Posted on 12/01/2001 4:16:37 PM PST by Diogenesis
JERUSALEM (December 2) - At least six persons were reported killed and some 160 wounded when two Palestinian suicide
bombers detonated themselves in the heart of Jerusalem last night close to midnight.
"Yesterday":
The two explosions at the foot of the Rehov Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall were followed shortly afterward by a car bomb on nearby Rehov Kook, which apparently did not cause many casualties.
The mall had been packed with the usual Saturday night crowd of mainly teenagers out for the evening. The bomb scene was
gruesome with overturned tables, bloody chairs, and bodies and body parts strewn on the ground, in one of the worst attacks in
Jerusalem in months.
Police speculated that the number of casualties would probably turn out to be similar to those in the devastating Sbarro pizzeria attack in
Jerusalem and the Dolphin discotheque bombing in Tel Aviv several months ago, when a total of 36 were killed.
"I was sitting having coffee with my girlfriend," said Gideon, 25, from Jerusalem, "when suddenly we heard an immense
explosion. The explosion was followed by yet a second one."
Witness Yossi Mizrahi told Reuters: "I saw people without arms. I saw a person with their stomach hanging open. I saw a
10-year-old-boy breathe his last breath. I can't believe anybody would do anything like this."
"There were lots of limbs and dead bodies," said Michael Perry, 37, who ran out of a bar on the mall after hearing the back-to-back
blasts just before midnight. "I saw three dead and what looked like the remains of the suicide bomber. It was just a lump of
something," Perry said.
Another bystander, Eli Shetreet, 19, said he saw bodies being hurled in the air. "A lot of people were crying, falling, and there was the
smell of burning hair," he said.
As police and Magen David Adom officials raced to the scene in downtown Jerusalem and began treating the wounded from the initial
bombings, a car bomb went off with a thunderous roar on Rehov Kook, just 40 meters away from the site of the initial attacks.
Israel Radio reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was considering cutting short his US visit and returning to Israel. Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer conferred immediately after the attack with police Insp.-Gen. Shlomo
Aharonishky. Peres updated Sharon on the details of the atrocity.
In the minutes after the attack, the scene in downtown Jerusalem looked like a war zone, with scores of ambulances, police vans, and
medics trying desperately to treat the wounded, mostly teenagers.
"It was just horrendous. I still hear the sound of the explosions in my mind," said Rachel Levinson, 17, of Jerusalem.
Police said the car bomb contained several mortar shells.
It was not immediately clear how many people were hurt by the car bomb.
Half an hour after the attacks, police and border police were evacuating everyone from the downtown area, and streets which had
been previously filled with people out for a night's entertainment were almost completely emptied.
However, on the ground the bodies of those killed were still in view.
The special Hessed Shel Emet squad could be seen collecting body parts at the scene.
Police said the bombs the two suicide bombers had carried on their bodies contained screws and nails to add to the carnage. Police
warned of other possible car bombs in the area, and worked feverishly to evacuate onlookers from the scene.
Cafes and restaurants which had previously been crowded with customers closed down quickly, even as emergency crews raced by to reach the scene of the attacks.
Meanwhile, Jaffa Road was a sea of ambulances, their lights flashing as they carried the wounded to nearby Bikur Holim Hospital and the city's other hospitals, where
pemergency staff raced in to help treat the wounded.
Israel blamed Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat for the attack. "As head of the Palestinian Authority, Arafat bears direct responsibility for what happened today in
Jerusalem," government spokesman Avi Pazner said.
I agree! Unleash the IDF NOW!
It's worse than that...
Osama is another Arafat.
Reward Yasser with a "palestinian" state, and there will be more of their kind.
Terrorism works, so long as we let it. So long as we let them live.
We give them US$100M a year, and we gave Arafat 50,000 Kalashnikovs so his "police" could stop the terrorists.
Not another damn dime. Why should we be fighting terrorists who attack us (using weapons we paid for back when they were fighting the Soviets) when we're funding terrorists who attack Israel? This foreign policy--if we have one--is idiocy.
It's not just that. Bin Laden and Saddam have been making pro-Palestinian statements, plus Barbara Olson reported that after her plane was hijacked, the hijackers put on red headbands, an Islamic Jihad symbol. If al Qaeda doesn't have Afghanistan anymore, the al Qaeda-trained terrorists may well focus their energies on Israel. I hate to predict, but I have a gut instinct that violence against Israel will increase in the coming months. It's time to crack down on the terrorists, all terrorists, and that includes Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and any other group attacking Israel.
Yet everytime innocent people are killed its by an Islamic Group how can that be ?
Sharon and Bush having a meeting Sunday morning. I am sure Bush will offer the use of some of our Rangers to go after the terrorists the Israelis have been dealing with for the last few decades.
Dear President Bush:
Do not dignify the Palis with burying them six feet under.
Please leave their bodies to be eaten by dogs.
Sincerely,
RBA
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.