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ANALYSIS: LATEST SERIES OF SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN ISRAEL
Weekend Edition Sunday: May 18, 2003
 Suicide Bombers Strike in Jerusalem
LIANE HANSEN, host:
As Secretary of State Colin Powell urged earlier in the week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas met last night to discuss the US-backed road map for peace. Their talks were quickly overshadowed by a series of suicide bombings. Early this morning, a bomber set off explosives aboard a bus in Jerusalem, killing seven people and himself. A short while later, a second bomber blew himself up on the city's outskirts, killing only himself. Sharon immediately postponed a trip to Washington for planned talks with President Bush this Tuesday. NPR's Linda Gradstein went to the scene of the first suicide bombing this morning.
SOUNDBITE OF SIRENS
LINDA GRADSTEIN reporting:
Israeli officials said the bomber blew himself up at 5:45 AM as the bus reached a large intersection in northern Jerusalem. Gil Kleiman is Israel's police spokesman.
Mr. GIL KLEIMAN (Israel's Police Spokesman): A suicide bomber dressed as a religious Jew, carrying a prayer shawl, giving the impression that he's Jewish and not an Arab or a Palestinian, entered the bus, an explosion occurred. As a result of that, we have seven dead and 20 wounded. This isn't the first time we've seen camouflage used. We've seen that in Netanya, dressed as soldiers, we've seen them dressed as punks, we've seen them dressed as religious Jews. We've seen that before.
GRADSTEIN: The front part of the bus was completely destroyed. Shattered glass and pieces of rubber lay on the road as far as a hundred feet away. Eli Beer, the head of the Jerusalem Rescue Unit, arrived at the scene within minutes of the attack.
Mr. ELI BEER (Jerusalem Rescue Unit): I saw a lot of people laying around the bushes and some were yelling for help, some it was too late. They couldn't even yell. And we were treating them. We treated a few people that were hurt very bad.
GRADSTEIN: About a half-hour after the first attack and less than a mile away, a second bomber blew himself up at an Israeli roadblock, killing only himself. Overnight, two Palestinian gunmen were killed as they tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. And last night in Hebron, an Israeli man and his pregnant wife were killed by yet another suicide bomber.
The bombing in Jerusalem was the first in the city in six months, although security forces say they have thwarted dozens of other planned attacks here. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled says extremists are trying to derail any talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Mr. JONATHAN PELED (Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman): We urge now the Palestinian leadership to assume responsibility and to begin fighting terror immediately. That was the reason for yesterday's meeting, to work out the working plan, to fight terror and to prevent such horrific events from occurring. And we now are expecting to see not only words and promises by the Palestinian prime minister, but some real action on the ground.
GRADSTEIN: Palestinian information minister Nabil Amr condemned the attack and urged Israel to be restrained in its response. A leader of the Islamist Hamas movement said the suicide bombings showed that Palestinian resistance will continue. Both Israeli and Palestinian officials said there were disagreements at last night's meeting between Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas presented a list of demands, including that Israel officially accept the US-backed road map to peace. Sharon demanded a Palestinian crackdown on terrorism first. Linda Gradstein, NPR News, Jerusalem.
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