This Week

Cover Story

Return To Barbarism

Palestinians step up violence; bus driver kills eight Israelis.

the Egged bus company
for the past five years
ferrying Palestinians to
Jerusalem
jobs in Israel.
Witnesses to the
he Palestinians appear
attack said the bus stop
determined to guarantee
was packed with sol-
that Ariel Sharon does not
diers and civilians wait-
enjoy a honeymoon.
ing for lifts when the
Just as Israeli security officials pre-
bus driven by the
dicted, Palestinian violence has surged
Palestinian careened
since Sharon's victory in prime minis-
into the stop shortly
terial elections last week.
On Wednesday, at least eight Israelis ' before 8 a.m. The bus
were killed and 20 wounded when a
then sped south on the
main highway for 20
Palestinian driver plowed a bus into a
miles toward Gaza
crowded bus stop south of Tel Aviv,.
the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel
- - before pursuing police
wounded the driver
in four years. Seven soldiers were
and captured him.
among the dead.
The driver's relatives
The attack came a day after Israel
said he was not affili-
assassinated a Palestinian security offi-
ated with any Islamic
cial in a pinpoint helicopter attack in
group. Hussein Abu
the Gaza Strip. Missiles destroyed the
Olbeh said his broth-
car in which Massoud Ayad; 54, was
er's desperate econom-
traveling on Tuesday. A member of
Palestinian Authority President Yasser
ic situation due to the
Israeli closure, or the
Arafat's Force 17 bodyguard unit,
Israeli "aggression"
Ayad had been recruited by Hezbollah
against Palestinians,
in Lebanon to carry out attacks against
may have driven him
Israel from inside the West Bank and
to his act.
Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said.
"My brother was
On Wednesday, U. S. President
always pained when
George W Bush called for an end to
he heard that the
the escalating violence. He telephoned
Israelis have killed
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak after
children. The incident
the attack to say "the tragic cycle of vio-
today was a natural
lent action and reaction between Israel
reaction," Hussein
and the Palestinians, particularly the
Abu Olbeh said.
escalation this week, needs to stop."
The attack was the
Barak called the bus incident an
deadliest since July
"abominable crime" and tightened a
1997, when 16 Israeli
blockade of Palestinian-ruled areas. He
also suspended VIP permits that
shoppers and two Palestinian assailants
enable senior Palestinian officials to
were killed by a suicide bombing in
travel between the West Bank and
Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda market.
Gaza Strip through Israel.
It was also the worst single attack since
And Sharon said through a
Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out
spokesman that the attack proved ter-
in late September. Nearly 400 people
rorists do not differentiate between the
have been killed in the confrontations,
West Bank and Gaza Strip and "the
including 330 Palestinians.
heart of Israel." "Terror strikes Israelis
In another development Wednesday,
wherever they are," Sharon said.
Palestinian officials claimed Israeli
security forces killed a West Bank
Fatah leader in an ambush near
Pattern Of Attacks
Nablus. Iyaad Abu Harb was reported-
Police said the driver of the bus was
ly close to another Fatah leader,
Khalil Abu Olbeh, a 35-year-old
Thabet Thabet, who was assassinated
Palestinian father of three who had Israeli
by Israeli security forces in December.
security clearances and had worked for
The European Union this week criti-

NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

T

0

2/16
2001

reported that
'.2-8s Palestinians fired anti-
c') tank missiles at IDF
positions in the Gaza
Strip for a second
straight day. There
were no Israeli
injuries.
There were addi-
tional shooting inci-
dents in the West
Bank, and Jerusalem's
southern neighbor-
hood of Gilo came
under fire from an
adjacent Palestinian
town. There were no
reports of injuries.
On Sunday, an
Israeli driver on a
main road linking
Jerusalem to the
Etzion Bloc of West
Bank settlements was
killed when he was
shot in the head by
gunmen in Beit Jalla,
a Palestinian town
next to Bethlehem.
Israeli ambulance
workers who came to
the man's aid also
came under fire.
Israeli security offi-
cials are divided as to
the degree of responsi-
bility the Palestinian
Authority bears for the
surge in attacks in
recent days, which
may be intended to
test Sharon's declara-
cized Israel's policy of
Security personnel inspect the tion that he will not
assassinating
remains of a car bomb after negotiate under fire.
Palestinians it accuses
it exploded Feb.' 8 near
Arafat may not have
of attacking Israeli tar-
Jerusalem's Orthodox given direct orders,
gets.
Mea Shearim neighborhood, Israeli officials say, but
Palestinian violence
injuring one person. he shows — by doing
has increased in recent
nothing to urge
days, which Israeli security officials say
restraint on his forces -- that he con-
is a response to Sharon's election, and
dones the attacks. In Ankara, Turkey,
Israel has stepped up its efforts to find
Wednesday, Arafat said that it was-
and kill terrorist leaders.
unclear whether the bus assault in
On Tuesday, Palestinians claimed a
Israel was more than a "road accident."
13-year-old boy was shot in the chest
"Whatever the cause, we are against
and killed by Israeli fire near the
the use of violence and, of course,
Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip,
killing people," he said. "It happened
but the Israel Defense Forces flatly
on their territory, they're investigating
denied any. Israel's Army Radio
and that's it as far as I'm concerned." ❑

