topic by
Lynette
8/1/2002 (10:53) |
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Bombed cafe rare enclave of coexistence
by CNN • Thursday August 01, 2002 at 06:06 AM
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Bodies lay scattered on the ground, wounded people screamed, shattered tables, chairs and restaurant equipment littered the large room transformed from a friendly multinational cafeteria into a scene of chaos and destruction on Wednesday by a large bomb.
Police said Palestinian terrorists planted the bomb that exploded at lunch hour, killing seven people and wounding more than 70 at the Frank Sinatra International Student Center, a popular hangout for Jewish and Arab students taking exams and for foreign visitors on summer courses. (Full story)
'It was the most popular cafeteria on campus,' said 19-year-old Alastair Goldrein, from Liverpool, England. 'It was the place to be.'
He was walking across the lawn on his way there for lunch on Wednesday when there was a huge blast and the ground shook.
'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.'
Police spokeswoman Sigal Toledo said it was not a suicide bombing. 'The bomb was in a bag which had been planted on a table in the center of the restaurant,' she said.
Minutes after the blast Jerusalem's emergency services were on the scene. A fleet of ambulances lined up to evacuate the wounded, most of them young, all of them covered in blood. The bodies of the six who were killed outright lay in a row on a path next to the cafeteria, shrouded in black plastic bags. Another died later in a hospital, bringing the toll to seven dead and more than 70 wounded, Israeli officials said.
The interior of the cafeteria was gutted. Electric cables dangled from the shattered ceiling, tables and chairs were overturned and the large plate-glass windows were blown out. The floor was carpeted with broken glass and everywhere there were puddles of blood.
In the midst of the destruction, large glass jars of pickles stood unscratched on the lunch counter.
The university, on Mt. Scopus, is in an enclave surrounded on three sides by Palestinian neighborhoods.
Benny Vered, deputy editor of the university's student newspaper said he published a prediction in April of a bombing at the cafeteria, which is close to the campus perimeter fence, charging that the fence was not properly guarded.
'I held a sign that said 'terrorist' (in Hebrew) and crossed back and forth over the fence for 40 minutes,' he told Israel Radio, adding that no one appeared to notice. A university official replied that security measures are tight, and not all of them are visible.
A visibly shaken Goldrein said the attack, at a spot where Jews, Arabs and foreigners often relaxed together, was senseless.
'I'll never understand why somebody would want to target somewhere like this,' he said. 'Everyone was happy together, people are eating together. There's no guns in here, no soldiers in here, no policemen in here, just young people 19-25 years old eating their dinner.'
Frank Sinatra came to Israel in 1978 for the dedication of the center bearing the singer's name. It was funded by members of the Friends of the Hebrew University from the west coast of the United States, many of whom are connected with the entertainment industry, and who requested that it be named for the singer, who died in 1998 at age 82. The complex houses the student union and related facilities.
Another building in Israel bears the name of one of the all-time greats of American popular music -- the Frank Sinatra Youth Center in Nazareth, an Israeli Arab city.
The Hebrew University has 23,000 students, of whom about 4,600 are Arabs and 1,500 are from abroad, university officials said.
www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/07/31/israel.scene.ap/index.html
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Bodies lay scattered on the ground, wounded people screamed, shattered tables, chairs and restaurant equipment littered the large room transformed from a friendly multinational cafeteria into a scene of chaos and destruction on Wednesday by a large bomb.
I AM SURE THAT PEOPLE SCREAMED AND LIE WOUNDED ALL AROUND IN THE RECENT GAZA FIASCO........ISN'T IT TIME THIS SHIT STOPPED? IT'S OUT OF CONTROL AND THE ISRAEL IS IN A FAR SUPERIOR POSITION TO END IT ALL. ISRAELI'S SHOULD INSIST THAT SHARON CALL AN EMERGENCY MEETING WITH ARAFAT,RANTISSI AND OTHER MILITANT LEADERS AND TALK HONESTLY WITH EACH OTHER. FUCK PRIDE. JUST GET IN THERE AND BLOODY DO IT. NO LAND IS WORTH THIS INSANE CARNAGE. NONE!
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