Posted on 06/18/2002 2:06:12 PM PDT by knighthawk
Idit Ben-Dor takes the bus to school every day, but on Tuesday she missed her ride.
Now she is thanking God that she did, for the 32A from Gilo, packed with schoolchildren, never reached its final destination.
Minutes after passing through Idit's neighbourhood, the bus and many of its young passengers were blown to pieces by a Palestinian suicide bomber.
"It's a miracle I didn't catch that bus," Idit told BBC News Online.
"It should have been me on that bus and I am shaking thinking about what might have happened," she said.
"I feel terrible, but thank God I missed the bus, thank God."
Bus bomb 'lottery'
Idit is one of tens of thousands of young people across Israel who depend on the public transport system, a system with a reputation for efficiency, reliability and, lately, extreme danger.
What for years has been a mundane daily activity has now become a matter of life and death.
"It's like a lottery," said Idit's uncle, Eliezer Katzenstein.
"It frightens me to think about what happened with Idit," he said, "I am on the point of crying all the time."
Mr Katzenstein's own 13-year-old daughter, Yael, also takes the bus to school every day. He says this is a constant source of worry.
"I am afraid for her safety," he said, "but what can I do? She's got to go to school."
Parents' dilemma
In a country living in fear, many parents are now faced with the dilemma of whether or not to allow their children to use the bus network.
It worries me terribly," said Shula Gattegno, a mother of two teenage girls from Ramat Hasharon.
After a recent bus bomb attack in nearby Herzliyah, Mrs Gattegno banned her youngest daughter, Karine, from using public transport.
"If Karine needs to go somewhere, I take her myself or tell her to take a taxi. If not, I tell her to cancel her plans.
"I don't want to take away her freedom, but I just don't want to take the risk. Most of my friends feel the same way," she said.
Anxious times
It is a situation that has meant adjusting to new realities in Israel.
As the school year ends, thousands of children look forward to heading off to summer camp, with many planning to make their way there by bus.
But with so many buses targeted by suicide bombers, parents are left facing an agonising decision.
"Everyone is wondering whether to send their children," said Candy Shinaar, a mother of two young children from Netanya.
"It's a terrible situation, but if my kids end up having to get a bus I will give them a loving speech before they go in case they never came back. There would be a fear in my heart that I wouldn't see them again."
They were voting as members of the UN Human Rights Commission on a resolution that accuses Israel of a long list of human rights violations, but makes no mention of suicide bombings of Israeli civilians.
Canada and two EU countries -- Britain and Germany -- opposed the measure, which supports the use of "all available means, including armed struggle" to establish a Palestinian state. Guatemala and the Czech Republic joined the opposing voices, but with 40 countries of the 53-member commission voting yes and seven abstaining, the resolution is now part of the international record.
I hope Annan and his UN and the rest of those people who approved this resolution are really proud of what their terrorists have done.
I hope Israel will strike back in a way the pro-terrorists can complain about for years to come!
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
So much for the UN, but we knew that already.
And George Bush is about to reward terror by calling for the establishment of an "interim" Pali state, providing the many shields of national soveriegnty for the murderers and child sacrificers.
Where is our Winston Churchill in the war on terror?
I bet Israeli children fear for their mothers, fathers, grandparents and others.
Yeah, progressive re-occupation keyed to continuation of terror attacks is a good idea, maybe better than wholesale reinstatement of military governance, IF THE ISRAELIS STICK WITH IT, (and if the Western World lets them).
Declaring war on a tactic seems odd; it's like we declared a war on the blitzkrieg in WW2. Even Chris Matthews compared it to declaring a war on surprise attacks after Pearl Harbor. At least Lou Dobbs isn't fooled.
On my pessimistic days, i view the goals of this war as keeping Musharraf in power, giving Arafat his Palestinian state and preserving the perverted, perfumed princes in their tragic kingdom.
And in the meantime, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal keeps growing and that Saudi Missile base is apparently operational.
Forcing Israel to kowtow to the State Dept's Arabists and placating the Arabs is a never ending task. Nothing will make them happy except the destruction of Israel. But slowly, awareness of the shortcomings of appeasing the arabislamists seems to be growing; nowhere near fast enough for me and i suspect for you too.
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