JERUSALEM/WEST BANK: ISRAELIS MOURN AND BURY VICTIMS OF THE PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBING ON A JERUSALEM RESTAURANT

Record ID: 400102

  • Title: JERUSALEM/WEST BANK: ISRAELIS MOURN AND BURY VICTIMS OF THE PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBING ON A JERUSALEM RESTAURANT
  • Date: 10th August 2001
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (AUGUST 10, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. HAS: MOURNERS GATHERED FOR THE FUNERAL OF THE FAMILY OF FIVE KILLED IN THE BOMB BLAST 0.03 2. SV: BODY BEING MOVED TO BURIAL STRETCHER 0.11 3. VARIOUS OF MOURNERS CRYING AS BODIES ARE BEING DISPLAYED (3 SHOTS) 0.29 4. SV: BODIES OF FIVE KILLED IN THE BOMB BLAST IN SHROUDS READIE
  • Embargoed: 25th August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM / ABU DIS, RAMALLAH and JENIN, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA9OMY0K9NTB5IT14XGI15NE3QA
  • Story Text: Israelis have mourned and buried the victims of the
    Palestinian suicide bombing which killed at least 16 people
    and wounded about 90 in the heart of Jerusalem.

    In the aftermath of the bombing, Israeli police have
    seized the main Palestinian headquarters in and around East
    Jerusalem and Israeli fighter jets and tanks have levelled
    police posts.



    The suicide attack, which killed 16 people, many of
    them women and children on Thursday (August 9), was the worst
    in Jerusalem since a Palestinian uprising erupted over 10
    months ago.

    Hundreds took part in the funeral of the family of five
    who were among the victims killed the suicide bombing at a
    pizza restaurant in Jerusalem.

    The bomber, 23-year-old Izz el-Din al-Masri who blew
    himself up with a nail-packed bomb after he walked into the
    restairant.

    Masri's family gathered in the West Bank town of Jenin for
    his funeral said he had frequently spoken of becoming a
    suicide bomber. The militant Muslim movement Hamas said the
    bombing was in retaliation for an Israeli attack which killed
    two Hamas leaders and six other Palestinians.

    While families and relatives gathered to bury their loved
    ones, Israeli police and army set out to implement retaliatory
    and preventive measures in response to the bombing.

    On Friday (August 10) morning Israeli police seized the
    main Palestinian headquarters in and around East Jerusalem in
    a deeply symbolic campaign to assert control over the city and
    Israeli fighter jets, described by the Palestinians as F-16s,
    flattened a police post in the West Bank and tanks levelled a
    Gaza Strip police position.

    Security was tight in Jerusalem, where police checked
    parked cars for bombs and stopped taxis to search them.

    Early on Friday morning, Israeli troops stormed the home
    of the governor of Abu Dis, a Palestinian village on the edge
    of East Jerusalem, and took over what it said were Palestinian
    security posts and warned residents of the village to remain
    indoors during the curfew introduced in the area.

    In Jerusalem, dozens of Israeli police swarmed around the
    ornate entrance of Orient House, the Palestine Liberation
    Organisation's East Jerusalem headquarters and raised a
    blue-and-white Israeli flag on its roof early on Friday.

    Entering the building, they detained seven Palestinian
    security guards, confiscated documents and found an Uzi
    submachine gun, a police spokesman said. They were to be
    brought before an Israeli court later on Friday.

    The takeover of the Orient House, and nine other offices
    nearby angered the Palestinians and provoked a strong
    reaction. Protesters gathered outside the Orient House
    scuffled with police which set up barriers to prevent
    demonstrators form entering.

    The assault by both sides on Jerusalem -- which each
    claims as their capital -- appeared to bury hopes of ending
    the bloodshed in which more than 650 people have been killed.

    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was contacting
    European and U.S. diplomats to enlist their help in persuading
    Israel to cede control of the buildings.

    Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle
    East War and annexed it in a move not recognised
    internationally. It views the entire city as its capital.

    The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be
    the capital of a future state, and Orient House has served as
    their municipal and symbolic centre.

    Speaking at the site of the overnight missile attack at a
    Palestinian police station on the edge of West Bank town of
    Ramallah, Arafat warned Israel against escalating operations
    against Palestinians.

    "This is a very dangerous, this operation against the
    Palestinian people and the escalation are part of the Oranim
    plan -- Oranim means hell in Hebrew. But everyone should know
    that the Palestinians are the strongest and the most faithful
    side in this conflict", Arafat said
    Israeli army confirmed the attack on the police station
    and said the attack was carried out with fighter planes.

    Palestinian security sources said F-16 jets fired two
    missiles at the police station, which burst into flames and
    was destroyed on Thursday. It had been evacuated earlier in
    the day and no casualties were reported.

    Israel last fired from F-16 warplanes in May, after a
    Palestinian bomber killed six people outside a shopping mall
    in the coastal city of Netanya. At least 12 Palestinians died
    in those raids.
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