The
Passover massacre (also known as the
Netanya Bombing or the
Park Hotel Passover attack) was a suicide bombing carried out by
HamasHamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
at the Park Hotel in
NetanyaNetanya is a city in the Centre District of Israel and is the capital of the Sharon plain. It is located between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north. Its of beaches have made the city a very popular tourist resort...
,
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
on March 27, 2002, during a
Passover sederThe Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The seder is held on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar .-Overview:The Seder is an intergenerational family ritual prescribed according to Jewish law and based on...
. Thirty
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured.
The attack occurred on the night of March 27, when the Jewish holiday of
PassoverPassover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating the Hebrews' escape from enslavement in Egypt....
fell that yearThe Hebrew calendar or Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar used by Jews, and in recent decades, by a growing number of Christians...
. The Park Hotel in Netanya held a large
Passover sederThe Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The seder is held on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar .-Overview:The Seder is an intergenerational family ritual prescribed according to Jewish law and based on...
(festive religious meal) for its 250 guests, especially elderly Jews who didn't have family and relatives, in the ground-floor dining room.
The
Passover massacre (also known as the
Netanya Bombing or the
Park Hotel Passover attack) was a suicide bombing carried out by
HamasHamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
at the Park Hotel in
NetanyaNetanya is a city in the Centre District of Israel and is the capital of the Sharon plain. It is located between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north. Its of beaches have made the city a very popular tourist resort...
,
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
on March 27, 2002, during a
Passover sederThe Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The seder is held on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar .-Overview:The Seder is an intergenerational family ritual prescribed according to Jewish law and based on...
. Thirty
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured.
The attack
The attack occurred on the night of March 27, when the Jewish holiday of
PassoverPassover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating the Hebrews' escape from enslavement in Egypt....
fell that yearThe Hebrew calendar or Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar used by Jews, and in recent decades, by a growing number of Christians...
. The Park Hotel in Netanya held a large
Passover sederThe Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The seder is held on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar .-Overview:The Seder is an intergenerational family ritual prescribed according to Jewish law and based on...
(festive religious meal) for its 250 guests, especially elderly Jews who didn't have family and relatives, in the ground-floor dining room. A Palestinian suicide bomber passed a security guard at the hotel's entrance, walked through the lobby passing the reception desk and entered the hotel's dining room where he detonated an explosive device he carried in a suitcase. Twenty-eight people were immediately killed, and about 140 were injured, of whom 20 were seriously injured. Two of the injured later died from their wounds. Some of the victims were Holocaust survivors. Most of the victims were senior citizens (70 and over). The oldest victim was 90 and the youngest was 20 years old. A number of married couples were killed, as well as a father together with his daughter. One of the victims was a Jewish tourist from Sweden who was visiting Israel for Passover.
Hamas responsibility
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber was identified as Abdel-Basset Odeh, a 25-year-old from the nearby
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
city of
TulkarmTulkarm or Tulkarem is a Palestinian city in the Tulkarm Governorate in the northwestern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Tulkarm city and the adjacent refugee camp had a population of approximately 58,962 inhabitants at mid-year 2006...
. Hamas claimed that the attack was specifically designed to derail momentum from a recently announced
peace initiativeThe Beirut Summit was a meeting of the Arab League in Beirut, Lebanon in March 2002 to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The meeting became especially noteworthy for the adoption, by the Arab states attending, of a proposal offering a comprehensive peace between the Arab countries and...
of the
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
n government at the Beirut Summit. In March 2008, the Israeli Defense Forces arrested Hamas commander Omar Jabar, who was suspected of organizing the bombing.
Reactions and aftermath
In his response to the Saudi initiative adopted at the Beirut Summit,
Foreign Affairs Minister of IsraelThe Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The position is one of the most important in the Israeli cabinet after Prime Minister and Defense Minister...
Shimon Peres' is the ninth and current President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
noted that "… the details of every peace plan must be discussed directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and to make this possible, the Palestinian Authority must put an end to terror, the horrifying expression of which we witnessed just last night in Netanya."
In the wake of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon' is an Israeli general and statesman, former Israeli Prime Minister...
and his cabinet ordered the immediate recruitment of 20,000 reservists in an emergency call-up and the following day launched
Operation Defensive ShieldOperation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War...
.
Electronic IntifadaThe Electronic Intifada is a not-for-profit, independent online publication which covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective, "aimed at combating the pro-Israeli, pro-American spin" its editors believe exists in mainstream media accounts...
reported that the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack with
Yasser ArafatMohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political...
saying: "On this occasion, I would like once again to reiterate our condemnation of yesterday's operation in Netanya, in which a number of innocent Israeli civilians were killed and wounded."
The
Zionist Organization of AmericaThe Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897 , was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of the Jews of the United States to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political...
and
Palestinian Media WatchPalestinian Media Watch is an Israel-based media watchdog organization. Established by Itamar Marcus in 1996, PMW monitors Palestinian Arabic media and schoolbooks...
, however, reported that the PA sponsored a soccer tournament named the "Tulkarm Shahids Memorial soccer championship tournament of the Shahid Abd Al-Baset Odeh" describing the perpetrator as a "shahid" (Martyr), claiming this promotes and glorifies terrorism. 71% of Palestinians polled about this event approved of naming a soccer tournament in honor of the bomber.
Keis Adwan, head of the suicide bombing network responsible for the massacre, was killed on April 5, 2002, during Operation Defensive Shield after the
IDFThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
and the
YamamThe Yamam , is the acronym for Special Police Unit , Israel's elite civilian counter-terrorism unit. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids against targets in civilian areas...
caught him in
TubasTubas or Toubas is a small Palestinian city in the northeastern West Bank, located northeast of Nablus, a few kilometers west of the Jordan River. A city of over 16,000 inhabitants, it serves as the economic and administrative center of the Tubas Governorate. Its urban area consists of 2,271 dunams...
, some 70 kilometers north of Jerusalem. An armored
Caterpillar D9The Caterpillar D9 is a large track-type tractor designed and manufactured by Caterpillar Inc. Though it comes in many configurations it is usually sold as a bulldozer equipped with a detachable large blade and a rear ripper attachment....
bulldozer toppled the house where he was hiding, after he was given a chance to surrender and refused.
Arrests
In May 2002, Israeli forces arrested the mastermind behind the attack, Abbas al-Sayed. On September 22, 2005, al-Sayed was convicted of the Passover attack and also of ordering the May 2001 bombing of a
NetanyaNetanya is a city in the Centre District of Israel and is the capital of the Sharon plain. It is located between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north. Its of beaches have made the city a very popular tourist resort...
mall. He received 35 life sentences for each murder victim and additional time for those who were wounded.
In September 2009, Muhammad Harwish, a senior
HamasHamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
terrorist and one of the planners of the 2002 Park Hotel bombing, was arrested by The Border Police's elite
YamamThe Yamam , is the acronym for Special Police Unit , Israel's elite civilian counter-terrorism unit. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids against targets in civilian areas...
Counter-terror squad in his home village along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara.
Victims
Victims
| Name |
Age |
Hometown |
| Shula Abramovitch |
70 |
HolonHolon is a city in Israel, on the central coastal strip south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan in the Tel Aviv District. In 2007, it had a population of 168,800. Holon has the second largest industrial zone in Israel after Haifa.-Etymology:The name of the city...
|
| David Anichovitch |
70 |
Netanya |
| Avraham Beckerman (Sgt.-Maj.) |
25 |
AshdodAshdod , is the fifth-largest city in Israel, located in the Southern District of the country, on the Mediterranean coast, with a population of 207,000. Ashdod is an important regional industrial centre...
|
| Shimon Ben-Aroya |
42 |
Netanya |
| Frieda and Alter Britvich |
86 and 88 |
Netanya |
| Idit and Andre Fried |
Both 47 |
Netanya |
| Miriam Gottsegen |
82 |
Ramat GanRamat Gan is a city in the Tel Aviv district of Israel, located east of Tel Aviv. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges and Israel's tallest building, the Moshe Aviv Tower. Ramat Gan was established in 1921 as a moshava, a communal farming settlement. At the end of 2007, the...
|
| Amiram Hamami |
44 |
Netanya |
| Perla Hermele |
79 |
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
, SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
|
| Dvora and Michael Karim |
73 and 78 |
Netanya |
| Yehudit and Eliezer Korman |
70 and 74 |
Ramat HaSharonRamat HaSharon is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south and Herzliya and Kibbutz Glil Yam to the north. It is part of the Tel Aviv District, within Gush Dan metropolitan area...
|
| Marianne Myriam Lehmann Zaoui |
77 |
Netanya |
| Lola Levkovitch |
70 |
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
|
| Sarah Levy-Hoffman |
89 |
Tel-Aviv |
| Furuk Na'imi |
62 |
Netanya |
| Eliahu Nakash |
85 |
Tel-Aviv |
| Chanah Rogan |
90 |
Netanya |
| Irit Rashel |
45 |
Moshav Herev La'et |
| Clara Rosenberger |
77 |
Jerusalem |
| Yulia Talmi |
87 |
Tel-Aviv |
| Sivan (St.-Sgt.) and Ze'ev Vider |
20 and 50 |
Beka'ot Beka'ot is a moshav and Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the Jordan Valley with an area of 1,800 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 171....
|
| Eva and Ernest Weiss |
75 and 80 |
Petah TikvaPetah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel. Petah Tikva's jurisdiction covers 35,868 dunams . The population density is...
|
| Anna and George Yakobovitch |
76 and 78 |
Holon |
See also
External links
- "Alleged Passover massacre plotter arrested", CNN
Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States...
, March 26, 2008].
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/29/wmid229.xml"Hotel blast survivors relive the Passover massacre" The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier...
29/03/2002]
- US President George W Bush "This cold blooded killing must stop", 27 March, 2002
- Israeli Government spokesman Gideon Meir "Palestinian violence knows no boundaries", 27 March, 2002