Posted on 08/01/2002 9:57:08 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - President Bush ( news - web sites) said on Thursday he was "furious" about a Palestinian bombing that killed five Americans and two Israelis in Jerusalem but he still believed peace was possible in the Middle East.
"I'm just as angry as Israel is right now," Bush told reporters in Washington before meeting Jordan's King Abdullah. "I'm furious that innocent life was lost. However, through my fury, even though I am mad, I still believe peace is possible."
Bush's remarks followed scathing condemnation by U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer of Wednesday's attack, which he said marked "a new depth of depravity" for Palestinian militants waging a 22-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation.
Seven people were killed and more than 80 hurt when the lunchtime blast tore through a cafeteria at Hebrew University, one of the few places in Jerusalem where Arabs and Israelis still studied and lived peacefully together.
U.S. officials identified four of the dead as Janis Coulter, 36, Benjamin Blutstein, Marla Bennett and David Gritz. Gritz also had French citizenship. Israeli police identified the fifth American as Dina Carter, 37, who also had Israeli citizenship.
The two Israelis killed were identified as David Ladovsky, 29, who had recently joined the diplomatic corps, and Levina Shapira, a 53-year-old student counselor.
Hamas, an Islamic militant group dedicated to Israel's destruction, said it carried out the attack to avenge an Israeli air strike in Gaza last week that killed its military leader, his lieutenant and 13 others, including nine children.
The attack was the bloodiest in Israel since June 19 when a bomber killed seven Israelis at a Jerusalem bus stop, and was unusual because of the high toll of foreign victims.
It further dented hopes of an early breakthrough to end violence since Palestinians rose up against Israeli occupation in September 2000 after statehood talks deadlocked.
Asked if he supported Israeli military retaliation for the latest bomb attack, Bush said Israel had a right to defend itself "but I say to all parties involved, we must keep the vision of peace in mind."
ISRAELI SHOT DEAD
In new violence, an Israeli man was found bound and shot dead near Israel's border with the West Bank on Thursday.
The Israeli army accused Palestinian gunmen of shooting the man at close range at the Buds of Peace industrial zone near the West Bank city of Tulkarm after going there to make deliveries.
A senior Israeli security source said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ( news - web sites) had decided in consultations with Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to "retaliate strongly against Hamas targets for what happened."
But the government did not say exactly how it would respond to the blast, which was condemned by the Palestinian Authority ( news - web sites) and which followed a suicide attack that wounded four people in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
In Beit Jala near Bethlehem in the West Bank, witnesses said Israeli forces blew up the home of Hazim Saras, who carried out that bombing.
It was not clear whether Israeli pledges to ease the hardship of 700,000 Palestinians living under Israeli military curfew in the West Bank since mid-June would be affected.
Laying a wreath at Hebrew University a day after the blast, U.S. Ambassador Kurtzer demanded immediate action by the Palestinians and Arab states to end the violence.
"The terrorist murderers, those who sent them and those whose action and inaction contributed to this despicable act, have descended to a new depth of depravity," Kurtzer, a former student at the university, said.
CONDEMNATION BY "QUARTET"
Washington's partners in the 'Quartet' leading efforts to revive peacemaking -- Russia, the United Nations ( news - web sites) and the European Union ( news - web sites) -- also condemned the bombing.
"Terror has brought death and suffering in...a lively center of culture, of communication and of learning where students of different nationalities and ethnic origin work closely and harmoniously together, including of course Israelis and Palestinians," EU Commissioner Michel Barnier said.
At least 1,473 Palestinians and 574 Israelis have been killed in the violence, including a 63-year-old Gaza man who medical officials said died on Thursday of earlier wounds.
Suicide bombings have continued despite a six-week Israeli offensive in the West Bank launched in late March.
A U.N. report on Israel's assault on the Jenin Palestinian refugee camp during the offensive criticized all sides, saying Israel endangered civilians by using heavy weapons in heavily populated areas while 200 Palestinian fighters used the camp as a base.
The report by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan ( news - web sites) avoided the word "massacre" and dismissed Arab claims that 500 Palestinians died in Jenin during Israel's "Operation Defensive Shield."
It said there were cases when Israeli forces did not respect the neutrality of medical and humanitarian workers, and that 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers died in Jenin over 10 days.
Quit blaming Bush for not defending Israel. Israel has 400 nuclear weapons, ICBMS, neutron bombs, spy satellites, cruise missiles, submarines and the best fighter pilots in the world. If it can't defend itself from the Palistinians with all that I don't see what the U.S. can add. Besides, defending Israel is not the president's job. That's what the Israelis elected Sharon to do. We in turn elected Bush to defend the United States.
regretfully, I think not even thousands of americans will wake up this "give peace a chance" man... called President.
Any fool who believes ISLAM is peace, or who publicly lies about it by saying it is so, after all we have SEEN with our eyes, heard with our own ears, and after burying our own family members, needs to resign.
Whether it is for being deluded enough to believe Islam is PEACE, or dishonest enough to repeat it, KNOWING it is a lie, makes no difference. Such lies are intolerable in a leader. I might suggest that the lie, "I did not have sex with that woman" is not nearly as dangerous to national security and freedom in the world as "Islam is peace..."
I keep hoping W will wake up... but am sickened by the fact that I KNOW he wont, that he cannot, and that his embracing of Islam, in view of the 3000 plus dead corpses of loyal americans, is inexcusable...
IN MY OPINION Bush reacted more strongly to the stock market crash last week than he has to the dead americans yesterday... It's all about the benjamins... or the oil... which is the same thing. We are experiencing our very own generational disaster.
How many dead americans will it take for him to wake up and meet our Nation's defense requirements? apparently 3000 is enough to start a bombing campaign in the mountains of central asia.. but not enough to take out the KNOWN perpetrators and supporters of terrorist organizations worldwide, starting with Saudi Arabia.
Would W wakeup at 30,000, or 30 million? I honestly don't know. And he calls himself a "conservative?"
Derbyshire is a paleocon, but one who remembers that Nationalists should be patriots. The folks planning to launch The American Conservative disagree.
Strategery?
It's only 'the truth' in your warped, hate-filled eyes.
Calling the Commander-in-Chief a coward and an idiot in time of war while he is defeating terrorism abroad and at home, and taking an historic stand against Arafat reveals the depths of your stupidity, and your total inability to assess reality.
And where exactly is your courage? The President is risking his life every day in this fight against evil, taking bold stances for America in spite of opposition abroad, while you sit stupidly pecking on your keyboard in bloated self-importance.
You are a joke.
Hellooo??? Reality check!!
Afghanistan freed? Taliban gone? Al quaida dead?? Thousands of arrests? Finances frozen?? Historic stance against Arafat?? Attack on Iraq imminent??
What are you people smoking on this thread?? Sheeeeshhh!!!
In the weeks after 9/11, many of these same people were screaming that President Bush was a coward because he did not respond. They are as wrong now as they were then.
He is patient, he is resolute, and he is angry. Justice will be done.
You are as crazy as the Rat Kool-Aid drinkers, who were defending Clinton as he was being impeached.
When are you going to come to grips with the fact that W is a loser?
Go get on a liberal chat site, if you can find one, lol. You are the loser because you have thoroughly exposed yourself as a demo seminar poster. I know your type.
Oh, sure bring all that crap up!
We needed to vote for W because we didn't want Gore to win, did we?
Heck, Gore would have given us a bigger government! And increased the spending!
we couldn't have that.
Now, off to to bomb Bagdad!
Are you talking about the War On Terrorism?
Ok, lets go bomb all the folks in Iraq. We have to get the leader.
But Israel has to make sure they don't kill Arafat.
I agree with your well stated post. I'm thinking President Bush is beyond anger, he must surely be stone hardened cold and filled with deliberate calculation.
We do not see or hear how he is behind closed doors. We are treated to short polite non-passioned sound bites and video clips aired for our consumption by the mostly leftist press.
For some reason everyone in power is being very careful not to inflame the passionate wrath and relentless fury ordinary American citizens must surely keep bubbling deep down in our souls and hearts since the unfathomable violence and hate that killed over 3,000 of our beloved fellow citizens. It's like we are all getting injected with Botox in our hearts to curb emotionally passionate responses.
But, as you believe, I too believe President Bush will unleash his swift and strong warbirds and rain thunder on the "evil doers".
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