Allenby Street bus bombing

The Allenby Street bus bombing was a suicide bombing that occurred on September 19, 2002 on a Dan bus in the center of Tel Aviv's business district. Six people were killed in the attack and approximately 70 were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Allenby Street bus bombing
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign
The attack site
The attack site
LocationTel Aviv, Israel
Coordinates32°03′53″N 34°46′21″E
DateSeptember 19, 2002
Shortly before 13:00
Attack type
suicide bombing
Deaths6 civilians (+ 1 bomber)
Injuredapproximately 70
PerpetratorsHamas claimed responsibility

The attack

Shortly before 13:00 on Thursday, 19 September 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the front part of a crowded bus in the heart Tel Aviv's business district. The attack was carried out on Dan commuter bus No. 4 as the bus was passing through Allenby Street in front of the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv. Six people were killed and approximately 70 were injured in the attack.[1][2][3][4][5]

The Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.[3]

Fatalities

Aftermath

Israeli retaliation

The Israeli government accused Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian leadership of involvement in the Second Intifada militancy campaign and in illegal arms trafficking. After an emergency meeting of the security cabinet, convened in wake of the bombing, Israel launched a military operation in the West Bank in which tanks and armored vehicles began a siege on the compound of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.[12] Arafat was besieged in the Mukataa compound for close to two years until his departure to a hospital in Paris in October 2004. Much of the Mukataa was destroyed by the IDF in the course of the siege.

Organ donation

Among the victims was Yoni Jesner, a Jewish teenager who attended Har Etzion yeshiva in Gush Etzion. Jesner sustained a critical head injury, and his parents signed their consent to detaching him from life support and donating his organs. Yasmin Abu Ramila, a 7-year old Palestinian girl from East Jerusalem, was the recipient of his kidney. The surgery was successful and Yasmin reportedly has a very good chance of living a normal life.[13][14] The story was widely reported due to the circumstances and Jesner's organ being donated to a child on the opposite side of the conflict.[15]

Official reactions
Involved parties

 Israel: Israeli officials stated that the attack indicated that the Palestinian leadership was still unable or unwilling to rein in militants attacking Israeli targets.[16]

 Palestinian territories:

  • Palestinian National Authority - PNA officials condemned the attack and asked all Palestinian groups to denounce it.[17]
  • Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab stated that he expected to see "a series of operations against the Zionist enemy, as a result of the daily brutal crimes against our people."[18]
Supranational
  •  European Union – EU officials called on Israel to show restraint, suggesting that a harsh Israeli reprisal for the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, which was claimed by Arafat's opponents, would ruin efforts made to reform the Palestinian National Authority and to secure a ceasefire between the parties.[19]
International
  •  USA – At a meeting in the Oval Office US President George Bush strongly condemned the attack and stated that "All parties must do everything they can to reject and stop violence"[18]

See also
  • Yoni Jesner and Ahmed Khatib

References
  1. "USATODAY.com - Six killed, scores wounded in suicide attack on Tel Aviv bus". USA Today. 19 September 2002. ISSN 0734-7456. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  2. Steele, Jonathan (20 September 2002). "Tel Aviv bus bomb shatters hopes of truce | World news | The Guardian". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  3. "Fatal bus blast rocks Tel Aviv". BBC News. London: BBC. 19 September 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  4. Schmemann, Serge (September 20, 2002). "Suicide Bomber Kills 5 on a Bus in Tel Aviv - New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  5. "CNN.com - Jerrold Kessel: Heart of Tel Aviv hit - Sep. 19, 2002". cnn.com. 2011. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  6. Shoshana (Rosanna) Siso
  7. Ofer Zinger
  8. Solomon Hoenig
  9. Yossi Mamistavlov
  10. Yaffa Shemtov
  11. Jonathan -Yoni- Jesner
  12. Huggler, Justin (21 September 2002). "Arafat trapped in compound as tank shells rain down". The Independent. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  13. Phillips, Alan (24 September 2002). "Organ donation breaches divide". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  14. Orit Brawer Ben-Davida, "Ranking deaths in Israeli society: Premature deaths and organ donation – Mortality: Promoting the interdisciplinary study of death and dying", Mortality, Volume 11, Issue 1, February 2006, pages 79–98
  15. "Legacy of bomb victim". The Jewish Chronicle. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  16. "washingtonpost.com - search nation, world, technology and Washington area news archives". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  17. "Lateline - 19/9/2002: Five killed in Tel Aviv blast. Australian Broadcasting Corp". Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  18. "USATODAY.com - Six killed, scores wounded in suicide attack on Tel Aviv bus". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  19. The Island Packet - Google News Archive Search
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