Allenby Street bus bombing
Encyclopedia
The Allenby Street bus bombing was a suicide bombing that occurred on September 19, 2002 on an Dan
Dan Bus Company
Dan Bus Company is an Israeli bus company based in Tel Aviv. It operates local bus service in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area as well as some intercity bus services between the Gush Dan area and nearby regions such as Samaria, and a connection between Bne Brak and Jerusalem. Dan operates 1,200...

 bus in the center of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

's business district. Six people were killed in the attack and approximately 70 were injured. Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack

Shortly before 13:00 on Thursday, 19 September 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the front part of a crowded bus in the heart Tel Aviv's business district. The attack was carried out on Dan
Dan Bus Company
Dan Bus Company is an Israeli bus company based in Tel Aviv. It operates local bus service in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area as well as some intercity bus services between the Gush Dan area and nearby regions such as Samaria, and a connection between Bne Brak and Jerusalem. Dan operates 1,200...

 commuter bus No. 4 as the bus was passing through Allenby Street
Allenby Street
Allenby Street is a major street in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was named in honor of Field Marshal Viscount Allenby.Allenby Street stretches from the Mediterranean sea in the northwest to HaAliya Street in the southeast. It was first paved with concrete in 1914. During the day, it is a commercial street...

 in front of the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv
Great Synagogue (Tel Aviv)
The Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv is located on Allenby Street, Tel Aviv, just east of the Shalom Tower. The building was designed by Yehuda Magidovitch in 1922 and completed in 1926. It was renovated in 1970 with a new external facade of arches....

. Six people were killed and approximately 70 were injured in the attack.

The Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 claimed responsibility for the attack.

Fatalities

  • Shoshana (Rosanna) Siso, 63, of Gan Yavneh
  • Ofer Zinger, 29, of Moshav Petza'el
    Petza'el
    Petza'el is a moshav and Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the Jordan Valley, 34.5 kilometers from the Green line, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council. In 2009 it had a population of 205....

  • Solomon Hoenig, 79, of Tel Aviv
    Tel Aviv
    Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

  • Yossi Mamistavlov, 39 of Or Yehuda
    Or Yehuda
    Or Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:Or Yehuda is located where the biblical city of Kefar Ono used to stand....

  • Yaffa Shemtov, 49, of Tel Aviv
    Tel Aviv
    Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

  • Jonathan (Yoni) Jesner, 19, of Glasgow, Scotland

  • Israeli retaliation

    The Israeli government accused Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian leadership of involvement in the Second Intifada militancy campaign and in illegal arms trafficking. After an emergency meeting of the security cabinet, convened in wake of the bombing, Israel launched a military operation in the West Bank
    West Bank
    The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

     in which tanks and armored vehicles began a siege on the compound of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah
    Mukataa
    Mukataa is the name used to refer to the offices and administrative centers of the Palestinian National Authority.Mukataas were mostly built during the British Mandate as Tegart forts and were used both as British government centers and as dwellings for the British administrative staff. Some...

    . Arafat was besieged in the Mukataa compound for close to two years until his departure to a hospital in Paris in October 2004. Much of the Mukataa was destroyed by the IDF in the course of the siege.

    Official reactions

    Involved parties
     Israel: Israeli officials stated that the attack indicated that the Palestinian leadership was still unable or unwilling to rein in militants attacking Israeli targets.

     Palestinian territories:
    • Palestinian National Authority
      Palestinian National Authority
      The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

       - PNA officials condemned the attack and asked all Palestinian groups to denounce it.
    • Hamas
      Hamas
      Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

       spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab stated that he expected to see "a series of operations against the Zionist enemy, as a result of the daily brutal crimes against our people."


    Supranational – EU officials called on Israel to show restraint, suggesting that a harsh Israeli reprisal for the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, which was claimed by Arafat's opponents, would ruin efforts made to reform the Palestinian National Authority and to secure a ceasefire between the parties.

    International – At a meeting in the Oval Office US President George Bush
    George Bush
    George Bush most often refers to:*George H. W. Bush , 41st President of the United States *George W. Bush , 43rd President of the United States , eldest son of George H. W...

     strongly condemned the attack and stated that "All parties must do everything they can to reject and stop violence"

    External links

    • Six killed, scores wounded in suicide attack on Tel Aviv bus - published on USA Today
      USA Today
      USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

       on September 19, 2002
    • Tel Aviv bus bomb shatters hopes of truce - published on The Guardian
      The Guardian
      The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

       on September 20, 2002
    • Fatal bus blast rocks Tel Aviv - published on BBC News
      BBC News
      BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...

       on September 19, 2002
    • Suicide Bomber Kills 5 on a Bus in Tel Aviv - published on The New York Times
      The New York Times
      The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

       on September 20, 2002
    • Heart of Tel Aviv hit - published on CNN
      CNN
      Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

      on September 19, 2002
    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
    x
    OK