Steve Quayle News Alerts

July 31, 2002

JERUSALEM — A bomb blew up in a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Jerusalem Wednesday, killing at least seven people, police said. The Israeli government promised retaliation within hours.

At least 85 people were wounded went the bomb went off at lunchtime in the university's Frank Sinatra cafeteria, witnesses said. Though classes are not in session, students were taking exams and the cafeteria was busy.

"There was a terrorist and he blew up," a witness, identified only as Shai, told Army Radio. "There is a lot of chaos, a lot of police. It's a mess, there's a lot of wounded."

However, Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement released to the Arabic satellite television network al-Jazeera that it had placed a bomb in the cafeteria two hours before the explosion.

"We're talking about an explosive device, apparently not a suicide bomber. It is being checked," said Jerusalem's Deputy Police Chief Ilan Franco.

The Palestinian Authority issued a statement condemning the bombing, while a leading Hamas figure praised it.

"Now [the Israelis] are paying the price of killing our children, women and leaders," said Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Sirens wailing, rescue vehicles rushed to the scene, swiftly removing bloodied victims. Sniffer dogs were checking to see if there were any additional bombs in the area.

"It was packed," Israeli government spokesman Danny Seaman said of the cafeteria. "The place is devastated inside. It's a terrible scene. There are body parts scattered 100 to 200 yards."

Alastair Goldrein, 19, from Liverpool, England, said the cafeteria was a place where students of various backgrounds mixed freely.

"I was on my way to lunch. There was a huge, huge explosion. Everything shook and then there was this deathly silence," said Goldrein, who has been taking Jewish studies at the university for the past year. "I ran in, there were people lying around wailing, covered in blood. Scenes that are indescribable, clothes and flesh torn apart."

Dr. Ovadia Shemesh, deputy director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that most of the wounded were between the ages of 18 and 30.

A university employee, identified only as Ilana, told Israel Radio that she was leaving the cafeteria when "I heard a very loud explosion. All the glass broke onto the floor and there was darkness and silence. Slowly people began to leave and other people were lying on the floor."

The attack was at the Mount Scopus campus of the university located near the border between traditionally Arab east Jerusalem and west Jerusalem.

"This was one place that I thought was safe," one witness told Haaretz, but another complained that "the security is not thorough — they check your bag and that's it."

Most of the students are Jewish, though a large number of Arabs also attend the university. Israel's Channel 2 television said Arab students were believed to be among the casualties.

"Israel is fighting a pitched battle against terror and for the right to walk down the street, take a bus or sit in a cafeteria without the fear of being decimated by Palestinian terrorism," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.

Hamas said the bomb was in revenge for the Israeli assassination last week of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades' leader, Salah Shehadeh. Fourteen other people, including nine children, died when an aircraft-fired missile destroyed the Gaza City apartment building where Shehadeh was staying.

The Israeli military apologized for the civilian casualties and said its intelligence indicated Shehadeh was with only one or two bodyguards.

Wednesday's blast comes a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself at a food stand in Jerusalem, killing himself and wounding several Israelis.

Palestinian suicide bombers have carried out more than 70 attacks, killing more than 250 Israelis, in the current round of Mideast fighting. Jerusalem has been hit more than any other city.

In another development Wednesday, Israel transferred $15 million in tax revenues to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority in a move intended to ease economic conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayed said he had received the money and denied Israeli claims that it had set conditions on the transfer of the funds.

"The Palestinian Authority refuses any conditions to get any of our frozen money from Israel. This money is the Palestinian right, which is not subject to any concessions or conditions, or any kind of external control," he said in a statement.

Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Sharon, said Fayad had initially refused to accept the money because of Israel's insistence that it be used only for humanitarian purposes.

"We don't want the money to go to any of the Palestinian institutions where the money either goes into their pockets ... or to finance organizations that carry out terrorist attacks against us," Gissin said.

Israel has withheld an estimated $600 million in tax money over the past 22 months of fighting, debilitating the Palestinian economy and plunging many Palestinians into poverty.

Human rights groups say many Palestinian children are suffering from malnutrition and that unemployment is rampant due to Israel's ongoing siege.

Under international pressure, Israel recently agreed to release some of the funds. Israel says its blockades aren't meant to harm ordinary Palestinians, but to prevent suicide bombers from reaching Israeli population centers.

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