Israel News Agency at the Scene

PASSOVER MASSACRE

The mutilated bodies of murdered Israel men, women and children, who minutes earlier were
celebrating a Passover dinner, lay lined up outside the Park Hotel in Netanya Photo: AP

30 DEAD, OVER 170 INJURED IN NETANYA HOTEL TERROR ATTACK

By Joel Leyden

Jerusalem----March 27, 2002.......In one of the most brutal terrorist attacks sustained by Israel, 30 Israelis were murdered and over 120 people were injured this evening when a powerful bomb was set off in a hotel dining room.

The INA was at the scene ten minutes after the terrorist had slipped past an armed guard, walked past the reception desk and into a crowded dinning room where he detonated an explosive laden bag. The explosion occurred at about 7:20 p.m.
When this editor arrived on the scene, there were about a dozen ambulances caring for the wounded.
Five dismembered and blood soaked bodies lay covered with blue and grey blankets outside on the hotel's sidewalk. Many of the guests who had survived the terror attack and were being rushed to nearby hospitals were still dressed in their holiday best; the women in festive dresses, the men in white shirts and dark pants.
Shreds of glass were sprinkled throughout the ground. The hotel lobby and the second floor of the hotel had all of its windows blown out. The only thing moving were the torn, white window curtains twisting in the cool wind.

Photo: AP

A large pool of water created by the hotel's safety sprinkler system and broken water pipes filled the reception area.
But this was not ground zero - broken glass and water were only a prelude to the horror which was about 50 feet passed the front desk, the burned and blood stained remains of a festive Passover dining room. White tables and chairs were thrown several feet into the air, landing against the hotel wall. Unopened bottles of Passover wine and colorful flowers now littered the floor. An eerie, death filled quiet had settled in where moments before there was laughter, life and hope.
People were walking out of the hotel in a silent daze, all frozen in shock. One elderly man walked slowly down the street with no apparent direction wearing a blue dress suit with blood spilling out of his grey hair.

Among the dead, dying and wounded in yesterday's bombing were entire families, Israelis and foreign Jews visiting from abroad for the holiday. The force of the blast devastated the dining hall, knocked down the facade of the hotel lobby, shredded the paneled ceiling inside and crumpled cars parked on the street outside.

Nichama Donenhirsch, a guest at the hotel, said that as she and her family fled, they saw a little girl, about 10 to 12 years old, lying dead on the ground, her eyes wide open as if in surprise.

Some of the wounded staggered out of the lobby, which was plunged into darkness by the explosion. Others were taken to ambulances in stretchers, including a young boy who had an oxygen mask pressed to the face. One elderly man was covered by a blue blanket, blood dripping from his face. An elderly woman, her face covered with blood, sat on the sidewalk, attended to by several people.

The Park Hotel is located directly opposite the city square and on a hill overlooking the beach. There are several other hotels in this residential area of Netanya.

As we entered Netanya, a slight drizzle fell from the sky with bursts of lightening being heard for miles around. When the blast went off, most residents of Netanya thought it was just another cloud burst. It was the sound of ambulance sirens rushing to and from the seaside Park Hotel which confirmed the worst - that it was yet another terrorist attack.

As police arrived they started to create a perimeter, a safety area as police sappers began searching for additional explosives. About one hour after the attack took place, Israeli security forces discovered that explosives had been placed inside one of the many ambulances at the scene. Immediately all of the ambulances and rescue workers were evacuated.

Mayor Miriam Feyerberg spoke with the INA and stated that Israelis must remain strong. That we all must continue with our lives, go to work, continue shopping, visit restaurants, otherwise the terrorists would win. "In recent days, these terrorist groups have begun describing their actions as acts of 'resistance', but resistance is not blowing up children and babies," Feyerberg said. "As the Arab leaders are talking peace in Beirut, their associates are committing some of the worst acts of barbarism ever witnessed in present history. The Israeli government will not swallow this. The same people who destroyed New York's World Trade Center are the same one's responsible for tonight's atrocity." When the bomb exploded tonight, the Mayor had been attending a Seder -- with mothers of the victims of last summer's bombing in Tel Aviv.

Over 62 people were rushed to Laniado Hospital, 15 in serious condition among them a 45-year-old man and a 5-year-old boy, both with head injuries, who were later moved from Laniado to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. Hospitals were overwhelmed, setting up triage in their synagogues and shuffling the less seriously wounded to their cafeterias. As is usually the case, the bomb contained nails and other metal pieces to enhance its lethal effect.

Another 33 of the injured were taken to Meir Hospital in Kava Sava, two of them in serious condition.

Israel accused Yasser Arafat of doing nothing to rein in militants. Raanan Gissin, a Sharon adviser, said the attack in Netanya "will require us to reevaluate our overall policy. We are still working to achieve a cease-fire to which we are fully committed, but if the Palestinians have decided to choose the road of terrorism ... then we have to decide what measures we will take," Gissin said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Arafat to go on television and demand an end to attacks against Israelis. The attacks endanger any negotiations toward a Palestinian state, Powell said.

"This sort of activity and the tolerance of this sort of activity will destroy the very vision the Palestinian Authority stands for and Chairman Arafat says he's committed to," Powell said in Washington.

The massacre in Netanya came just hours after Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah presented a new peace initiative at the Arab summit in Beirut, offering Israel normal relations with the Arab world in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israeli police had been on high alert for possible attacks during the Passover holiday, with more than 10,000 officers deployed in potential trouble spots.

The country's police commissioner, Shlomo Aharonishki, said it was impossible to prevent all attacks. ``Even with more policemen and a broader deployment, we cannot block the centers of the cities,'' he said. ``This attack is more evidence of that.''

Police and IDF roadblocks have been set up throughout the country with increased patrols within both commercial and residential areas.

An Israeli child struggles for his life as he is rushed to a nearby hospital in Netanya.
There would be no Passover questions, no hidden matzah.Photo: Reuters

The mood in Israel has turned from festive Passover joy to depression and anger.
Many Israelis who once held out hopes that a breakthrough peace agreement might still be within reach, are now eating matzah with salt tonight in a more realistic and pragmatic approach.
It takes two willing parties to negotiate a peace agreement and Israelis tonight have no plans to make a second Exodus here in the Middle-East.

After the bombing, President Bush called on Arafat once again to do all in his power to stop the escalating cycle of bloodshed. "This callous, this cold-blooded killing must stop. I condemn it in the strongest terms. I call upon Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to do everything in their power to stop the terrorist killing because there are people in the Middle East who would rather kill than have peace," Bush said during a stop in Atlanta. In Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Colin Powell formally labeled an Arafat-linked militia a terrorist organization yesterday. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a branch of Arafat's Fatah organization, last week claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Jerusalem shopping mall that killed two and injured more than 60.

If Hamas, Hezbolah, Islamic Jihad and Fatah believe that they can wear down the Israeli people - then don't know the Israeli Sabra and his resolve. As Americans became stronger after September 11th, Israelis are also closing political and religous ranks and preparing for measures which will prevent future terror attacks.

ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY

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