supermarket.
MANY ISRAELIS DESPAIR
While some Israelis spoke of the need for tougher military
steps, others had no answer after months of bloodshed that has
shattered national morale and pushed public consensus
increasingly towards the political right.
"A cloud of paralysing gloom and fear hovers upon us.
National morale is at a low, the economy is wavering on the
verge of collapse and the streets and places of entertainment
are deserted," Amnon Dankner wrote in the daily Maariv
newspaper.
Jessica Salas, who immigrated to Israel from Chile three
years ago, said: "Nothing works. When we go into the (occupied)
territories, attacks on us continue. When we leave, they also
continue. I don't know what we can do".
Without answers or hope, some Israelis talk of leaving the
country.
Guy Degitar, an immigrant from Russia, waited for a bus
with his army-issued gun loaded with bullets ready to shoot at
any attacker who might strike.
"After I finish the army, I am almost sure I will leave and
go to Russia or Canada," he said. "Just not here".
((Jerusalem Bureau, +972-2-537-0502,
jerusalem.newsroom@reuters.com))
29 MAR 2002 16:03:02
Jerusalem ghostly as bomb fears keep Israelis inside
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Despite that undeniable fact, that is a beautiful picture.
War is horrible, but unchecked evil is more horrible.
You've posted a beautiful picture of justice beginning to happen.