EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Feeling The Hurt

Tannenbaum, who owns a concierge business that de-
s he drove along David Remez Street in
hassles trips to Israel, made aliyah from Los Angeles in
Jerusalem on Sunday morning, Harvey
1994. I didn't believe the terror bell could toll three times
Tannenbaum glanced toward the Khan Theatre
in one family until he told the tale of Yuval Ozana.
poster board listing pre-Purim events. Then his
Two months ago, Ozana, 32, found a job as an overnight
life changed forever. He found himself outside his car shak-
watchman in the Talpiot industrial neighborhood of
ing as people bloodied by yet one more terrorist bombing
Jerusalem. He, his wife and their two small children were
aboard a bus ran by or collapsed around him.
living with his parents in Meah Shearim. With his earn-
Instinctively, Tannenbaum shouted to other survivors to
ings, his family had planned to move into a place of their
run in case the bus fuel tank ignited. As he neared Liberty
own after Passover.
Bell Park, he spotted a bloody leg and arm lying on the
Ozana ended work at 7:30 a.m. Sunday and boarded bus
road. Then he saw what was left of the 14A Egged bus as
14. His kids were putting on pre-Purim/Rosh. Chodesh
emergency aides helped victims and as dis-
costumes when their lives were turned upside down by the
aster workers searched for body parts of
bus bombing. A cousin of Ozana nearly died in a triple
the dead.
blast at the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in 2001. A West
It was Tannenbaum's first terrorist
Bank roadside sniper killed a brother-in-law in 2002.
encounter though he has been a vocal crit-
Tannenbaum also talked about Mayer Marzino. In 2002,
ic of the Sharon government's response to
Marzino found his younger sister, Michel Biazi, 24, in
41 months of Palestinian terror, which has
pieces at the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at
taken the lives of at least 940 Israelis and
Abu Kabir, the victim of a bomber on the 32A Egged bus
foreigners. The Feb. 22 bombing killed
near Jerusalem. Last Sunday, another sister, Avigail Ben
ROBERT A. eight and hurt more than 60. The dead
Hamu, found Marzino at Shaarey Zedek Hospital with
SKLAR
ranged in age from 18 to 57.
metal imbedded in his body.
Editor
What struck me was the
Tannenbaum wrote of lives snuffed out by a
almost surreal nature of the
people so hateful that they yearn to die in
morning, with Tannenbaum's thoughts shift-
Allah's name while killing Jews. They blame the
ing instantaneously from the Purim holiday to
hate on Israeli occupation of the West Bank
the strident sounds of an explosion.
and Gaza Strip, but know this: It's rooted in a
"I knew it was a terror attack or bomb," said
plan to end Jewish control of Israel by turning
Tannenbaum, who lives in Efrat and is some-
Palestinians against "the Zionist scourge."
one I correspond with.
Don't be fooled by the Palestinian Authority's
His e-mail account vividly portrayed what
condemnation of the bus 14 attack. Professor
has become central to living in Israel today ----=
Michael Widlanski of Hebrew University in
fear, carnage and outrage, and the will to go
Jerusalem says the Voice of Palestine Radio
on despite worldwide anti-Jewish fervor.
bestowed "martyrdom" on the bomber,
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, aligned with Harvey Tan nenbaum
Muhammad Za'ul, 23, a married father of a 2-
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah move-
year-old boy. The bomber had the clarity of
ment, said it planned Sunday's suicide bomb-
mind to wait until the bus filled up before detonating. On
ing. Its timing was strategic, coming the day before the
Sunday night, PA TV showed film clips encouraging
International Court of Justice at the Hague considered the
attacks against Israel; one clip showed a small child singing
security fence that Israel is putting up on its West Bank
to himself, "By stone or by knife, I will attack the enemy."
border. The blast was meant to convey that violence will
Guess who the enemy is.
not end until the fence comes down or its path no longer
As Sunday morphed into Monday, Tannenbaum awoke
snakes into Palestinian land. Instead, it served to bolster
at 3 a.m. His wife and two kids were asleep; an 18-year-old
Israel's position that a completed, 450-mile fence will help
daughter attends school near Hebron. On the Internet, he
keep suicide bombers out.
found the names of the Sunday bombing victims and won-
It was no coincidence the bombing was near Liberty Bell
dered whose body parts he had seen.
Park, which honors the U.S. bicentennial of 1976.
"I did not know how I would fall asleep with fresh
As he lent help to survivors, Tannenbaum, 51, heard a
images of the charred bus and the smell of bodies, blood
Russian woman call to him in Yiddish as blood gushed
and guts still parked in my head," he said.
from her face. "Russia, Russia, I want to go home," she
After daybreak, he prayed at the Western Wall, thanking
said. "Israel, Israel has died."
God that he had survived the latest pigua (act of terror).
That plea reminded me once more that decent folks are
Back at the bombsite, eerily near a road named Valley of
dying, or becoming maimed or emotionally or physically
the Ghosts, school kids lit candles as he said prayers for the
scarred, during Israel's unrelenting dance with the devil.
dead.
When Tannenbaum bared his emotions, I thought you
Tannenbaum sought the closure that family and friends
needed to understand his hurt. "The experience this morn-
urged him to get.
ing, as I drove into town and was 200 feet from bus 14A,
"I looked around the site of the terror attack, 26 hours
will never leave my mind and memory," he said.
later, and it was clean and one could imagine that it never
It shouldn't leave ours, either:
happened," he said.
We need the constant reminder that dying in a bus
"But as I walked back to the car to continue my 'work'
bombing isn't normal or acceptable.
day, the asphalt was still red from dry blood drops."
"Tears began to flow faster than I ever imagined," said
The route's negotiable; the fence is not. And deterrents
Tannenbaum, reflecting on the fateful morning.
besides the fence also must be found given that 200,000
Palestinians live on the Israeli side. ❑
More on the Feb. 22 bombing: wvvvv.detroitjewishnews.com

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2/27
2004

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