Two Buses Explode in Southern Israel, Killing Several People and Wounding

[hang a left]

Two Buses Explode in Southern Israel, Killing Several People and Wounding Many Others

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, left, is surrounded by bodyguards as he arrives for a meeting of Likud party ministers at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004. Sharon presented a detailed timetable for a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to his Likud Party on Tuesday, and warned party rebels that the plan ``will be implemented, period.'' (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
08-31-2004 5:24 AM

JERUSALEM -- Two buses exploded in southern Israel on Tuesday, killing several people and wounding many others, Israeli rescue officials said, in what appeared to be the first suicide bombing inside Israel in nearly six months.

Police reported a third blast, but no further details were immediately available.

The bus blasts occurred almost simultaneously in the main street of Beer Sheba, the largest city in southern Israel. Israel Radio said one bus was in flames, while windows were blown out of the second vehicle.

The radio report said Palestinian attackers had carried out an attack. The report couldn't immediately be confirmed.



http://sandiego.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D84Q6RT80

[wicket]

1. CNN Breaking: 10 killed

:(

[robcon]

2. CNN reports that 12 are dead.

How bombing buses in Israel could be considered as a 'tactic' against Israel is, as always, problematic.

This is disgusting.

Police: 12 killed in bus explosions in Israel
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 Posted: 8:50 AM EDT (1250 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- "Simultaneous explosions went off on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva Tuesday, killing 12 people and wounding 44 others, Israeli police and ambulance services said.

Ambulance service officials said 20 were moderately to seriously wounded while another 24 were lightly wounded.

Television pictures from the scene showed emergency personnel attending the wounded and burning wreckage. The explosions took place near the city center..."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/31/mideast/index.html

[wicket]

3. damn, the number keeps going up

:(

[Vladimir]

4. Not only is this wrong and unjustified

it won't do any good either.

[hang a left]

5. I find the bombing suspect.

As it comes on the heels of the Israeli spying allegations. I have always felt that the Palestinians aren't the ones committing all those suicide missions.

[allemand]

6. So Palestinians blow themselves up and you have doubts about what??

"The television station of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the explosions were carried out by suicide bombers."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/471713.html

[Vladimir]

7. Care to substantiate those allegations?

if the implication is that this was a Mossad operation to draw eyes away from the spying scandal (which incidentally has been already fogotten by the media), it should be a fairly easy matter to find previous suicide misions where there was even a shred of evidence pointing to the fact that the perpetrators weren't Palestinians.

[hang a left]

10. I don't believe we have heard the end of this story.

The scandal has already drawn comparisons to the Jonathan Pollard affair, in which a Jewish American was caught spying for Israel in 1985. Israeli officials have said that after the Pollard incident, the country made a firm decision not to spy on the United States in order to preserve its relationship with Washington. Several newspapers have quoted unnamed Jewish American leaders as expressing grave concern about the impact this brewing scandal could have on the reputation of AIPAC and Israel, but the Israeli daily Haaretz described one as being "positively relieved" that Franklin is not Jewish.

"The insinuation that AIPAC, an American Jewish lobby, is engaged in espionage is in some ways worse than Pollard, who as a single individual could be described as off-balance," Yossi Alpher, a former Mossad official told the Washington Post.

These are not the first allegations of Israeli spying in the United States involving AIPAC, but none have led to indictments, which are expected in this case. In an article in the online journal Counterpunch in February, Green detailed a 1979 investigation of Stephen Bryen, then a staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.



snip>

He added that "this could be an 'off-the-books' operation - like the Iran-Contra affair for example - a project without official status but that was run at a senior level. Every country's intelligence operations involve such unofficial activities, which this very well may be." The allegations are also likely to fuel questions about possible Israeli influence on US policy toward Iran and, more significantly perhaps, the build-up to the invasion of Iraq last year. Franklin, who was once stationed in Israel, works under Deputy Under Secretary William J. Luti and, ultimately, Undersecretary for Policy Douglas J. Feith.



snip>



http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=7909

[Vladimir]

11. Which has what to do with

your allegation that not all suicide bombings are conducted by Palestinians exactly? Sharon has no need of false-flag ops or anything similar when his ideological bosom-buddies in Hamas do this work so well for him...

[hang a left]

13. It has to do with the statement you made regarding the media's

amnesia regarding this investigation. I am running on little tidbits from Marshall and Cole that we are going to be hearing more about this.

The other statement I made is an opinion. Of which I am entitled.

[Vladimir]

14. You are entitled to your opinion

its just curious that you do not try to substantiate it in any way.

[RivetJoint]

8. WTF????

[allemand]

9. 16:39 Hamas takes responsibility for double bus bombing in Be`er Sheva

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/ShTickers.html

[gratuitous]

12. Have they sent for Alan Keyes yet?

He seems to have the solution for everything.

[Moderator]

15. This is being discussed in the Israeli/Palestinian Forum