|
July 12, 2004
One dead as bomb ends Gush Dan lull
YAAKOV KATZ
After seven months of relative quiet in Tel Aviv, terror struck the city on Sunday after a bomb hidden in bushes behind a bus stop exploded, killing Sgt. Maayan Na’im, 19, of Bat Yam, and wounding 32 people.
The Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed branch of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization, claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred two days after the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the security fence was built illegally and must be dismantled. The Aksa Brigades said the attack was retaliation for IDF action in the Gaza Strip.
"This says that we can reach every place, even when there is a fence," an Aksa spokesman in Nablus said. Sunday’s attack was the first within the Green Line since March, when two suicide bombers killed 10 Israelis at the Ashdod port.
Na’im was on her way to her base at Tel Hashomer, where she served in the army’s logistics corps. She was laid to rest Sunday evening at the military cemetery in Holon.
Liron Aruch, a family friend of the Na’ims, described Maayan: "She was such a special person. We never believed that we would have to talk about her in the past tense. It’s impossible to describe how this girl, such a beautiful flower, leaves home in the morning and does not return to her family. The family has awoken to another reality now. In one second, the family is torn apart. The last photos we have of her were taken at the birth of her new cousin. There are no words. I cannot describe what we are going through," Aruch told Army Radio.
Na’im’s sister Meytal said her sister dreamed of studying and traveling. "My sister, they took away my sister. I want her to return, just return. Even if she returns wounded. Just yesterday we talked about traveling," she said.
Of the wounded, five sustained moderate-to-severe wounds and the rest were lightly wounded, with a majority released from hospital by Sunday evening. Hospital officials said that most of the wounds were caused by metal shards packed into what was described by police as "a slightly-small explosive device."
The explosion took place at around 7 a. m. when the No. 26 Dan bus pulled away from the station on Har Zion Boulevard in southern Tel Aviv near the old central bus station.
The bomb, which was hidden in bushes behind the bus station, exploded, damaging the bus and a nearby apartment building.
A gag order was slapped on the manner in which the bomb — which was packed with ball bearings and bolts — was detonated, although initial findings indicate that the device may have been set off by a mobile phone or a remote control.
At the opening to Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon linked the bombing to the ICJ’s recent ruling on the West Bank security fence.
"The murderous act this morning is the first that occurred with the endorsement of the decision of the world court at The Hague,‘ Sharon said. ’The decision sends a destructive message to encourage the terror and denounces countries that are defending themselves against it."
Following the bombing, the surrounding streets were sealed off and police began scouring the area in search of suspects who planted and detonated the bomb. Police helicopters were flying above the scene and officers searched for additional explosive devices.
"At first I thought it was a flat tire exploding,‘ bus driver Eyal Gazit, who suffered wounds to his ribs and leg, said. ’Once I saw that all the bus windows were shattered I realized it was a bomb, and I drove away as fast as I could in order to get the passengers out of harm’s way."
Gazit said the attack will not take him off the road. "This could happen to anyone… Even people who were waiting at the bus stop were wounded and they work in various jobs and aren’t bus drivers," he said.
Tel Aviv police chief Cmdr. Yossi Sedbon said there were no pinpoint warnings of an imminent attack in the city.
Following the attack, Sedbon held consultations with senior district officers during which it was agreed that police would step up their presence in highly-frequented areas. Sedbon added that the fact that the bomb was planted in an open area and not inside a bus minimized the number of casualties.
"The quiet we have experienced lately is deceptive and Palestinian terrorists are looking for any way to get through and attack," Police chief Insp.-Gen. Shlomo Aharonishky said from the scene of the attack.
The wounded were taken to hospitals within minutes of the attack, with 14 transported to Ichilov, 10 to Tel Hashomer, and eight to Wolfson Hospital in Holon.
Sami Mcarah, an Israeli-Arab resident of Jaffa and the head of a non-profit-organization which works towards Palestinian-Israeli coexistence, got off the bus just seconds before the bomb went off.
"The terrorist did not intend to just hurt Jews, rather he went out to kill as many people as possible. The Palestinians are stupid for what they’re doing, they’re not achieving anything and in the end they will only turn us Israeli Arabs against them," said Mcarah, who also survived the 1995 No. 5 bus bombing on Rehov Dizengoff in Tel Aviv.
With shrapnel in his leg, Mcarah rushed over to a woman he saw on the ground — Na’im — and tried to help her. He said he took her pulse, but she was already dead. "The images in my head will never go away," he said.
In Memoriam
------------------------------
Back to Timeline »
|
