After two years of pre-Purim bombings, Tel Aviv
residents didn't want to slow down, but there was a
nervous edge.

LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

T

he mood at the Apropos
restaurant in Tel Aviv at
the beginning of the week
was "so-so," said assistant
manager Moshe Odiz. "Some-
times the waiters and waitress-
es are full of energy, and then
one of them will just stop what
they're doing and cry."
On the sidewalk outside the
restaurant's courtyard, yahrzeit
candles were burning. Three
border policemen with rifles
were standing guard.
After the March 21 suicide
bombing, which killed three
women sitting at an outdoor
table, owners and workers at the
restaurant and volunteers spent
the weekend sweeping up shat-
tered glass and broken furniture
and replacing the windows to re-
open on March 23.
They were greeted by large
crowds packing the site. Tel Aviv
Mayor Roni Milo held his after-
noon meetings at an inside table.
"I decided to transfer my office
here for a few hours," he said.
"It's the best way I know to ex-
press our feelings that we'll go
on living in this city."
This was despite newspaper

headlines carrying warnings
from security and intelligence
officials that further terror at-
tacks were expected. Neverthe-
less, Purim in Tel Aviv, as in
Jerusalem and other cities, went
ahead as planned.
While a heavy rain on Sunday
dampened things outside, a good
crowd still turned out at Dizen-
goff Center for the "Dizengoff
Laughs" festivities.
Customers at Apropos said
they came especially to "show
solidarity." But along with the
toughness, there was also a nat-
ural, lingering fear.
Apropos barman Tal Zvihan
said he, like all the restaurant's
workers last Friday, was inside
when the bomb went off at a
courtyard table. "It helps to be
working," he said. "It's better
than staying home where you
have nothing to do but think.
But every now and then I look
out there and I remember."
Psychologists dispatched to
counsel the employees stressed
that the best thing for them was
to go back to their routines. "No-
body here is talking about quit-
ting," Mr. Zvihan noted.

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The Bomb's Aftermath

Business
was
down somewhat on
the Number 5 bug'
that runs along
Dizengoff, said a bus
company security
guard at one stop.
That route is notori-
ous for the suicide
bombing in October
1994 that killed 26
people.
On the bus, most
people said they
weren't thinking
about that incident.
But waiting at a stop
near Dizengoff Cen-
ter, where on Purim
last year a suicide
bomber killed 14
people, Shimon Da-
han said, "It's scary
just being in this
area."
Inside the mall,
kids were still in
Purim costumes.
Hundreds of people
ate in the restau-
rants and shopped.
Anat Mafouda, who
brought her three
children, said, "I'm
still having second
thoughts [about be-
ing here]. But I de-
cided that we have to
go on with our lives.
Still, I keep my eyes
open. You can feel a Three Israeli women cry following the blast in a Tel Aviv cafe.
tension in the air. It
seems like there are
and that makes me feel a little was a heavy security presence.
more soldiers and policemen safer."
One woman went up to a de-
here than there are customers,
She exaggerated, but there tail of police outside one of the