Shaare Zedek Hospital Director
Yonatan. Halevy. "Confirmation of my
suspicions came shortly."
A paramedic on the scene recog-
nized Applebaum and notified the
hospital. The nurses and doctors,
shocked and grieved, kept on treating
the stream of casualties.
"Thousands of Jerusalemites owe
Dr. Applebaum their lives," said
Halevy. "This is a terrible loss."
Dr. Applebaum's eldest son, Natan,
said, "Dad dedicated his life to saving
others. Dear Nava should have been
married today. They went out for a
last night before the wedding to talk."
Hearing the news, the family
arrived at the emergency room, which
was like a second home to them.
Nava's fiance, Chanan Sand, 20, faint-
ed upon hearing and had to receive
medical attention.
At the funeral, Chanan placed their
wedding ring on her body as it was
lowered to the grave.
Thousands, among them many of
the wedding guests, attended the
funeral.
Dr. David Applebaum had returned
only Tuesday from a conference in
New York, where he lectured on how
to improve medical services during a
terror attack by pulling on his experi-
ence in Jerusalem.
Nava's fiance, Chanan, who had
refrained from seeing her the last
week before the wedding, had been
out with his friends, but went home
when he heard about the attack. He,
too, arrived at the hospital to await
word about Nava, whose body was
identified at the national forensics
center, Abu 'Cabin
In spite of his father's work, fear of
being caught in a terror attack was
not something they talked about,
Natan Applebaum said.
"We are not a family that is afraid,"
he said." We go to cafes and take
buses, and we will continue to do so.
We do not live for the moment; we
live for the future."
He had picked his father up from
the airport only that morning. He saw
his sister when she stopped by the
house that night, excited, to get some
things for the wedding. She had just
finished her second year of National
Service.
Natan said his father was one of the
"36 righteous people in this world. He
dedicated his life to saving lives." ❑
— Jewish News Staff Writers
Diana Lieberman and Shelli Liebman
Doifman contributed to this
Jewish Telegraphic Agency story.
Bombings Dam
Peace Hopes
Terror strikes after P.A. shake-up
and Israeli attack on Hamas founder.
DAN BARON
n ewish Telegraphic Agency
erusalem
srael had feared an outbreak of
terror attacks this week after its
failed airstrike against the
founder of Flarnas and the resig-
nation of Palestinian Authority, Prime
inister Mahmoud. Abbas.
The fears soon came true.
Two suicide bombings struck the
ewish state Tuesday, killing at least 15
ctirns and wounding more than 70.
The two attacks left the U.S.-backed
road map peace plan in tatters and
marked a new surge of deadly violence
in the nearly three-year old intifirda
(uprising).
Also this week, Ahmed Karia accept-
ed a nomination to replace Abbas
(related story: page 28).
A suicide bomb attack at the crowd-
ed Cafe Hillel in a trendy Jerusalem
neighborhood Tuesday night claimed
at least eight lives, including the
bomber, and wounded dozens.
A security guard at Cafe Hillel, a
popular hangout for young people in
Jerusalem's German Colony, tried to
stop the bomber from going .inside,
police said, but the bomber managed
to push his way in. That attack came
just hours after another suicide bomber
killed at least seven Israelis and wound
ed 15 others at a bus stop near the
Tzrifin military base near Rishon
Letzion.
Hamas praised both attacks.
Israel reacted to the attacks with a
retaliatory strike of its own Wednesday,
killing three people. A Hamas official,
Mahmoud Zahar, target of the strike in
the Gaza Strip, escaped with light
injuries. But his son, another family
member and a bodyguard were killed,
and his wife and daughter injured.
Also Wednesday, Israeli Prime
Minister Arid Sharon cut short his
visit to India and returned to Israel to
discuss other possible responses to the
bombings.
The attack at the base drew pro-
nounced U.S. condemnation.
"We certainly condemn in the
strongest possible terms the horrific act
of terrorism today," said State
Department spokesman Richard
Boucher. "We extend our deepest sym-
pathies to the victims of the attack,
their families and to the Israeli people.
This underscores the urgency with
which the Palestinian Authority needs
to take immediate and effective steps
to disrnande and disarm the terrorist
capabilities of organizations that take
innocent lives in order to prevent the
peace process from going forward."
Israel reacted in even stronger terms.
"Today's attack is another clear indi-
cation that the Palestinian Authority
refuses to budge even one bit regarding
the fight against terror," said David
Baker, an official in the Israeli Prime
Minister's Office. "It's obvious that
they continue to adamantly refuse to
even begin to dismantle the terrorist
infrastructure in its territory; and take
the necessary steps to prevent such
murderous attacks like the one we saw
today outside Tel Aviv."
Israel's air strike Saturday in Gaza
lightly wounded Sheik Ahmed Yassin,
the blind, paraplegic cleric who found-
ed Hamas, along with 15 others. Yassin
was meeting with other Flamas leaders
in an apartment building.
"It's us or them," Sharon told Israel's
daily Yediot Achronot over the weekend,
referring to the leaders of Hamas.
"They are dead men. We won't give
them any rest since they have just one
goal, our destruction."
Karia condemned the suicide attacks.
"Such an act stresses once again" the
need for "ways to end this killing,"
Karia said, speaking before the attack
in Jerusalem. Karia said he regretted
that innocent lives are lost as a result
of violence and counterviolence.
Karia, considered a pragmatist, is a
veteran of the PLO and one of the
architects of the Oslo accords.
During the past decade, he has
served in several positions in the
Palestinian Authority. Most recently, he
was speaker of the Palestinian legisla-
tive council.
On Tuesday, Karia told the Israeli
daily Ha'aretz that for him to be suc-
cessful as prime minister, Israel must
halt its assassinations of Palestinian ter-
rorists, freeze settlements in the West
Bank and end its isolation of Arafat.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul
Mofaz said Israel would not cooperate
with a prime minister who followe
Arafat's orders and refused to crack
down on the Palestinian terrorist infr
structure.
Tuesday's terrorist attacks highlighte
what that infrastructure can achieve.
To see all these cars ground to a
halt, and the helicopters m the air, the
dozens of police cars and ambulances is ..
to remember that we have a crying
need for an unrelenting effort to stop
this war," said Stephen P Cohen of th
Israel Policy Forum, who was in the
Rishon Letzion area when the bomb-
ing occurred. "There could be no bet-
ter use of the president's time and
efforts."
If Karla is to succeed, he will have to
navigate the political waters better than
Abbas.
In his short-lived tenure as prime
minister, Abbas repeatedly clashed with
Arafat over Palestinian Authority poli-
cy, particularly regarding control of the
Palestinian security services.
But in his resignation speech before
Palestinian lawmakers, Abbas placed
the blame on Israel and the United
States for undermining his govern-
ment.
"The fundamental problem was
Israel's unwillingness to implement its
commitments in the road map," he
said.
He also indirectly criticized Arafat
and other Palestinian leaders, empha-
sizing "harsh and dangerous domestic
incitement against his gov-ernment."
After Abbas resignation, members of
Sharon's Cabinet repeated their calls for
harsh measures against Arafat for
tmderminiaig peace efforts.
The Palestinian leader should "not
be immune from anything," Cabinet
minister Uzi Landau told Israel's Army
Radio. Other ministers called for exil-
ing Arafat.
Israel and the United States accuse
Arafa.t of supporting terrorist attacks
and of oc ng Abb as' efforts to
implement the road map. Israeli offi-
cials have even suggested that Arafat be
killed.
Palestinians warn that any successor
to Arafat in the West Bank and Gaza
would be marked from the outset as
an Israeli patsy and that exile would
amplify Arafat's power. Ei
,
9/12
2003
19