There has been tremendous pressure to lash out and hit back following the two most recent suicide bombings in Jerusalem, Gillon said in a recent interview at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
A spokesman for the Jerusalem police confirmed that the fire was caused by arson, and that the connection Sorek spoke of was one of the possibilities being investigated. The spokesman said that he did not want to elaborate, \”because this is a very sensitive matter.\” He added that no suspects had yet been arrested.
As Israel nears its 50th birthday, events have shifted attentionaway from the stalled peace talks. What dominates the headlines nowis the warlike rhetoric among Jewish factions — both within Israeland in the Diaspora — as they clash over the issue of religiouspluralism.
One month after two Palestinian suicide bombers killed 14 Israeli civilians in a Jerusalem market, Bethlehem is the only West Bank town still cut off from both Israel and its neighboring Arab communities.
Labor Party leader Ehud Barak said that unless the opposition waited a decent interval before attacking Netanyahu politically, \”it could be interpreted as if we were defending Arafat, even though this is not true — we are defending the State of Israel.\”
On Salah a-Din Street, the main street on the Arab side of the capital, the spirit was very different. People kept their heads down,aware that they were being watched, aware that the Jews weren\’t too fond of them these days. But if they were expected to feel remorseful about Mahane Yehuda, some did, while others felt roughly the opposite.
En route home were Alice and Leo Howard and their 14-year-old grandsons, Yoni Howard and Adam Blitz, all of whom had survived the July 30 suicide bombings in Jerusalem\’s crowded Mahane Yehuda.\n\nAfter the El Al jet landed, the relatives greeted each other with hugs and tears and counted themselves lucky. The bombs that killed 13 bystanders (as well as the two Hamas terrorists) and wounded nearly 170 people, had left the Howards relatively unscathed. Leo incurred whiplash, Yoni had glass shards embedded in one leg, and most had painful ringing in their ears. But the close family friends who had been with them at Mahane Yehuda were seriously injured and remained hospitalized.\n
Tragically, the horrible terrorist attack against civilians at the Mahane Yehuda marketplace in Jerusalem leaves all of us numb and, at the same time, reminds us that the memories of Jewish history live on.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu\’s tough response to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat\’s call of condolence echoed from Los Angeles on Wednesday, as Israel\’s consulate fielded nonstop calls from journalists and concerned Angelenos.
