Posted on 06/07/2002 9:09:22 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Peres: Syria to blame for Megiddo attack Foreign Minister Shimon Peres yesterday lashed out at the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying it shares in the blame for Wednesday's Megiddo bus bombing, because Damascus is harboring terrorist organizations. Peres made the accusation during a series of media interviews, including one with Qatar-based al-Jazeera television, in which he noted that the orders for the deadly attack were given by Islamic Jihad leader Abdallah Ramadan Shalah from his base in Damascus. Peres, speaking to reporters at the Israel Export Institute Conference in Tel Aviv, said Syria plays host to no fewer than 10 terror organizations headquartered in Damascus, including Islamic Jihad. "I said that Ramadan Shalah, who is the commander of the Jihad forces and who lives and operates in Syria, said that he had given the order. I place responsibility on Syria, which hosts 10 terrorist headquarters in Damascus," Peres said. Ambassador to the UN Yehuda Lancry sent a letter yesterday detailing Syria's responsibility for Wednesday's attack near Megiddo to Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria, current president of the Security Council. "Israel is appalled that a member of the Security Council continues to lend its support to organizations committed to deliberate murder of civilians," Lancry wrote. Noting that Syria assumed leadership of the 15-member body at a time when Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the council have made fighting international terrorism a top priority, Lancry wrote, "It is astounding that Syria is brazenly supporting attempts to subvert anti-terrorist objectives of an international body of which it itself is president. "The international community must demand that the government of Syria immediately halt its support for the terrorist groups to which it grants safe harbor in its territory and abide scrupulously by its international obligations and the resolutions of the Security Council." The letter included a request that Wehbe circulate the text as an official council document. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer also blamed Syria for ultimately being responsible for the attack, when he visited the wounded in Ha'emek Hospital yesterday evening. His comments came as 12 of those killed in the suicide car bomber attack outside the walls of Megiddo Prison on the Wadi Ara highway were laid to rest yesterday. Four of the other victims were buried on Wednesday evening. Of the nearly 40 wounded, 13 were still hospitalized in Afula. One of them, a soldier, remained in serious condition in the intensive care unit after undergoing three operations. Another woman was reported to be in satisfactory condition, and the remainder suffered light-to-moderate wounds. Six of those who had been aboard the No. 830 Egged bus en route from Tel Aviv to Tiberias are in Hadera's Hillel Yaffe Hospital, including one who was transferred there from Afula. One of them was reported to be in serious condition, two satisfactory, and the other three recovering from light wounds. One person, who suffered serious head wounds, is in Haifa's Rambam Hospital.
What does Peres intend to do about it, give them the Golan?
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