Attacks rock Israel
Saturday, March 9, 2002
At least 13 people were killed and dozens more injured in back-to-back Palestinian terror attacks Saturday that came at the close of the Jewish Sabbath as Israelis gathered outside to socialize.
In one attack, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed at least 11 people and wounded more than 50 at a popular cafe in downtown Jerusalem, Israeli police said.
The bombing, which occurred near Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence, came about two hours after a separate terror attack in the northern coastal city of Netanya killed two people, including a baby girl , and wounded 34 others.
The twin attacks marked the second weekend in a row that bloodshed has marred the close of the Jewish Sabbath. Throughout Saturday, Israeli forces continued military action against Palestinian targets, including Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Gaza. The compound was destroyed, but Arafat was not there, confined by Israeli tanks to his offices in Ramallah in the West Bank.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks. The group has taken responsibility for a recent series of bloody attacks on Israeli civilians.
The Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas, which the U.S. State Department labels a terrorist organization, also claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem cafe attack .
"We are in a war, a very brutal war that has been waged against every Jewish person in the heart of Jerusalem," Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert said. "My city is bleeding, day in and day out, with tens of civilians killed."
Rescue workers swarmed over the area shortly after the bombing. Black body bags were laid on the ground, which was spattered with blood and surgical gloves discarded by rescue workers.
Police said they did not believe Sharon was the intended target of the bombing.
In the Netanya attack, Israeli security forces killed the two gunmen. Police described a scene of bloodshed and mayhem after the Palestinians opened fire in a area of hotels and restaurants along the Mediterranean Sea.
The gunmen, according to Israeli police, shot indiscriminately in all directions in an area adjacent to a pedestrian walkway. After the men began shooting, they split up, with one firing inside a hotel lobby and the other firing on pedestrians outside.
Two people -- a man and a 9-month-old girl -- later died. At least three others were seriously wounded, Israeli ambulance workers said. Eight people were described as moderately wounded and the rest were said to be lightly wounded.
The latest carnage follows a week in which more than 140 people were killed in Israel-Palestinian violence. Israel escalated its military operations after a suicide bombing in a crowded Jerusalem neighborhood after Sabbath last Saturday and sniper attacks on military checkpoints last weekend.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the Palestinian Authority condemned attacks on civilians, but criticized Israel for incursions into the West Bank and Gaza on Friday that killed dozens of Palestinians.
"This is the killing fields out there, and I think the shortest way to save Israeli lives, and to save Palestinian lives, is to resume a meaningful negotiation that would lead to the end of the Israeli occupation," Erakat said.
Dore Gold, a spokesman for Sharon, defended the incursions into the Palestinian territories.
"You cannot harbor and give shelter to international terrorist organizations and expect a country to just absorb these blows," Gold said.
The terror attacks followed moves by Israel and the United States to break a diplomatic impasse that has existed since December. Sharon softened his stance on negotiations Friday, dropping a longstanding demand for seven days without violence as a prerequisite.
And President Bush announced he would send special Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region next week, despite earlier assertions that Zinni would only return to the Middle East if the violence subsided. (Full story)
"The day's events underscore the importance of General Zinni's mission and the need for both sides to heed the president's words on Thursday," a Bush administration official said Saturday.
After Saturday's terror attacks, Israeli helicopters fired missiles into the Al Amaari refugee camp, south of Ramallah, striking a car and killing one Palestinian man, according to Palestinian sources.
Israeli warplanes also fired 15 missiles at the Gaza compound of Arafat early Sunday, a Palestinian security source said.
Earlier, Palestinians security sources said Israeli helicopters fired at least nine missiles Saturday at checkpoints around Arafat's Gaza compound. The sources said 24 Palestinian security officers were wounded, including four members of Arafat's personal guard, Force 17.
Saturday began with the Israel Defense Forces reporting that its said its troops found 10 Qassam-2 rockets and an explosives lab at Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank.
The Qassam-2, which has been fired periodically at Israeli targets since February, enables militant groups to strike deeper into Israeli territory than ever before, according Israel officials.
Israeli forces moved into the camp Saturday in armored personnel carriers and rounded up about 500 men and boys for questioning at a school for Palestinian refugees run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
An Israeli soldier was killed in Tulkarem on Friday, the Israeli army said.
In another development, Palestinian security forces arrested a fourth man in connection with last October's assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, the Palestinian Authority said Saturday.
Authority sources identified the man as Majdi al-Rimawi, a member of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which claimed responsibility for Zeevi's death.
The PFLP is a Palestinian militant group that has committed numerous international terrorist attacks and has conducted attacks against Israeli or moderate Arab targets, according to the U.S. State Department.
Palestinian Authority sources also said al-Rimawi was the last suspect to be arrested under the conditions set up by Israel to lift its restrictions on Arafat, who has been restricted by the Israelis to Ramallah for three months.
The Israeli military reported an exchange of gunfire between its forces and gunmen in Bethlehem, where the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported a 15-year-old Palestinian girl died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Palestinian sources said Israeli troops who were surrounding the Deheishe refugee camp in Bethlehem had moved into the camp, calling to residents to stay in their homes. The IDF denied troops had entered the camp, but it did acknowledge surrounding it.
Early Saturday evening, Palestinian security sources reported Israeli F-16s fired a missile toward Arafat's residence in Nablus and three people wounded. The IDF said it was checking the report.
Friday was the bloodiest day in the current uprising, with more than 55 reported dead, including five teen-age Israeli students killed in a terror attack in Gaza and one Israeli soldier killed in Tulkarem, and 48 Palestinians killed in subsequent strikes. Two Palestinian militants carrying out terror attacks also died. (Full story)
) and i repelled them, gaining their yards in the process... to the victor go the spoils? the reasons i keep the yards are plenty, and the *conditions* that they can idividually recieve their original yards back are strict!
