Bus blows up near Afula (Israel); at least 20 casualties

The Jerusalem Post ^ | June 5, 2002 | JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF

[Ronzo]

Bus blows up near Afula; at least 20 casualties

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jerusalem Post Internet Staff Jun. 5, 2002

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A huge bomb went off near a bus Wednesday morning in the area of Afula and at least 20 casualties were reported.

Police said they suspect that a car booby-trapped with explosives detonated next to a bus as it traveled on the Wadi Ara Road, near Megiddo Junction, and that there were many casualties.

The bus, on route 830, had left from Tel Aviv early this morning and was destined for Tiberias. Many soldiers were believed to be on board, an official for the Egged bus company said.

Army radio said at least 20 wounded were rushed to Hillel Yaffe Hospital in nearby Hadera.

Rescue forces were streaming to the site.

Amakim district police chief Deputy Commander Dov Lutzky said "a particularly large bomb went off. It's a difficult attack, there are many casualties."

The bombing followed a warning issued Tuesday by the head of military intelligence that Hizbullah and Palestinian terrorists were planning a "mega-attack" inside Israel.

More details will follow as they become available.

[Ronzo]

The closest the Palie's have come to hitting a military target. Wonder if they knew soldiers were on board? Perhaps they mistook it for a bus full of orphaned children...

[Fabozz]

"The closest the Palie's have come to hitting a military target. Wonder if they knew soldiers were on board?"

Every bus in Israel has soldiers on board—it's how they get around, even when on active duty.

[Eva]

Every bus in Israel has soldiers on board—it's how they get around, even when on active duty.

Interesting information - are the busses used by everyone or just the military and the poor?

[TheOtherOne]

Ten dead in suicide attack on Israeli bus - army radio
 
01:18 ET
AFX News
(c) 2002 by AFP-Extel News Ltd

JERUSALEM (AFX) - A suicide bomb attack on a bus near Haifa killed ten people and critically injured three others, army radio reported.

The blast occurred at a crossroads in Meggido, near Haifa and the West Bank town of Jenin, police said.

jlr/txw/wf NNN For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com

[TheOtherOne]

ISRAEL: UPDATE 1-Car-bomb hits Israeli bus, "many hurt"-police.
 
01:13 ET
Reuters English News Service
(C) Reuters Limited 2002.

JERUSALEM, June 5 (Reuters) - A car-bomb exploded near a bus in northern Israel on Wednesday causing heavy casualties, police said.

"This is a very serious terrorist attack, there are many casualties, including fatalities," Ammakim region police commander Dov Rutsky said on Israel Radio, describing the blast at Megiddo junction close to the northern West Bank border.

"Initial indications at the scene are that the explosion occured at the bus 's flank. It was a car bomb," Rutsky said.

A witness said the blast occurred after what he described as a passenger bus from Israel's national Egged cooperative pulled into a roadside station.

An ambulance service official said there were "dozens" of casualties. Israel's Channel 1 television said there were at least six people dead.

Palestinian witnesses in Jenin just across the border saw a thick plume of smoke rising from the blast scene, located in a predominantly Israeli Arab district which has seen several such attacks during a 20-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation.

At least 1,379 Palestinians and 486 Israelis have been killed since the uprising began in September 2000 after negotiations for a final peace treaty deadlocked.

[ppaul]

Again.

[Ronzo]

Here's the latest from the Jerusalem Post:

A huge bomb went off near a bus early Wednesday morning in the area of Afula, reportedly killing at least six people and wounding 30.

Police said they believe a car booby-trapped with explosives detonated next to the bus as it traveled or stopped at a station on the Wadi Ara Road, near Megiddo Junction.

The bus, on route 830, had left from Tel Aviv early this morning and was destined for Tiberias. Many soldiers were believed to be on board, an official for the Egged bus company said.

Israel Radio reported that at least six people were killed and 30 were wounded, in the attack which occurred at about 7:15 a.m. local time.

The wounded were reportedly being rushed to Hillel Yaffe Hospital in nearby Hadera.

Rescue forces were streaming to the site, and the road was closed to traffic.

Amakim district police chief Deputy Commander Dov Lutzky said "a particularly large bomb went off. It's a difficult attack, there are many casualties."

The bombing followed a warning issued Tuesday by the head of military intelligence that Hizbullah and Palestinian terrorists were planning a "mega-attack" inside Israel.

As the attack occurred, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to convene the security cabinet this morning to discuss the situation.

[sheik yerbouty]

Megiddo junction? The wind is blowing strange!

[Ronzo]

Another update from the Jerusalem Post:

A huge bomb went off near a bus early Wednesday morning in the area of Afula, reportedly killing at least 14 people and wounding 50, at least three of whom were in serious condition.

Police believe a car booby-trapped with explosives detonated next to the bus as it traveled or stopped at a station on the Wadi Ara Road, near Megiddo Junction. A huge bomb went off near a bus early Wednesday morning in the area of Afula, reportedly killing at least six people and wounding 30.

Police said they believe a car booby-trapped with explosives detonated next to the bus as it traveled or stopped at a station on the Wadi Ara Road, near Megiddo Junction.

The bus, on route 830, had left from Tel Aviv early this morning and was destined for Tiberias. Many soldiers were believed to be on board, an official for the Egged bus company said.

Israel Radio reported that at least six people were killed and 30 were wounded, in the attack which occurred at about 7:15 a.m. local time.

The wounded were reportedly being rushed to Hillel Yaffe Hospital in nearby Hadera.

Rescue forces were streaming to the site, and the road was closed to traffic.

Amakim district police chief Deputy Commander Dov Lutzky said "a particularly large bomb went off. It's a difficult attack, there are many casualties."

The bombing followed a warning issued Tuesday by the head of military intelligence that Hizbullah and Palestinian terrorists were planning a "mega-attack" inside Israel.

As the attack occurred, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to convene the security cabinet this morning to discuss the situation.

Hospital phone numbers:

Rambam Hospital: 125-5144

Afula Ha'emek Hospital 125-5165

No area code is necessary when calling the these numbers. Overseas callers need to dial Israel's country code 972 before the direct number.

This story last updated at 9:15 a.m. [Jerusalem Time]

[cgk]

[skr]

That one says it all.

[Fabozz]

"Interesting information - are the buses used by everyone or just the military and the poor?"

Israel has oppressively high tariffs, so cars are a luxury item. On the other hand, a lot of jobs come with company cars—a lot of jobs, not just executive or even management positions. So middle-class people drive, but working-class and poor people do mostly ride the bus. Soldiers also hitchhike whenever the bus is late or inconvenient; people consider it their patriotic duty to stop and give them a lift. There's nothing that says "we're not in Kansas anymore" quite like picking up two 19-year-old girls hitchhiking with M-16s slung across their backs.

[kattracks]

UPDATE 2 - Car bomb kills at least 10 in northern Israel

 (Updates casualty toll, scene details, previous JERUSALEM) 
    By Albert Robinson 
    MEGIDDO JUNCTION, Israel, June 5 (Reuters) - A car packed 
with explosives blew up alongside a passenger bus carrying 
civilians and soldiers in northern Israel on Wednesday, killing 
at least 10 people and wounding more than 40, police said. 
    No group claimed responsibility immediately, but the 
apparent suicide attack near Mount Megiddo bore the hallmarks of 
Palestinian militants waging a 20-month-old uprising against 
Israeli occupation.  
    A chunk of mangled metal was all that remained of the 
car-bomb, which reduced the bus to a charred shell and sprayed 
body parts and debris for hundreds of metres (yards) across a 
main highway. 
    Three bodies in olive-drab uniforms lay in front of the 
wreckage, surrounded by emergency crews and police sappers 
checking the area for more bombs. 
    Ammakim region police commander Dov Rutsky said between 10 
and 12 people had been killed in the apparent suicide attack at 
Megiddo junction, in a predominantly Israeli Arab district 
bordering the West Bank.  
    A police spokesman said at least 42 others had been hurt. 
    A spokesman for Israel's national bus cooperative Egged said 
the early-morning bus line was carrying soldiers to their bases 
as well as civilians. 
    A witness who ran to offer help at the scene described the 
blast as huge. 
    "I could not get near the bus, it was too hot," Ogen Drori, 
a medic, told Reuters. "Personnel came out of the nearby prison. 
We started to deal with the injured -- there were many 
soldiers." 
    The jail is populated by Palestinians accused of 
anti-Israeli hostilities. 
    An official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office called 
the bombing "another cowardly act of terror by the Palestinians, 
showing again that murder and the Palestinian Authority are 
indistinguishable". 
    But there was no immediate claim of responsibility nor 
reaction from the Palestinian Authority, which has condemned 
suicide bombings inside Israel and said they were harmful to the 
Palestinian cause. 
    At least 1,379 Palestinians and 496 Israelis have been 
killed since the uprising began in September 2000 after peace 
talks stalled.  
 ((Jerusalem newsroom, +972 2 537 0502, 
jerusalem.newsroom@reuters.com)) 
 
05 JUN 2002 06:30:33
UPDATE 2-Car bomb kills at least 10 in northern Israel

© 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

[McGavin999]

These murderers are worthless human beings. This isn't about "freedom" this is about trying to start an all out war. They're perfectly willing to sacrifice the Palestinian people in order to kill as many Jews as possible. They want war and they will keep this up until something is finally done about them.

[My Identity]

Sow the Wind; Reap the Whirlwind!

Thanks to TomGuy for much of the above.

MORAL CLARITY
An honorable, moral solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Isn't the only honorable way to "solve" the Arab-Israeli conflict through the use "ethnic cleansing?" (And by that term I mean the polite, but forceful removal of all 3 million Pali from Eretz Yisrael -- which is not "genocide", as some on the Left misuse the term.) Let me explain.

The current wave of "suicide" bombers (a misnomer, since their primary goal is not suicide but the mass murder of civilians) is unprecedented and unrelenting. But it should not be unexpected. It is the direct (and obviously planned) result of brainwashing that started with Pali children as young as kindergarteners. Look at the faces of the babies in the pictures above. What vomitous horror - visiting this upon their heads. What unspeakable evil.

The Palestinian descent into barbarism does not have some dimly-lit origin. These suicidal homicidal-bombers are not some unforseen phenomenom that sprung forth from the "hopelessness" of the populace (as the PA "leaders" would have us believe). They are part and parcel of the war machine created by the PA to wreak systematic havoc on Israel. Someone paid to have the Pali youth trained -- or more accurately, brainwashed -- in "martyrdom". Someone paid to have the explosives acquired and the bombs made. Someone paid to have surveillance put on weak spots in Israeli defenses. Someone paid to have these weapons stored and then distributed to the homicidal-bombers. Someone paid to have videotapes made of the bombers' farewell messages. Someone paid to have these homicidal-bombers transported across security lines. Someone paid to have the deeds of the homicidal-bombers favorably publicized. Someone paid the family tens of thousands of dollars specifically for the "martyrdom" of their children. And, as we are now learning, those paymasters include Yassir Arafat, Saddam Hussein and the Saudi elite.

The PA has not been preparing its people for peace, but radicalizing them for the sole purpose of destroying Israel. The PA has appointed militant clerics who preach hate and "martyrdom". By doing so, they have knowingly turned this into a religious war, one in which compromise is heretical. And in doing so, the Palestinians have rejected the Oslo premise that the conflict is about borders, about which compromise is required. Indeed, as Henry Kissinger has noted:

In reality, the number of Palestinian leaders... who want peace in the Western sense -- as a point after which the world lives free of tensions with a consciousness of reconciliation -- is minuscule. The fundamental schism is between those who want to bring about the destruction of Israel by continuing the present struggle, and those who believe that an agreement now would be a better strategy to rally forces for the ultimate showdown later on.

The result of Arafat's strategy of hatred is now known: Pali society cannot co-exist in peace with Israel. Recent polls tell the story clearly. Over 87% of the Palis support the murder of Israeli men, women, and children, even babies. Given these numbers and the underlying religious fervor, there is NO POSSIBILITY of a negotiated settlement that would be honored by the Palis within their lifetime. Arafat has filled the Palis with visceral hate to prepare them for unrelenting war. He has brainwashed an entire generation of youngsters to become terror-bombers. He has unleashed almost 10 years of official "judeo-nazi" indoctrination on the Pali people. Arafat has committed crimes not only against the entire populace of Israel, but against Palestinians and their children as well. Truly, these are Crimes against Humanity.

Current conditions make ethnic cleansing not only justified, but morally required. As antithetical as it sounds to liberal ears, ethnic cleansing is literally the only humane solution. To pursue a negotiated settlement is akin to locking a tiger and a human with a gun in the same cage. Assign the roles to whomever you wish, but the result is the same. Someone in the cage is eventually going to be killed, maybe both.

The world community's role in this to date has been to create this inhumane spectacle, this caged, semitic death match. The world community's response going forward ought to be the equivalent of an "Allied invasion of Nazi Germany" because nothing less will suffice to rid the world of this monstrosity. Eject all Arab peoples from Gaza and the West Bank (because once you remove the terrorists, their supporters and their families, virtually nobody is left). Then round up the PA "leaders" (including "clerics" and "teachers"), and put them on trial for their Crimes against Humanity. If they are found guilty, hang them in public.

And to the extent that this PA policy was conducted, funded, supported, promoted, or otherwise enabled by their Arab bretheren (notably Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) then it is incumbent upon these countries to pay for their sins by taking in the Palis. Arabs created this mess. Let Arabs bear the toll for the human misery they created.

Even Tom Friedman of the New York Times has come around, finally grasping the global ramifications of Arafat's evil:

"...all they [the Palestinian leaders] can agree on is what they want to destroy, not what they want to build... Let's be very clear: Palestinians have adopted suicide bombing as a strategic choice... This threatens all civilization because if suicide bombing is allowed to work in Israel, then, like hijacking and airplane bombing, it will be copied and will eventually lead to a bomber... with a nuclear device threatening entire nations."

What is needed is the elimination of this cancer on humanity. End it quickly before more innocent lives are lost. End it now or it will escalate to Weapons of Mass Destruction. End it clearly and with finality so that there is absolutely NO ambiguity that Western civilization finds this abhorent. If nothing else, as a sop to liberal sensibilities, end it for the children. Moral clarity demands nothing less.


Ruh Roh!
It looks like this idea is picking up some steam!

GOP leader: Palis should move to unsettled Arab lands http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/676826/posts Dick Armey: Israel should expel West Bank Palis

Human Rights Watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/677338/posts Calls suicide attacks a Crime Against Humanity

I know! Instead of "Ethnic Cleansing" let's call it "Repatriation".
Doesn't that sound better? Let's help the Palis go home, back to Egypt and Jordan.

[cgk]

Death toll now up to 17 according to AM news?

Mrs Kus

[FreeReporting]

16 dead (the 17th is the murderer).

Har (Mount) Megiddo is known in English as Armageddon.

[Constitutional Patriot]

The Pali mindset = ignorance + violence. This is a dangerous combination. These people are a threat to humanity and should be dealt with as such.