Middle East News
Israel on high alert after Jerusalem shooting spree (Roundup)
Mar 7, 2008, 15:53 GMT
Palestinian access to Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque were limited on 07 March 07 due to the shooting attack at the Mercaz Harav \'yeshiva,\' that killed eight Jewish seminary students. Only Muslim men over the age of 45 with a valid Israeli or Jerusalem identity card were allowed to enter the Temple Mount for prayers. Female worshippers were not limited from entering. EPA/MICHAL FATTAL
Jerusalem - Israel tightened security Friday, after a Palestinian gunman burst into a Jewish religious school in West Jerusalem the previous evening and killed eight students in the first such attack in the city in four years.
Fearing more attacks, thousands of police patrolled Jerusalem and set up roadblocks at its and other cities' entrances, while the Israeli army sealed off the West Bank, allowing no Palestinians to enter Israel except for special humanitarian or medical cases, police and the military said.
Thousands of Israelis meanwhile, many of them members of Israel's religious and ultra-Orthodox community, mourned the deaths of the eight students, aged 15 to 26, at the Mercaz Ha'Rav (Rabbi's Centre), one of the most prominent yeshivas in the country.
Ten other Israelis were injured in the shooting spree. Three were serious but stable and one was in moderate condition, hospital officials said.
It was the first attack causing multiple casualties in Jerusalem since February 2004, when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed eight and wounded dozens on a bus in central Jerusalem.
It was also the first multiple-casualty attack inside Israel since April 2006, when nine people died then in a Palestinian suicide at Tel Aviv's old central bus station, although two Palestinian bombers from the Gaza Strip killed an elderly Israeli woman in the southern town of Dimona just last month.
The gunman was identified as Ala Abu Dhein, about 25, a Palestinian with an Israeli identity card from the Jabal Mukaber neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
A neighbour told Deutsche Presse-Agentur he had a transit and used to work in West Jerusalem, transporting students and workers.
He entered the yeshiva after 8 pm Thursday (1800 GMT), drew a Kalashnikov semi-automatic rifle from a cardboard box he was carrying, shot dead two people at the building's entrance and moved on to the library, where he began shooting in all directions as some 25 students were gathered inside, studying religious texts.
Witnesses said some students hid behind book cases, while others locked themselves inside an adjacent room, switched off the light and lay down on the floor, as the shooting continued for minutes until an Israeli army officer living nearby and alarmed by the gunshots killed the attacker, shooting him in the head several times.
Hamas announced over loudspeakers in Gaza mosque that it was claiming responsibility, hours after an Arab-Israeli group called the Free People of the Galilee told Hezbollah's al-Manar television in Beirut that it was behind the attack.
The Free People of the Galilee is believed to have links with the Lebanese Shiite movement, and also dubbed itself the death squad of Imad Mughniyeh - the Hezbollah military commander who was assassinated in Damascus in a car bomb blast last month - and the death squad of Gaza.
The family of the shooter erected a mourning tent in their East Jerusalem neighbourhood, adorned with flags of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Both groups have each vowed to avenge the death of Mughniyeh and of more than 120 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, in five days of Israeli airstrikes and heavy ground fighting between Israeli soldiers and local militants in the Gaza Strip since Wednesday last week.
The Israeli raids were retaliation for ongoing daily rocket attacks from Gaza, but the Palestinian death toll was the highest in fighting with Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, saying he was against the killing of civilians, whether Palestinians or Israelis, but in Gaza the attack was greeted with joy, as militants, mainly from Hamas, fired in the air and honked their car horns in celebration, while others handed out candy to passers-by in the street.
Abbas had earlier this week responded to the Gaza deaths by suspending negotiations with Israel that were recently revived after a seven-year freeze in the peace process. But he said after meeting visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he would resume the negotiations, which he called a 'strategic choice.'
The attack on the Jerusalem yeshiva was seen as a blow to the heart of Israel's religious-right, which demanded an end to concessions as several lawmakers too demanded Prime Minister Ehud Olmert call off the negotiations.
Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira, the head of the yeshiva, said in a teafful voice his students were taught to love the biblical Land of Israel.
'We must stop dividing it up,' he told the thousands of mourners gathered outside the building in Jerusalem's Qiryat Moshe quarter, at the city's western entrance near the road to Tel Aviv, before the dead bodies, wrapped in religious prayer shawls, were taken to their burial sites.
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Older Talkback
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I am a Indo-Canadian. I have watched the conflict between these two. I've had sympathy for palestinian ppl that fall under Hamas, as its their government making all the moves. I've been wrong. Reading about all these ppl that celebrated, and reading that gunman was some who carried an ID card and be allowed them freedom of movement in Israel changes my entire preception. These animals intentionally attack civilans. I say to Israel government, UNLEASH a fury of attacks on the entire population. Re-take Gaza. there is no place on earth for animals such as these.
HARRIS
you have missed the bus, the Israely government unleashed it's killing machine forty years ago. you must have been locked away somewhere.
The Palistinians don't need fairwheather friends like yourself. they have got enough on their plate with the socalled peace negotiators. who have no intention of helping the Palistinians, they are under the thumb of the Zionist butchers. and will do has they are told, not what is justice for the Palistinian people.
Acts of violence like this happen all over the world. When it happens in the US, everyone assume the attacker is out of his mind. Unfortunately in cases like this, the motive is clear.
The silence of the world is deafening. Afterall, it was only Jews. God forbid someone walked into a den of Satan (mosque) and blew upp the heathens, there would be no end to the uproar. Israel will always be blamed because she dares to not die when attacked time after time. This is land given by God to the Jewish people. Gaza should be leveled. The cowardly HAMAS can crawl back to their crevices, hiding behind women and children.
These palestinan ppl are deliberate in attempting to kill as many Jewish ppl as possible. Israel has been doing targeting killing of of these ppl. Yes civilans are hurt, and yes it is wrong. No one celebrates in the Jewish state if innocent Palestian ppl are killed.. but their actions are making it clouded to see who really is innocent in Gaza. since this gunman had and ID Card to walk freely, i hope the freedom of other card holders is limited even more and the a fear of devastation is put into the rest to assure no further killing is deliberatly done. Gaza needs to be re-occupied and even more restrictions. i know why the Palestian ppl are fighting and angery. i had sympathy for their cause, but no more.. they make it harder and harder to sympathize with them... their is no peace in their eyes...only death of the Jews
Wayne, Your ignorance is truly astounding. The only reason any Arabs lost their lands to begin with is because they fled Israel in light of the fact that the Arab/Egyptian armies arrayed against the Jews in 1948 promised a genocide to finish what the Nazis started. The Jews even encouraged their Arab neighbors to stay but they fled to get out of the way of the promised slaughter. Since then, no Palestinians have been allowed citizenship status in other Arab states (only Israel)...they are kept in giant refugee camps to be used as pawns. There have been numerous offerings to the Arabs, who call themselves Palestinians, which is a fabricated nationality (there are no references to these 'people' prior to the creation of the State of Israel), to have their own state... they have turned it down due to their desire to destroy. What I cannot figure out is why the Israelis haven't driven these pests from their borders with all due diligence. I someone fired rockets at my town..that SOB would die, post haste...and if his family got blasted by my RETALIATION, oh well. That is the nature of conflict...don't inflict damage on others and then cry when you get damaged...typical Muslim whining.
Violence begets violence. The Israelis must have known there would be consequences for the 126 Palestinians slaughtered by Israel this past weekend. Many of the Palestinians killed were innocent civilians that included women, children, and babies.
It is wrong and terrible that 8 innocent Israeli students have been murdered by a Palestinian. However, it was a horrendous crime that the State of Israel sanctioned the slaughter of 126 Palestinians, many of whom were innocent civilians that included many women, children, and babies.
Israelis and Jews in the diaspora are condemning the murders of the 8 Jewish students, but were silent on the murders of 126 Palestinians. The US expressed sympathy to the Israelis and condemned the murder of the 8 Israeli students, but took the opposite position on the 126 Palestinians murdered by Israel. Infact, the US scapegoated the Palestinians for the murders.
EACH LIFE IS EQUALLY PRECIOUS AND ANYONE WHO TAKES A LIFE SHOULD BE CONDEMNED BY ALL, WITH NO EXCEPTIONS !!!
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50,000 chldren and infants dead, more than 4.5 million out of their homes, do they count
The security measures will have to be continued, and USA and Europe will pay for it! As they do for other cluster bombs, nuclear arsenal, etc.
The arabs in general are not interested in a palestinian state. A palestinian state would be held responsible for its actions by the UN. Which would be catastrophic for the arab world. As it stands, there is no 'government' to negotiate with. Therefore, the only sanctions that the UN can dish out are anti-israeli.
The PA is not a government. It is a collection of terrorist organisations at war both with Isral and themselves. These organisations are funded and run by forces outside of the palestinian territory. Their ambition is the eventual destruction of Israel.
There will never be 'peace'.
Harris +1
ZBTETA +1
diary +1
vern +1
marge:
yes, all life is important. hitler's life was extremely valuable and should have been cherished. such a shame he died (or did he?). let's love everyone and dance in circles with leprechauns and unicorns... yay!
Oh boo, hoo, hoo.
So who do you feel sorry for? The 8 Israelis or the 60 some-odd Palestinians?
When Israel kills 60 or so Palestinians, it's 'self defence.' No-body cares. But 8 Israelis? Oh no. This needs to make the front page.
The land of Palestine?
'Given' to the Israelis 'by God?' Or mercilessly taken away by force by Israeli forces helped by the US?
People lived in what people want to call the 'state of Israel' before the so-called 'state of Israel' was established 50-some odd years ago.
But no one seems to care. It's perfectly acceptable to want to 'blot a state from the map,' as long as that state happens to be Palestine. Recognize the 'State of Israel,' dismiss any existence of the people living there before.
Right Zionists?
Isn't it ironic that the Jews suffered a Holocaust 50 years before, and now they're carrying one out themselves.
How would Americans react if other nations helped the American Indians establish an independent state in the land of New York, providing them with arms and weapons? I assume maybe that's perhaps how the entire Middle Eastern community feels about Israel; a bothersome thorn thrust in their side.
This can only end in one of two ways; either the US finally cuts off support and lets the appendage state of Israel die, or the US intends on actually occupating every state in the Middle East to force the recognition of the existence of the state of Israel, and the denial of the existence of the state of Palestine.
I assume perhaps Zionists would like it that the US engage in the latter? I can say one thing for sure; it's not the Israelis I feel sorry for.
watching this whole situation is just amazeing . year after year ; blah blah blah . we should change the name of the Middle-East to the Heart-Break-Hotel . this place , along with pakistan , must be the crucible of hell . the hatred in these places is beyound the pale . i'm just on pins and needles , waiting for the first nuke to go off . i'm sure i'll feel ripped-off , if i don't see that happen in my life time . after all , i continue having to put up with all this killing in front of my face day after day . why don't we all just go down to the beach , and get drunk n screw ; of course , that might offend a whole bunch of religious sensibilities , on both sides of the fence . perhaps i'm wrong ; well then , make sure i don't get ripped-off then eh ?! It's Party Time ! life is on the road ; or is it a high-way...? oh ! i know ! I'm on the High-Way To...
What is the logics of calling islam a fanatical religion and at the same time stating Israel was given to them by ...God ?
If it were not so tragic in it's consequences,I guess even the palestinians could see the humor if it.Meanwhile forgive them if they don't ,after all they have been living in that part of the world for at least 7 centuries before being invaded by people that have never lived there but claims it was given to them 270 years ago ,waving a bronze age textbook in their face to accompany their claim.
Now let me see if I can find something similar to invoke my rights on let's say California ?
Now tell me again who is the religious fanatical ?Unless of course I misunderstood the issue and it is a matter of race ?Can anybody from the neocon or republican tendency solve this dilemma for me ?And perhaps tell the palestinians that they are wrong ?They seem to be in confusion on this issue,and so am I.
EVERY ZIONIST IS CONDEMNING ITMar 7th, 2008 - 22:01:55
Nobody condemns millions of displaced Palestinians, nor women killing, nor unarmed palestinians, nor infant killing by zionists! What a pity, a few soldiers studying extremism were shot and killed.
Amazing, how all you low-live anti-Semites are crawling from under the rock. OK, let me hear how all of you are just anti-zionist and not anti-Semites. You make me sick to my stomach!
Your being sick to ur stomach, might bring better health to you. Why are the good jewish people against 'ZIONISM'?
Go on this link and see anti zionism. It is a jewish page
www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbi_quotes/schneersohn.cfm
At times like this, its harsh to say, 'you reap what you sow'... but that is the gist of it. Havent been there, but from what I can tell, Isreal is an apartheid state, where Palestineans lack equal rights. Maybe I'm wrong. Can someone out there correct me?
Even still, this does not justify the terrorism, but that is only my opinion; Isrealis on the other hand have to deal with other opinions.
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waine UKMar 7th, 2008 - 17:18:43
The killing of these students is regretable and the strong condemnation by the world is loud in everyones ears, it is just a pity that those who condemn this attack were not as vocal in the condemnation of the Israely army in its slaughter of innocent Palistinian civillians, a bit of even handedness would not go ammis in this conflict.In the UK certain Members of Parliament think that only Jews bleed. What the Isaely army is doing is not self defence, it is wanton murder and as one of the Israely ministers said, a Holocaust on the Palistinians. End the occupation and maybe things could change, but it is my view that the last thing the Jewish state wants is peace until they have taken over all the Palistinian territory. That is the goal of the Zionist butchers.
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